Real estate appraisal services for homeowners in the city of Canton and Lincoln County

Here are the top reasons SD homeowners call on Longstaff Appraisals:

  1. Pre-listing appraisals (whether they're selling the home themselves or using an agent)
  2. To challenge a SD property tax assessment
  3. Remove PMI to lower their mortgage payment
  4. Reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
  5. Verify another appraiser's report
  6. If property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. Determine the true market value of property in question to settle an estate in Lincoln county or SD

Own a home in or near Canton, SD and need help determining the price of it?
Contact Longstaff Appraisals.

We at Longstaff Appraisals understand the special needs of a consumer looking for appraisal services. Our business practices and reporting formats are familiar to our business clients like lenders, lawyers, and accountants. Being a person not in the real estate industry that probably doesn't look at appraisals on a regular basis,you'll receive extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to more fully understand what we do and how we report our conclusions.

Pre-listing Services/For Sale By Owner

Since you have an emotional attachment to your own house, it's often very hard to be objective about it. Professional appraisers, like the ones at Longstaff Appraisals, will be objective. We 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 an interested buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your house will attract many interested buyers. 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 how much your house is worth. Interested buyers assume you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be more likely to give credibility to an expert appraiser's value conclusion than yours.

Appraisals to cancel PMI

A popular way to save money for homeowners is getting the PMI canceled from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. PMI stands for "Private Mortgage Insurance". Once your mortgage loan is down below 80% of the value of your home, in most cases you can apply to the lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan, which will make your monthly payments go down. We are seasoned in helping folks just like you rid themselves of unnecessary PMI insurance.

Challenging property tax assessments

Lets say your home is not appreciating as much as other homes close to yours -- your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued. That only means you are going to pay more taxes than you should. The quicker 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. When contesting your property tax assessment, getting an expert appraisal from Longstaff Appraisals is your chief weapon.

HELOC recently frozen?

If your home is in or near a declining area, your lender may decide to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) - even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can this be annoying from a cash flow point of view, and destructive to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. A professional appraisal from Longstaff Appraisals can help you reinstate your HELOC.

We Offer Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need a seasoned expert to double-check your appraisal for efficiency, or do you desire a second opinion without the expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? We can go out and check the subject and comparables in a field review. 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.

Need a retrospective review of an appraisal? We can help you with that While usually requested by banks, you may want to make use of this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your property.