Appraisal services for Westminster and Carroll County homeowners

The top 7 reasons MD homeowners use Martins Appraisals:

  1. Pre-listing appraisals (whether you're using an agent or selling the home on your own)
  2. Challenge Carroll county's assessment of your property
  3. Remove PMI to reduce their mortgage payments
  4. To reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
  5. Review a different appraiser's report for verification
  6. If property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. To settle an estate in MD by determining the true market value of property in question

Do you own a house in or near Westminster? Do you need help determining the price of your real estate?
Contact Martins Appraisals.

At Martins Appraisals, we understand the individual needs of a consumer looking for appraisal services. While our usual business clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get extra customer service in the form of an explanation of the process and even special consumer-friendly reporting forms if the assignment allows for them.

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

It's very hard to be objective about your own home because you most likely 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. A professional appraisal is a very valuable negotiating tool once you have a likely buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your home will attract interested buyers. It's something tangible to show the buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your home's value, and not just you saying how much your house is worth. Interested buyers know you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be much more likely to give credibility to an accomplished appraiser's value conclusion than yours.

Appraisals to cancel PMI

A preferred way to cut costs for homeowners is to get the PMI removed from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. PMI stands for "Private Mortgage Insurance". Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan amount is less than 80% of the value of your house. In most cases you can apply to the lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan. Martins Appraisals is qualified in helping customers just like you rid yourselves of undesirable PMI insurance.

Challenge a property tax assessment

If you live in a region that is declining or is not appreciating as much as other properties close by, your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued. This means you are probably paying higher taxes than you should be paying. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the sooner you take care of things like this, the better off you'll be. When challenging your property tax assessment, getting an appraisal from Martins Appraisals is your best weapon.

HELOC recently frozen?

Even if your specific property has not declined in value, your lender might make the decision to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your property is in a declining area. This can this be inopportune from a cash flow standpoint, and negative on your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. An expert appraisal from Martins Appraisals 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 like to have a professional double-check it for efficiency or do you need a second opinion without the added cost and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? Martins Appraisals offers field reviews where we'll go out and check the subject and comps. Or, if you need it in a rush, we can provide you with a desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

Do you need a retrospective review of an appraisal? Martins Appraisals can help you with that. Even though this is typically requested by banks, you may want to take advantage of this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.