Attention homeowners in Austin and Travis County: Get an Appraisal today!

The top seven reasons TX homeowners order from 5 Star Appraisals:

Find the right listing price (whether you're using an agent or selling the home on your own)
Challenge a property tax assessment
To reduce their mortgage payment by removing PMI
To reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
Verify another appraiser's report
If real estate property needs to be divided because of a divorce
To settle an estate in TX by determining the true market value of real estate in question

Do you own a home in or near Austin? Do you need help determining the value of your real estate?
Contact 5 Star Appraisals.

At 5 Star Appraisals, we understand the unique needs of a consumer looking for appraisal services. The appraisal process and reporting formats are relatively routine to our business clients like lenders, lawyers, and accountants. As our client, you'll receive extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to understand what we do and how we present our conclusions.

Pre-listing Services/For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

It's very hard to be objective about your own home because you probably have an emotional attachment to it. Professional appraisers, like the ones at 5 Star Appraisals, are objective. We will tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear. A professional appraisal is a crucial negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your home will attract buyers. The appraisal is something concrete to show your buyer. An appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your home's price -- not just you saying how much you think your house is worth. Interested buyers assume that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be far more likely to give credibility to an expert appraiser's value estimation than yours.

Appraisals to cancel PMI

Getting the PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) removed from your mortgage loan is a preferred way to save money for homeowners. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan is below 80% of the value of your house. In most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan. At 5 Star Appraisals, we're veterans in helping consumers just like you dismiss unneeded and unwanted PMI insurance.

Challenge Tax Assessment

Lets say you live in a region that's declining -- your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. That only means you're most likely paying more taxes than you should. The quicker you take care of things like this, the better, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. Getting an appraisal from 5 Star Appraisals is your #1 weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

Was your HELOC recently frozen?

Even if your specific property has not declined in value, your lender may just choose to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your property is in a declining area. This can be be bad for your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out, and also unsuitable from a cash flow viewpoint. A professional appraisal from 5 Star Appraisals can help you reinstate your HELOC.

We Also Provide Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need an expert to double-check your appraisal for precision, or do you desire a second opinion without the added expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? An appraiser from 5 Star Appraisals can go out and check the subject and comps in question in a field review. Or, if you're in a rush, we can provide 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? 5 Star Appraisals can help with that too. Even though this is usually requested by banks, you may want to use this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.