Universal Appraisal Management

Hollywood is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonym of cinema of the United States. The nickname Tinseltown refers to the glittering, superficial nature of Hollywood and the movie industry. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding cities such as Burbank and the Los Angeles Westside but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production and lighting companies, remain in Hollywood.

Many historic Hollywood theaters are used as venues and concert stages to premiere major theatrical releases and host the Academy Awards. It is a popular destination for nightlife and tourism and home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Although it is not the typical practice of the city of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods, Hollywood is a recent exception. On February 16, 2005, Assembly Members Goldberg and Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as though it were independent. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. This bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the LA City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor on August 28, 2006 and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz—two areas that were hitherto generally considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 167,664 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.

As a portion of the city of Los Angeles, Hollywood does not have its own municipal government, but does have an official, appointed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who serves as "Honorary Mayor of Hollywood" for ceremonial purposes only. Johnny Grant held this position for decades, until his death on January 9, 2008.

Los Angeles County is one of the best places in the county to do appraisals. First and foremost, there are a lot of houses here, so that transalates into a lot of business. That is one of the reasons why so many appraisers got their licenses here. It was a quick way to make a buck. However, at Universal Appraisal Management, were strive to recuit only the best appraisers that Los Angeles has to offer. Los Angeles County is stocked full of appraisers but only a few appraisers in Los Angeles County will make the cut. Los Angeles County has several specialized areas like the beach, the Hollywood Hills, and of course the many rish, tony areas that require an unique knowledge of the area. These appraisals cannot just be handled by some uneducated, aimless, ex-actor type who just happened to hear that appraisals was a good way to make a quick buck, went out and got his appraisal license and now is depressing the market for everyone. No, these appraisals need to be handled by those in the profession that understand completely the intricacies of pulling comps and the proper analyis of those comps to arrive at a valid solution.

Of course, we want to select comparable properties based on features and we need properties that are in the same area or as close as possible. Also, the sold properties selected need to have been sold as recently as possible. If only older sales are available, adjustments may need to be made for market valuation changes.

Some features that need to be compared and adusted for: Take each comparable sold property and add or subtract the value of features in comparison to the subject property. The appraiser and the real estate agent approach this comparison in similar manners, though the appraiser usually goes into it more in-depth.

Be sure to adjust for unusual or unrealistic prices: There are many factors that can cause a property to sell for higher or lower pricing than justified by the property characteristics or the comparable properties close-by. Be sure to either not use a comparable or make adjustments for sold prices that could have been influenced by divorce, death, unusually favorable financing terms, or other unusual situations.

One of the most important parts of the real estate process is the appraisal process. In California, with real estate prices spiraling almost out of control, it is important that lenders and homeowners be aware of the true value of their property, instead of the artificial value peddled by unscrupulous real estate brokers, agents and loan officers. These people are just interested in making a commission and are rarely interested in the best interests of their clients. At California appraisal management, you can trust the appraisal as being the ultimate authority in real estate values. Whether your broker or your agent agrees with the value or not is irrevelant. That is the true value of the home and you can live with that.

In Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernadino County, and Ventura County, California Appraisal Management also known as Universal Appraisal Management is the leader in appraisal management. In recent years, appraisers, like many real estate professionals, have popped up out of the woodwork in the past few years looking to make a quick buck. But let's face it, most of these people are deluded. Like the real estate agent who knows very little about properties, to the loan agent that only knows two loan programs, many appraisers just know how to put together three comps and crank out a report. It is little wonder that these same appraisers are now doing their work for less than half their normal fee. After all with little to no education, its either that or go back to waiting tables. So as long as they are making more money than they were waiting tables, its worth it to them. The same goes for loan agents, but to a lesser extent.

In any case, here at California Appraisal Management, we do not pay our appraisers like migrant workers but we do expect them to excel at what they do. We will choose only the very best appraisers to value your property. We do not need a large group of quality assurance specialists, because the appraisals get done right the first time. And since our appraisers all own a profit sharing plan in the company, they respond to appraisal conditions faster than anyone.

In the case of appraisals in Los Angeles County or Los Angeles County Appraisals, special techniques need to be used in order to ensure that the unique landscape and inidvicual neighborhoods are acccounted for. Los Angeles County has a good mix of older and newer homes, with the older homes not being too old but the newer developments in many cases being less than five years old. Thus an appraiser has to take care and compare like with like, and not use a new home comparable when appraising an older home and vice versa. And because of the difference in the topography of the landscape, the unique valley, hills, and canyon views must be recognized, and proper adjustments need to be made. Thus an appraisal in Los Angeles County can often be a difficult and time consuming task and will need and specialized appraiser from a California Appraisal Managment company like Universal Appraisal Management that specializes in these type of unique Los Angeles County Appraisals, and of course Los Angeles County Appraisal Managment.

It can't hurt to list with a real estate agent or broker. However, most real estate brokers simply "list" your property. This means they stick it in the multiple listing computer and wait for a bite. The first problem with this method is that there are thousands of other homes in the computer that read just like yours. The second problem is that most Realtors list your property at a price that is unrealistically high. They do this because: (1) they need room for their fee, and (2) they need room to counter offer when another realtor presents them with an offer. The bargaining goes back and forth, time goes by, the buyer needs to inspect the property, the bank rejects their loan application, blah, blah, blah - six months later you are back where you started.

So if you are a Los Angeles County broker, or a Los Angeles County bank looking to order a Los Angeles County appraisal, look no further than a California Appraisal Management company like Universal Appraisal Management.