Attention homeowners: Real estate appraisal services for in Patten and Penobscot County

Check out the top 7 reasons Maine homeowners use Craig Hartsgrove:

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


	Own a home in or near Patten, Maine and need help determining the value of it? Contact Craig Hartsgrove.

At Craig Hartsgrove, we understand the individual needs of a consumer looking for appraisal services. Our business practices and reporting formats are familiar to our business clients like lenders, lawyers, and CPAs. As our client, you will receive extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to better understand what we do and how we document our conclusions.

For-Sale-by-Owner (FSBO) / Pre-Listing Services

Since you have an emotional attachment to your own house, it's often very hard to be objective about it. A professional appraiser is objective and will tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear. A professional appraisal is very crucial as a negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your home will attract buyers. It gives you something concrete to show the buyer. An appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your property's value -- not just you saying how much your home is worth. Interested buyers know that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be much more likely to give credibility to a seasoned appraiser's value estimation than yours.

Challenge Tax Assessment

Let's say your home is not appreciating as much as other homes close by -- your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. That only means you're probably paying more taxes than you should. The sooner you take care of a matter like this, the better off you'll be, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. An appraisal report from Craig Hartsgrove is your strongest weapon when challenging your property tax assessment.

Appraisals to remove PMI

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. An attractive way to save money for homeowners is getting the PMI eliminated from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan is below 80% of the value of your home. In most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI removed from your loan. At Craig Hartsgrove, we're seasoned in helping homeowners just like you delete unneeded PMI insurance.

HELOC recently frozen?

Your lender just might make the decision to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your property is close to a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can be damaging to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out, and also annoying from a cash flow point of view. Craig Hartsgrove can provide you with an expert appraisal to help you reinstate your home equity line of credit.

Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need a professional to double-check your appraisal for accuracy, or do you need a second opinion without the expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? We can go out and check the subject and comparables in a field review. Or, if you need it immediately, 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 report? We can help with that too. While typically requested by banks, you may need to utilize this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your property.