Real estate appraisal services for homeowners in Cook County, Lale County and DuPage County

The top 7 reasons why Illinois homeowners hire Sandcastle Management & Realty:

  1. Pre-listing appraisals (whether they're selling the home themselves or using a real estate agent)
  2. Challenge Cook County's assessment of your property value
  3. Remove PMI to lower their mortgage payment
  4. Reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. To review a different appraiser's report for verification
  6. If property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. To settle an estate in Illinois by determining the true market value of the property in question
Need help determining the value of your house in or near Northbrook, Illinois? Contact Sandcastle Management & Realty.

 

We at Sandcastle Management & Realty understand the particular needs of a customer looking for appraisal services. Our business practices and reporting formats are relatively routine to our business clients like lenders, attorneys, and CPAs. Being a homeowner that probably doesn't see an appraisal on a regular basis, you can expect extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to more fully understand what we do and how we present our findings.

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

It's very hard to be objective about your house because you probably 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. A professional appraisal is a crucial negotiating tool once you have a potential buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your house will attract interested buyers. The appraisal is something concrete to show the buyer. An appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your house's value -- not just how much your home is worth. Potential buyers know that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be much more likely to give credibility to a professional appraiser's value judgement than yours.

 

Challenging a property tax assessment

If you live in an area that is declining or not appreciating as much as other homes nearby, your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued. That means you are most likely paying more taxes than you should. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the sooner you take care of things like this, the better off you'll be. A professional appraisal from Sandcastle Management & Realty is your number one weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

 

PMI Removal Appraisals

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. A preferred money saver for homeowners is to get 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 home. In most cases you can apply to your lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan. We are experts in helping clients just like you do away with unwanted PMI insurance.

Was your HELOC recently frozen?

Your lender might just make the decision to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your property is in or near a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. Not only can this be unsuitable from a cash flow angle, but it can be destructive to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Sandcastle Management & Realty can provide you with an expert appraisal to help you reinstate your home equity line of credit.