Contact
Tell me the purpose and the deadline
Those two settle the effective date, the fee and the turnaround between them. Everything else can be worked out afterwards.
Speak to the appraiser
Call and say what you need
The phone reaches the appraiser — there is no call center and no scheduling queue, because there is nobody else here. Two minutes settles the fee, the effective date and the turnaround, and if an appraisal is the wrong instrument for what you need, you will hear that on the same call.
Worth mentioning: The address, what the figure has to do, and whether anything has a deadline on it. Those three settle almost everything else.
- Mon–Fri, by appointment
- Direct line
Rather write? vinnymel@verizon.net — answered within one business day.
Worth having in front of you
None of this is needed before you dial. Having it nearby is what turns a rough range into a firm figure on the first call.
- What the number is for. A mortgage or refinance, PMI removal, an estate, a divorce, a tax appeal, a relocation, a pending listing, or something else entirely. Everything downstream follows from this one answer.
- The address, and the block and lot if an assessment notice is within reach.
- The date, where the purpose fixes one — a death, October 1 of the pretax year for an appeal, a date counsel has already specified. Not knowing which applies is itself worth raising.
- Any deadline. A filing, a hearing, a closing, an April 1 appeal date. It changes the order things happen in and whether I can take the job at all. It never changes the analysis.
- Who ends up reading it. You, a lender, counsel, an accountant, a servicer, a county board.
If you are not certain an appraisal is what you want
Say so, and it gets sorted out on the call. A good number of enquiries open with "I just want to know what it's worth" when what is actually driving them is legal or procedural — and an agent's market analysis cannot carry a date-of-death filing, an equitable distribution, or an appeal in front of a county board.
It runs the other way at least as often. Where you are pricing an ordinary house in an active market and nobody but you needs convincing, a formal appraisal is probably not where your money should go, and you will be told so rather than sold one.
Three calls that are worth making first
Depending on what you are here for, there is somebody who should hear from you before I do:
- PMI removal — call your servicer. Ask whether they cancel on current value, what loan-to-value they require, and whether they will accept an appraisal you commission rather than one they order. Many will only read their own, which makes mine worthless to them.
- A tax appeal — check the ratio. New Jersey allows a margin either side of your district's average ratio before an assessment is reduced. Inside it, an accurate appraisal still loses. Send me the numbers and I will tell you what I think.
- A relocation — ask your employer's relocation company. They almost certainly order the appraisals themselves, from their own panel, and will not accept one you commissioned.
Direct
No obligation
Or send the details instead
If writing is easier than calling, this reaches the same place. A name and one way to reach you is enough — the rest only makes the answer more exact.
Rather just talk? (973) 427-8164
Reach me directly
A phone call is the quickest route. Tell me the property, what the appraisal is for and any deadline you are working to, and you will get a straight answer about whether I am the right person for it.
Or write to vinnymel@verizon.net.