Appraisal services for Waco and McLennan County homeowners

Here are the top 7 reasons why TX homeowners use Karen Castaneda:

  1. Get a pre-listing appraisal (whether you're using a real estate agent or selling the home on your own)
  2. To challenge a TX property tax assessment
  3. Remove PMI to lower your monthly mortgage payment
  4. Reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
  5. Review another appraiser's report for verification
  6. In the case of a TX divorce, where real estate property needs to be divided
  7. To settle an estate in McLennan county or TX by determining the true market value of real estate in question

Do you own a house in or near Waco? Do you need help determining the price of your real estate?
Contact Karen Castaneda.

We at Karen Castaneda understand the individual needs of a homeowner seeking appraisal services. While our typical 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.

Pre-listing Services/For Sale By Owner

Since you have an emotional attachment to your home, it's often very hard to be objective about it. Professional appraisers, like the ones at Karen Castaneda, are objective. We'll tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear. In addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your house will attract interested buyers, a professional appraisal is a very valuable negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer. It gives you something tangible to show your buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your house's value, and not just you saying how much your home is worth. Potential buyers assume you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be much more likely to give credibility to an expert appraiser's value opinion than yours.

Appraisals to remove PMI

Getting the PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) eliminated from your mortgage loan is a preferred way to cut expenses for homeowners. Once your mortgage loan amount is below 80% of the value of your house, in most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI removed from your loan, which will make your monthly payments go down. Karen Castaneda is seasoned in helping clients just like you delete unwanted and unneeded PMI insurance.

Challenging property tax assessments

Your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued if your home is not appreciating as much as other homes close to yours. That only 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. When challenging your property tax assessment, getting a professional appraisal from Karen Castaneda is your perfect weapon.

HELOC recently frozen?

Your lender might just decide to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your home is near a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can this be inconvenient from a cash flow angle, and harmful to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Karen Castaneda can provide you with a professional appraisal that will help you reinstate your HELOC.

Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Would you wish a second opinion without the added expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? Or do you desire an expert to double-check your appraisal for precision? We can go out and check the subject and comparables in a field review. Or, if you're in a hurry, we can provide desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

We can also provide you with a a retrospective review of any appraisal you may have had in the past. While usually requested by banks, you may want to take advantage of this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.