Appraisal services for Fort Payne and De Kalb County homeowners

The top 7 reasons why AL homeowners use Swank Appraisal:

  1. Get a pre-listing appraisal (whether they're selling the home on their own or using an agent)
  2. To challenge a AL property tax assessment
  3. To cut your mortgage payment by removing PMI
  4. Reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
  5. To review a different appraiser's report for verification
  6. If real estate property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. Settle an estate in AL by determining the true market value of property in question

Do you own a home in or near Fort Payne? Do you need help deciding the value of your real estate?
Contact Swank Appraisal.

At Swank Appraisal, we understand the particular needs of a customer looking for appraisal services. Our business practices and reporting formats are familiar to our business clients like banks, attorneys, and accountants. But as a consumer,we will provide you with extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to more fully understand what we do and how we present the results of our analysis.

For Sale By Owner (FSBO)/Pre-Listing Services

It's very hard to be objective about your own home because you probably have an emotional attachment to it. A professional appraiser is objective and will tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear. In addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your home will attract interested buyers, a professional appraisal is a very important negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer. The appraisal is something tangible to show your buyer. An appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your home's price -- not just how much you think your house is worth. Interested buyers know you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be much more likely to give credibility to a seasoned appraiser's value opinion than yours.

PMI Removal Appraisals

Getting the PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) removed from your mortgage loan is an attractive way to cut expenses for homeowners. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan amount is down below 80% of the value of your home. In most cases you can apply to your lender to have the PMI removed from your loan. We are seasoned in helping folks just like you rid themselves of unneeded PMI insurance.

Challenge Tax Assessment

Your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued if you live in a region that is declining. This only means you're going to pay higher taxes than you should be paying. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the earlier you take care of a matter like this, the better. Getting an expert appraisal from Swank Appraisal is your strongest weapon when challenging your property tax assessment.

HELOC recently frozen?

If your property is close to a declining area, your lender might just decide to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) - even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can be be harmful to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out, and also inconvenient from a cash flow standpoint. Swank Appraisal can help you reinstate your HELOC.

Need Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services?

Have you just gotten a copy of your appraisal and you would prefer to have a seasoned appraiser double-check it for verity or do you desire a second opinion without the added expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? In a field review we will go out and check the subject and comps in question. If you need it immediately, we'll provide desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

Need a retrospective review of an appraisal? We can We can assist you While usually requested by banks, you may wish to employ this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your house.