Attention homeowners in Summerville and Dorchester County: Need an appraisal?

See the top seven reasons why South Carolina homeowners order from Charlestown Mercant:

  1. Get a pre-listing appraisal (whether they're selling the home themselves or using an agent)
  2. Challenge a property tax assessment
  3. Remove PMI to reduce their mortgage payments
  4. To reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. Verify another appraiser's report
  6. If real estate property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. To determine the true market value of a property to settle an estate in Dorchester County or the state of South Carolina
Own a house in or near Summerville, South Carolina and need help determining the price of it? Contact Charlestown Mercant.

We at Charlestown Mercant understand the unique needs of a consumer looking for appraisal services. While our usual business clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get extra customer service in the form of an explanation of the process and even special consumer-friendly reporting forms if the assignment allows for them.

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

Since you have an emotional attachment to your home, it's often very hard to be objective about it. The professional appraisers at Charlestown Mercant will tell you what you need to know -- not just what you want to hear. We are objective. In addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your property will attract many interested buyers, a professional appraisal is very crucial as a negotiating tool once you have a potential buyer. It's something concrete to show the buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your home's value, and not just you saying how much your house is worth. Potential buyers know you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be much more likely to give credibility to an accomplished appraiser's value judgement than yours.

Challenge Tax Assessment

If you live in a local area that is declining or not appreciating as much as other properties close to yours, your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. That means you are most likely paying more taxes than you should. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the earlier you take care of things like this, the better. An expert appraisal from Charlestown Mercant is your best weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

Need to cancel PMI?

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. An attractive money saver for homeowners is to get the PMI removed 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 the lender to have the PMI removed from your loan. We're veterans in helping people just like you dismiss undesirable PMI insurance.

Recently got a freeze to your HELOC?

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

We Offer Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Have you just accepted a copy of your appraisal and you would like to have a seasoned expert double-check it for verity or do you want a second opinion without the cost and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? In a field review we will go out and check the subject and comparables in question. If you need it ASAP, we'll provide you with a desk review and verify as many facts as we can, using online data sources as well as our own files.

We can also provide a retrospective review of any appraisal you may have had done before. Although most appraisal reviews are requested by lenders for quality control, homeowners suspecting a prior appraisal wasn't above board are prudent to invest in a second opinion.