Attention homeowners in Champaign and Champaign County: Need an appraisal?

The top seven reasons IL homeowners need Appraisals By Trautman:

  1. Get a pre-listing appraisal (whether they're selling the home themselves or using a real estate agent)
  2. Challenge property tax assessments
  3. To cut your monthly mortgage payment by removing PMI
  4. To reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. To review a different appraiser's report for verification
  6. In the case of a IL divorce, when real estate property needs to be divided
  7. Determine the true market value of property in question to settle an estate in Champaign county or IL

Own a house in or near Champaign, IL and need help determining the value of it?
Contact Appraisals By Trautman.

At Appraisals By Trautman, we understand the individual needs of a customer after appraisal services. While our usual clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get extra 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 (FSBO)

It's very hard to be objective about your house 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. In addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your home will attract many interested buyers, a professional appraisal is very valuable as a negotiating tool once you have a potential buyer. It gives you something tangible to show the buyer. An appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your house's price -- not just how much you think your house is worth. Potential buyers assume that you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be more likely to give credibility to an accomplished appraiser's value opinion than yours.

Appraisals to remove PMI

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. An attractive way to cut expenses for homeowners is getting the PMI canceled from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Once your mortgage loan amount is below 80% of the value of your house, in most cases you can apply to your lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan, which will make your monthly payments go down. At Appraisals By Trautman, we're seasoned in helping clients just like you delete unneeded and unwanted PMI insurance.

Challenge Tax Assessment

If you live in an area that is declining or not appreciating as much as other homes close to yours, your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. This only means you are paying 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 things like this, the better off you'll be. When contesting your property tax assessment, getting an appraisal from Appraisals By Trautman is your number one weapon.

HELOC recently frozen?

Your lender just may decide 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 difficult from a cash flow viewpoint, and unfavorable to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Appraisals By Trautman can help you reinstate your HELOC.

We Also Provide Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Would you like a second opinion without the added expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? Or do you desire a seasoned appraiser to double-check your appraisal for preciseness? Appraisals By Trautman offers field reviews where we go out and check the subject and comps in question. If you need it ASAP, we'll provide desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

We can also provide a retrospective review of any appraisal you may have had done before. While usually requested by banks, you may wish to employ this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.