Attention homeowners: Real estate appraisal services for in Augusta and Kennebec County

The top 7 reasons why ME homeowners use Kornerstone Associates, Inc.:

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

Do you own a house in or near Augusta? Do you need help determining the price of your real estate?
Contact Kornerstone Associates, Inc..

At Kornerstone Associates, Inc., we understand the individual needs of a customer seeking appraisal services. While our typical business clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get an extra level of 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 (FSBO)

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

Appraisals to cancel PMI

A preferred way to cut costs for homeowners is getting the PMI removed from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. PMI stands for "Private Mortgage Insurance". Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan amount is less than 80% of the value of your house. In most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan. Kornerstone Associates, Inc. is experienced in helping folks just like you delete undesirable PMI insurance.

Challenge Tax Assessment

Your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued if you live in an area that is declining or is not appreciating as much as other properties close to yours. This means you're probably paying higher taxes than you should be paying. 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. An appraisal from Kornerstone Associates, Inc. is your chief weapon when challenging your property tax assessment.

HELOC recently frozen?

Even if your specific property has not declined in value, your lender might make the decision to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your property is close to a declining area. Not only can this be inopportune from a cash flow angle, but it can be detrimental to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Kornerstone Associates, Inc. can help you reinstate your home equity line of credit with efficient appraisal.

We Also Offer Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Have you just been handed a copy of your appraisal and you'd wish to have an expert double-check it for efficiency or do you need a second opinion without the added expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? We can go out and check the subject and comparables in question in a field review. Or, if you're in a rush, 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? Kornerstone Associates, Inc. can We can assist you. Even though this is usually requested by banks, you may want to use this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.