As a local small business owner that has had multiple (really great and authentic) Yelp! reviews not published because they didn't meet certain authenticity requirements, it's really frustrating to see them publish James' 5 star review of this business. He is clearly an unbiased patron and doesn't appear to have even used his services (personally) himself. Only as a mortgage lender. No red flags there? And I love that the only way Trent gets bad reviews is unreasonable homeowners. Good way to tell a quality review is how they audit the merits of the consumer not the business... yeah. But I digress. Yes, I hate leaving ONE STAR reviews because I rarely believe something or someone is that bad at their job or business. It almost seems petty to leave a one star review. I definitely could've here-- especially seeing the other two reviews before me and their experiences. But I'll stay true to my belief and give him TWO stars... My problem here is that I had some issues with the appraisal done on the house I had under contract to be sold. Their lender hired Trent to do the appraisal. They needed to be at a certain number and he came in 2% below that number. They were getting 100% financing so the appraisal had to match the contracted price. But Trent couldn't find that value somehow. So I looked into the appraisal more and had some red flags. First and foremost was that the square footage of our home was incorrect. Or rather, it was "gross living space" adjusted taking out the stairs. Okay fine. But in his comps he had three EXACT SAME MODELS OF HOME by the same builder in the same area of the same generation and *did not adjust* for the gross living space. Which now sets the value behind and he DID make that adjustment for square feet AGAINST us. Keep in mind that we only need to make up a few thousand dollars to get to 100% of contracted price. There were other oddities that I started making notes of like giving value of $1500 for a fireplace on a comp that didn't have a fireplace (not listed on MLS listing or in any pics). Our home had a great pergola and paver patio installed which he valued in the "cost" approach for about $7k. In the comps he listed all of them as "similar" in the patios with no value adjustments. Again a quick look at the listings online show NO COVERED PATIOS on the comps. Can't find that 2% huh? In the process of selling our home we were obviously buying another one. An appraisal was ordered for the new home. I thought it came in a little low as well but scoured through the appraisal (in the exact same format as Trent used) and found that his valuation was justified with a lot of explanation in the addendum. I go back to Trent's addendum and it's clearly cut-and-pasted generics on how he values stuff. The attention to details was SO GLARING between the two. These things and more prompted an email to him to ask if I was missing something and if he could explain it for me. No reply. And judging from above reviews he likely isn't ever going to bother with that. Again, as a small business owner this is customer service 101. If I'm way off base, you can send me a quick and simple explanation and leave it there. I don't write this review. And at the end of the day, this didn't even affect me monetarily like it did the others. I feel bad for the people trying to get the financing as they then had to come up with cash to fund the difference. I feel bad for them that there was oversight and laziness (in my opinion) that determined that. So. What am I going to do about it? Write a review and warn others. If you want a generic valuation done with likely poor attention to details and no follow-up, I guess Trent's your guy. read more

As a current mortgage lender and previous appraiser I've had the opportunity to deal with nearly every appraiser in the Valley and review probably over 2,000 appraisals in my career. Trent is extremely responsive and considers all usable comparable sales he's able to. We've had Trent on our appraisal panel for over a decade and we've never had any concerns or complaints about him - except once in a while from unrealistic homeowners who think they're more expert on current market conditions because Zillow or they cousin's, best friend who's been a real estate agent for 6 months told them so. Appraising real estate is governed by national guidelines and rules which must be followed regardless what the homeowner 'feels' the value should be. Sometimes those guidelines don't give the high value a homeowner is hoping for - ESPECIALLY in a hyper-appreciating market where sold prices and not the sale and pending or active listings. Trent is one of the more fair appraisers who will actually consider other comparable sales if they fit the search parameters. He's accurate, reliable, and honest. You won't have to worry about his work...and if you have an issue with his work - either go get your appraisal license and start showing the world how good you are or maybe take a look at your property - rather than adding bad reviews on a 20 year veteran of the business who knows the business and the Treasure Valley market better than 99% of the people walking the streets. We use Trent and will continue to do so. Integrity is a high commodity anymore and Trent has bucket loads. read more

This appraiser was contracted by the mortgage company who was handling our refinance and he came in so incredibly low with our home value, it was laughable. Absolutely laughable. It was approximately 100K off base. We presented an appeal and he raised it... slightly. We weren't able to get our PMI removed as a result and this man needs to no longer be in business. I'm furious we weren't able to remedy this in time, but interest rates started to creep back up and left us with no option but to just move forward. I would have gladly paid for another appraisal just for someone who would come out to do their job properly. I hate to say it, but this man needs to be put out of business. read more

If I could give this business a negative star rating, I would. They are contracted with my mortgage company to provide appraisals for PMI removal. First, the rates are 20-30% higher than any other company in the valley for this service. Second, the appraiser incorrectly valued the property as below grade when it clearly is not and has been proven and confirmed to be ALL above grade. He refused to come back out and review the report with the county representative and go over the plat map confirming the home was above grade. He refused to reconsider when I filed an appeal with my mortgage company. The property was originally appraised as an above grade to obtain the mortgage initially, and has since been re appraised as an above grade. His incorrect report resulted in an inaccurate value being applied to the property which ended up costing me well in excess of $5K not to mention the appraisal fee itself. I would avoid this company at all cost. read more