Front Gate Appraisals, LLC

Welcome to our home page. We are a leading provider of real estate valuations for the mortgage lending marketplace. With many years of experience in the business, we have a proven track record of reducing time, efforts and costs in managing the appraisal process. We are a leading provider of appraisals for: Primary and secondary mortgages Mortgage refinancing Employee relocation Private mortgage insurance removal Estate planning Divorce settlement Our investment in training and technology has helped our customers greatly reduce their workload. By offering online appraisal ordering, coupled with automatic report status updates and electronic delivery of the final product, we are able to eliminate the run around and phone tag hassles associated with this process. And since this saves us money as well, we can keep our rates competitive with anybody in the industry. Short turn-around times Highest quality appraisal reports Online status reports Electronic ordering and delivery Competitive pricing Through this website, you can perform a number of tasks. Ordering an appraisal is just a click away. Or, spend some time and find out a bit more about the appraisal business. The more you know, the better decision you can make. And check back frequently, as our content is always being updated. What is an appraisal A home purchase is the largest, single investment most people will ever make. Whether it's a primary residence, a second vacation home or an investment, the purchase of real property is a complex financial transaction that requires multiple parties to pull it all off. Most of the people involved are very familiar. The Realtor is the most common face of the transaction. The mortgage company provides the financial capital necessary to fund the transaction. The title company ensures that all aspects of the transaction are completed and that a clear title passes from the seller to the buyer. So who makes sure the value of the property is in line with the amount being paid? There are too many people exposed in the real estate process to let such a transaction proceed without ensuring that the value of the property is commensurate with the amount being paid. This is where the appraisal comes in. An appraisal is an unbiased estimate of what a buyer might expect to pay - or a seller receive - for a parcel of real estate, where both buyer and seller are informed parties. To be an informed party, most people turn to a licensed, certified, professional appraiser to provide them with the most accurate estimate of the true value of their property. The Inspection So what goes into a real estate appraisal? It all starts with the inspection. An appraiser's duty is to inspect the property being appraised to ascertain the true status of that property. The appraiser must actually see features, such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, the location, and so on, to ensure that they really exist and are in the condition a reasonable buyer would expect them to be. The inspection often includes a sketch of the property, ensuring the proper square footage and conveying the layout of the property. Most importantly, the appraiser looks for any obvious features - or defects - that would affect the value of the house. Once the site has been inspected, an appraiser uses two or three approaches to determining the value of real property: a cost approach, a sales comparison and, in the case of a rental property, an income approach.