Need an appraisal in Melbourne or Brevard County?

Check out the top seven reasons FL homeowners use Karen Richter:

Find the right listing price (whether they're selling the home on their own or using an agent)
Challenge property tax assessments
To cut a mortgage payments by removing PMI
Reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
To review a different appraiser's report for verification
If real estate needs to be divided because of a divorce
Determine the true market value of real estate in question to settle an estate in FL

Own a home in or near Melbourne, FL and need help determining the price of it?
Contact Karen Richter.

We at Karen Richter understand the special needs of a customer seeking appraisal services. Our usual business clients understand the appraisal process and the usual documents we provide. But as a general consumer,we will provide you with extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to more fully understand what we do and how we report the results of our analysis.

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

It's very hard to be objective about your house because you probably have an emotional attachment to it. Our professional appraisers at Karen Richter are objective. We won't just tell you what you want to hear, we will tell you what you need to know. In addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your house will attract buyers, a professional appraisal is a crucial negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer. It gives you something tangible to show your buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your home's price, and not just you saying how much you think your house is worth. Potential buyers assume that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be more likely to give credibility to an experienced appraiser's value assessment than yours.

Need to cancel PMI?

An attractive money saver 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". 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 removed from your loan, which will make your monthly payments go down. At Karen Richter, we're qualified in helping clients just like you get rid of unwanted PMI insurance.

Challenging a property tax assessment

Your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued if you live in a region that is going down or is not appreciating as much as other homes nearby. That only means you're paying more taxes than you should. The sooner you take care of a matter like this, the better off you'll be, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. An appraisal from Karen Richter is your best weapon when challenging your property tax assessment.

Was your HELOC recently frozen?

Your lender might just make the decision to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your house is close to a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can this be disadvantageous from a cash flow point of view, and detrimental to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Karen Richter can provide you with a professional appraisal to help you reinstate your HELOC.

Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Would you like a second opinion without the added cost and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? Or do you desire an expert to double-check your appraisal for verity? Karen Richter 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.

Need a retrospective review of an appraisal report? We can help you with that While typically requested by banks, you may wish to exercise this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.