Appraisal services for Williamsburg and James City County homeowners

The top 7 reasons VA homeowners order from Lawrence McGuire:

Pre-listing appraisals (whether they're selling the home on their own or using an agent)
Challenge property tax assessments
To cut their mortgage payments by removing PMI
To 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 VA

Do you own a house in or near Williamsburg? Do you need help determining the price of your real estate?
Contact Lawrence McGuire.

At Lawrence McGuire, we understand the particular needs of a homeowner seeking appraisal services. Our business practices and reporting formats are familiar to our business clients like banks, lawyers, and CPAs. As our client, we'll be sure you get extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to more fully understand what we do and how we present our conclusions.

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

Since you have an emotional attachment to your own house, it's often very hard to be objective about it. The professional appraisers at Lawrence McGuire will tell you what you need to know -- not just what you want to hear. We are objective. In addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your house will attract buyers, a professional appraisal is very crucial as a negotiating tool once you have an attainable buyer. It gives you something concrete to show your buyer. An appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your house's price -- not just you saying how much you think your house is worth. Potential buyers assume you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be far more likely to give credibility to an experienced appraiser's value judgement than yours.

Appraisals to remove PMI

Getting the PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) canceled from your mortgage loan is an attractive money saver for homeowners. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan amount is below 80% of the value of your house. In most cases you can apply to the lender to have the PMI canceled from your loan. At Lawrence McGuire, we're seasoned in helping customers just like you abolish unneeded and unwanted PMI insurance.

Challenging a property tax assessment

If you live in a local area that is going down or is not appreciating as much as other homes close by, your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued. That only means you're going to pay more taxes than you should. The earlier you take care of a matter like this, the better, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. Getting a professional appraisal from Lawrence McGuire is your number one weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

Was your HELOC recently frozen?

If your house is in or near a declining area, your lender might just choose to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) - even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can this be difficult from a cash flow viewpoint, and damaging to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Lawrence McGuire can help you reinstate your HELOC.

Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need a seasoned expert to double-check your appraisal for accuracy, or do you need a second opinion without the added expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? An appraiser from Lawrence McGuire can go out and check the subject and comparables in a field review. 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.

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