Attention homeowners in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County: Get an Appraisal today!

Here are the top seven reasons Utah homeowners need Fife Appraising:

  1. Pre-listing appraisals (whether they're selling the home on their own or using a real estate agent)
  2. To challenge your property tax assessment in Utah
  3. To lower a monthly mortgage payment by removing PMI
  4. To reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. Verify another appraiser's report
  6. If real estate property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. To determine the true market value of real estate to settle an estate
Own a house in or near Salt Lake City, Utah and need help deciding the value of it? Contact Fife Appraising.

We at Fife Appraising understand the particular needs of a consumer after appraisal services. While our usual clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get an extra level of customer service in the form of an explanation of the process and even special consumer-friendly reporting forms if the assignment allows for them.

Pre-listing Services/For Sale by Owner

Since you have an emotional attachment to your home, it's often very hard to be objective about 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 important negotiating tool once you have an attainable buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your property will attract interested buyers. The appraisal is something concrete to show the buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your property's value, and not just you saying how much your house is worth. Interested buyers know that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be more likely to give credibility to a qualified appraiser's value conclusion than yours.

Challenge a property tax assessment

Let's say you live in a region that's declining -- your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. This means you are going to pay higher taxes than you should be paying. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the quicker you take care of a matter like this, the better. When challenging your property tax assessment, getting a professional appraisal from Fife Appraising is your perfect weapon.

Appraisals to cancel PMI

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. A preferred way to save money for homeowners is to get the PMI removed from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan is down below 80% of the value of your house. In most cases you can apply to the lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan. Fife Appraising is qualified in helping clients just like you get rid of unneeded PMI insurance.

Recently got a freeze to your HELOC?

Even if your specific property has not declined in value, your lender may choose to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your house is near a declining area. This can be inconvenient from a cash flow point of view, and unfavorable to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Fife Appraising can help you reinstate your HELOC.

Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need an expert to double-check your appraisal for verity, or do you desire a second opinion without the expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? We can go out and check the subject and comparables in a field review. Or, if you're 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.

We can also provide you with a retrospective review of any appraisal you may have had in the past. Even though most review work is commissioned by lenders for quality control, homeowners suspecting they've been the victim of mortgage fraud are prudent to get a second opinion.