Attention homeowners in Saint Louis and Saint Louis City County: Need an appraisal?

See the top 7 reasons MO homeowners hire Sarah Burke:

  1. Pre-listing appraisals (whether they're selling the home themselves or using an agent)
  2. To challenge a MO property tax assessment
  3. To cut their monthly mortgage payment by removing PMI
  4. Reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
  5. To review a different appraiser's report for verification
  6. If real estate property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. Settle an estate in MO by determining the true market value of property in question

Need help determining the price of your house in or near Saint Louis, MO?
Contact Sarah Burke.

We at Sarah Burke understand the particular needs of a customer in need of appraisal services. While our usual business clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get extra customer 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/Pre-Listing Services

It's very hard to be objective about your home because you most likely have an emotional attachment to it. Our professional appraisers at Sarah Burke are objective. We won't just tell you what you want to hear, we will tell you what you need to know. A professional appraisal is very crucial as a negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your property will attract many interested buyers. It's something tangible to show the buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your house's price, and not just how much you think your home is worth. Interested buyers assume that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be more likely to give credibility to a seasoned appraiser's value report than yours.

PMI Removal Appraisals

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. An attractive way to cut expenses for homeowners is to get the PMI removed from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan is less than 80% of the value of your property. In most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI removed from your loan. Sarah Burke is qualified in helping consumers just like you do away with undesirable PMI insurance.

Challenging Saint Louis City county's assessment of your property

Lets say your home is not appreciating as much as other homes close by -- your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. That only means you're going to pay more taxes than you should. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the sooner you take care of a matter like this, the better. Getting a professional appraisal from Sarah Burke is your perfect weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

Was your HELOC recently frozen?

Your lender might just choose to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your house is in a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can be be harmful to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out, and also difficult from a cash flow angle. Sarah Burke can help you reinstate your HELOC.

We Also Provide Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need a seasoned expert to double-check your appraisal for verity, or do you desire a second opinion without the charge and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? In a field review we'll go out and check the subject and comparables. Or, if you need it immediately, we can provide you with a 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 report? Sarah Burke can help with that too. While typically requested by banks, you may want to use this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.