Appraisal services for Salisbury and Wicomico County homeowners

Here are the top seven reasons MD homeowners use Assateague:

  1. Find the right listing price (whether you're using an agent or selling the home on your own)
  2. Challenge a property tax assessment
  3. To reduce your mortgage payments by removing PMI
  4. Reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
  5. Verify another appraiser's report
  6. In the case of a MD divorce, when real estate property needs to be divided
  7. To settle an estate in Wicomico county or MD by determining the true market value of property in question

Need help deciding the value of your home in or near Salisbury, MD?
Contact Assateague.

We at Assateague understand the particular needs of a consumer seeking appraisal services. While our typical business 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.

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

It's very hard to be objective about your own house because you most likely have an emotional attachment to it. Professional appraisers, like the ones at Assateague, will be objective. We 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 property will attract many interested buyers, a professional appraisal is a very valuable negotiating tool once you have an attainable buyer. It gives you something tangible 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 assume that you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be more likely to give credibility to a professional appraiser's value opinion than yours.

Appraisals to remove PMI

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. A popular way to cut costs for homeowners is getting the PMI eliminated from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan amount is below 80% of the value of your property. In most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan. At Assateague, we're experts in helping homeowners just like you rid themselves of unneeded and unwanted PMI insurance.

Challenge a property tax assessment

Lets say your home is not appreciating as much as other properties nearby -- your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. That means you're most likely paying more taxes than you should. The faster you take care of things like this, the better off you'll be, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. An appraisal from Assateague is your number one weapon when challenging your property tax assessment.

Was your HELOC recently frozen?

If your property is close to a declining area, your lender may just decide to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) - even if your specific property has not declined in value. Not only can this be inconvenient from a cash flow standpoint, but it can be harmful to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Assateague can provide you with an expert appraisal that will help you reinstate your HELOC.

We Provide Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Have you just accepted a copy of your appraisal and you'd like to have a veteran appraiser double-check it for preciseness or do you want a second opinion without the added cost and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? In a field review we will go out and check the subject and comparables in question. If you're in a hurry, we'll provide 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? Assateague can help you with that. While typically requested by banks, you may want to exploit this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.