A general value appraisal is a service we offer to clients who do not wish to use the appraisal for any financial purposes, such as securing a mortgage or home equity loan. These appraisals are performed in the same manner with the same level of accuracy as a typical FNMA 1004 "mortgage" appraisal, however, since they are not being used by a lender we do not need to complete some of the additional fields required on a 1004 form. These fields are generally just for the lender's underwriting staff and have no bearing on the final estimate of value. Also, we do not have to worry about a lender or mortgage company returning to us and asking for us to make changes to the appraisal just to suite their underwriting needs.

For these reasons, we can offer the same appraisal service at a reduced rate. If we do happen to perform a general value appraisal and you later wish to use it for a financial transaction, we can easily convert the appraisal to the required form for a small fee.