Pre-Foreclosure & Short Sale Appraisal

Supporting homeowners in distress

As a California homeowner you have rights even if you have fallen behind on payments. If default or foreclosure is looming, the situation is not hopeless, and a clear picture of your property's value is the starting point for every option you have.

Our reports assess fair market value to support negotiations with mortgage servicers and banks, and to show your prospects if a quick sale becomes necessary. We aim to help you achieve the fairest price possible and avoid foreclosure.

For lenders and institutions

We serve banks with REO properties and third parties in these proceedings, including mortgage lenders, loan servicers, HUD, and law firms.

For foreclosure or REO management, both owners and institutions need the difference between a fair market sale and a quick disposition sale quantified. That gap determines feasibility, equity, or loss on charge-off, and we identify complications before the sale rather than during it.

Who orders this appraisal

• Homeowners in distress
• Short sale negotiators
• Real estate attorneys
• Loss mitigation departments

The rules that govern it

The servicer decides the valuation product, Short sale valuation is not one standard product. Servicers use broker price opinions, automated valuation models, and full appraisals, and which one applies depends on the investor behind the loan, the property, and the size of the shortfall. A full appraisal is more likely on higher-value, unusual, or disputed property.

Investor guidelines govern, and they change, Fannie Mae’s Servicing Guide, Freddie Mac’s Seller/Servicer Guide, and the HUD and VA programme rules each set out loss mitigation valuation requirements for loans they stand behind. These are updated frequently, so the operative requirement is whatever the servicer states for your specific loan today, not a section number quoted from an article.

The homeowner is not the client, In a servicer-ordered valuation the client is the servicer, and the report is prepared for its reliance. That is why a homeowner cannot simply commission a lower value, and why appraiser independence rules restrict who may communicate with the appraiser and about what.

Where an independent appraisal is used, A homeowner or their counsel may commission an independent appraisal as evidence when challenging a servicer’s value, where the servicer’s figure rests on a drive-by opinion that missed interior condition, or on comparables that are not comparable. It is evidence supporting a request; the servicer still decides.

How it works

1. Ask the servicer what valuation it has, what product it used, and its effective date. You cannot challenge a number you have not seen.
2. Establish whether the servicer will accept an independent appraisal, and in what form, before commissioning one.
3. Document interior condition and any deferred maintenance: this is what a drive-by opinion most often misses, and it is usually the strongest ground.
4. Complete the appraisal to the effective date the decision turns on.
5. Submit through the servicer’s loss mitigation channel, not to the appraiser who produced the original opinion.

What you receive

Appraisal supporting a short sale or workout submission. Standard turnaround is 1–3 weeks. Rush appraisals available for urgent deadlines.

Common questions