Appraisal services for Rapid City and Pennington County homeowners

Check out the top seven reasons SD homeowners use Bergman Appraisal:

  1. To get a pre-listing appraisal (whether they're selling the home on their own or using an agent)
  2. Challenge a property tax assessment
  3. To cut your mortgage payments by removing PMI
  4. Reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. Review a different appraiser's report for verification
  6. If real estate property needs to be divided because of a divorce
  7. To determine the true market value of property in question to settle an estate

Need help deciding the value of your home in or near Rapid City, SD?
Contact Bergman Appraisal.

We at Bergman Appraisal understand the individual needs of a homeowner seeking appraisal services. While our usual clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get an extra level of customer service in the form of an explanation of the process and even special consumer-friendly reporting forms if the assignment allows for them.

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

Since you have an emotional attachment to your own home, it's often very hard to be objective about it. The professional appraisers at Bergman Appraisal will tell you what you need to know -- not just what you want to hear. We are objective. A professional appraisal is a very important negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your property will attract many interested buyers. It gives you something tangible to show your buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your house's price, and not just how much you think your house is worth. Potential buyers assume that you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be far more likely to give credibility to an accomplished appraiser's value conclusion than yours.

PMI Removal Appraisals

A fashionable way to cut costs for homeowners is to get the PMI canceled from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. PMI stands for "Private Mortgage Insurance". Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan is down 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. Bergman Appraisal is qualified in helping clients just like you abolish unneeded PMI insurance.

Challenge a property tax assessment

Lets say you live in a local area that is declining -- your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. This means you are most likely paying higher taxes than you should be paying. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the faster you take care of a matter like this, the better. An appraisal from Bergman Appraisal is your strongest weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

HELOC recently frozen?

Your lender might choose to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your house is in or near a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. Not only can this be disadvantageous from a cash flow standpoint, but it can be unfavorable to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. Bergman Appraisal can provide you with a professional appraisal that will help you reinstate your home equity line of credit.

Do You Need Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services?

Have you just received a copy of your appraisal and you would like to have a professional double-check it for precision or do you want a second opinion without the cost and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? We can go out and check the subject and comps in question in a field review. If you need it ASAP, we'll provide 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 in the past. While usually requested by banks, you may desire to utilize this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your house.