Real estate appraisals provide an estimation of the market value of a property; i.e. what the property is worth in a sales transaction.
Insurance appraisals provide an estimation of the insurable value of a property, which includes the cost to reconstruct a new building of a similar construction method and quality in the event of a total loss, less certain costs and expenses excluded by insurance policies.
No, Beacon Valuation & Appraisal is not qualified at this time to perform real estate appraisals.
However, Beacon Valuation & Appraisal can provide insurance appraisals for specialty properties with complex considerations, such as homes that are listed on a state or national historical registry.
Information needed varies by situation, but common to all proposals, we will need details for the property to be appraised and the contact information for the person that is authorized to accept the proposal. Additional information that may be needed is addressed below:
Property address and a detailed list of all buildings and improvements are all that is typically needed to prepare a proposal. Any additional information specific to your property that is needed to prepare the proposal will be requested when the proposal is drafted.
Typically, all that is needed to prepare a proposal for an update to an existing appraisal is information regarding any changes to the property.
For example, if an existing building was demolished or a new building was constructed since the last appraisal, this information will be vital for the preparation of the proposal.
Information regarding established values and expenses incurred are needed for multiple reasons, including but not limited to the fact that local pricing is more accurate than the general pricing provided by the estimating platform due to market intricacies and variations in the quality of materials and construction methods used in individual cases.
As values provided by the estimating service cannot be directly manipulated, established values are helpful to rule out any potential errors.
For example, in an appraisal performed recently, the prior appraiser did not use an “All-in” approach to value a condominium association with buildings and did not include any finishes in the units.
The association (in this case) was responsible for restoring individual damaged units to their original construction, including the finishes.
Making this single change to the appraisal, combined with increases associated with inflation and supply chain constraints, caused an increase of over $10M in the insurable value of the property, meaning that the association had very substantial exposure to an unknown uninsured risk.
By having this information, the appraiser at Beacon Valuation & Appraisal was able to locate the issue and inform the association manager. Without this information, the association would be left on its own to try to figure out why the need for insurance coverage increased so sharply.
Upon receipt of the signed proposal, we will contact you to arrange an inspection of the property. Once the inspection of the property is completed, any additional information that is needed to complete the appraisal will be requested promptly.
An electronic copy of the appraisal report will be delivered to you within the later of 30 days from the time we receive the requested information from you, or the date the inspection is completed.
Payment in full is due within 30 days from delivery of the appraisal report. Payment by check can be mailed to our PO Box or made electronically via ACH transfer. Details will be provided on the service invoice included with the report.
Yes, reports can be expedited. A nominal fee may be incurred depending on the company’s prior production commitments.
Yes, a sample report can be viewed by clicking here.
While some state statutes or local bylaws mandate that damaged interior finishes are the responsibility of the individual unit owner, most flood insurance is governed by FEMA, which is a federal agency.
The coverage provisions in the flood policy supersede state requirements and local bylaws. The calculation of flood values included in your appraisal report reflects these requirements.
The shelf life of the values provided within the appraisal varies greatly depending on market conditions that are typically unforeseeable at the time of the appraisal.
For example, consider how rapidly values increased as a result of supply chain constraints in early 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In typical situations, the appraised value, though increasing constantly, needs to be reevaluated after approximately 3-4 years with another site inspection. We can update values annually, without an inspection, for a substantially lower cost.
If you are interested in annual updates, please notify us when you request a proposal, and we will provide an option in our proposal for consideration.
At this time, Beacon Valuation & Appraisal only provides value appraisal services for the insurable value of a fixed property. No service is offered for the value of loss restoration associated with an insurance claim.
Beacon Valuation & Appraisal is not able to provide an opinion on insurable value after an occurrence of loss, and is not able to offer expertise for disputes that do not involve values established at our recommendation.
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