My family recently hired Doug to appraise our deceased grandparents' property for the purposes of dividing an estate fairly between heirs. I found Doug online after several hours of research in the LA area looking for a certified residential appraiser (I was surprised to see very few appraisers on Yelp). Doug's website was clear and intelligently written, and he had many excellent testimonials on Service Magic, so I called him up and interviewed him over the phone. He seemed like an man of integrity and experience, and so after consulting with my family, I asked him to give us a thorough, honest appraisal of the real estate--with both a range and a pinpointed number of the property's value--to help us with our estate settlement needs.
Doug was an excellent communicator on the phone and through emails. He went through the property and measured the dimensions of every room. He recognized areas that needed repair and areas that had been remodeled, and confirmed that the remodels had been done with permits. Doug's appraisal was beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and complete with the usual maps, nice photographs, and descriptions of six comparable homes in the neighborhood, all recently sold (he revealed much more than we found ourselves on Zillow). He described precisely how his numbers were deduced from looking at the comps available. He also wrote in his appraisal about the history of the neighborhood and why homes there were valued at a premium. To top it off, Doug had consulted with a relator in the area and discovered that this realtor had recently approached the other side of our family and made an offer on our house--something our family didn't even tell us because they wanted to conceal the value of the home! That's some brilliant detective work, Doug! All of this was revealed in his appraisal.
The other side of my family had meanwhile ordered an alternate appraisal--costing several hundred dollars more than Doug charged us--and they produced an appraisal far inferior in research, documentation, and quality of comps--appraising the home at a mere two thirds of the value that Doug arrived at... So who can we trust? Putting the two appraisals side by side, Doug's appraisal far outshines the other in its documentation, delivery, depth, and overall quality of comparable properties.
Thank you, thank you, Doug. My family can now move forward with excellent information and resources to fairly negotiate the value our grandparents' home. Before your appraisal, we were guessing in the dark--and literally $300,000 low in our estimate! This Yelp review is the least I can do to show my gratitude. read more
