Universal Appraisal Management

With 4,061 square miles (10,517 km²), Los Angeles County borders 70 miles (110 km) of coast on the Pacific Ocean and encompasses numerous other natural landscapes including towering mountain ranges, deep valleys, forests, islands, lakes, rivers, and desert. More specifically, the county contains the following rivers: Los Angeles River, Rio Hondo, the San Gabriel River and the Santa Clara River. The primary mountain ranges are the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. It also includes the westernmost part of the Mojave Desert, and San Clemente Island and Santa Catalina Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the population of Los Angeles County is located on the southern and southwestern portion of it. The major population centers are the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys. Moderate populations are in the Santa Clarita, Crescenta and Antelope Valleys. The area north of the Santa Clarita Valley (Northwest Los Angeles County, adjacent to Ventura and Kern counties) is mostly mountainous, rugged, well-timbered and filled with coniferous forests that receives plentiful snow in the winter, right to the point of blizzard conditions. This area is less populated. Mountains in this area include San Emigdio Mountains, the southernmost part of Tehachapi Mountains, and the Sierra Pelona Mountains.

Most of the highest peaks in the county are located in the San Gabriel Mountains, which are part of the Transverse Ranges. They include Mount San Antonio (10,064 ft) at the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county lines, where the Mount Wilson Observatory is located. Several smaller, lower peaks are located in the northern, western, and southwestern Los Angeles County. The county has a total area of 4,752 square miles (12,308 km²), of which, 4,061 square miles (10,518 km²) of it is land and 691 square miles (1,791 km²) of it (14.55%) is water.

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 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 Ventura County or Ventura County Appraisals, special techniques need to be used in order to ensure that the unique landscape and inidvicual neighborhoods are acccounted for. Ventura 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 Ventura 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 Ventura County Appraisals, and of course Ventura 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 Ventura County broker, or a Ventura County bank looking to order a Ventura County appraisal, look no further than a California Appraisal Management company like Universal Appraisal Management.