Questions about 24-hour desktop appraisals

When both your payment and your photos and property details have arrived. From that moment the appraisal is emailed to you within 24 hours, and the clock runs seven days a week, weekends and holidays included.

Nothing changes. Weekends and holidays count, so if payment and photos are in at 9 p.m. Saturday, the report is in your inbox by 9 p.m. Sunday.

For most California single-family homes and condominiums, yes. Very old valuation dates, highly unusual properties and orders covering several properties can need more time. Every request is reviewed before invoicing, so you'll know before you pay.

It pays for putting your file at the front of the line and finishing it within 24 hours, seven days a week, weekends and holidays included. The research, the analysis and the report itself are the same as on the standard schedule.

Order the same report at the standard fee ($299 or $449) with delivery in 5–10 business days. The analysis is identical; only the timing changes.

A complete appraisal prepared without a site visit by the appraiser. The appraiser researches the market, selects and adjusts comparable sales, and reconciles a value exactly as in any appraisal, describing the home from your photos, public records, listing history and the details you supply.

No. Automated estimates are computer models with no appraiser and no accountability, and broker opinions come from licensees who aren't appraisers. A desktop appraisal is developed and signed by a state-certified appraiser under USPAP, with a certification, a workfile and a license that can be checked.

Yes. USPAP leaves the extent of any inspection to the appraiser's scope of work and requires the report to state whether the appraiser personally inspected the property. Cwift reports state plainly that they are desktop appraisals and describe the information relied on.

Mortgage lending, cases headed to trial where the other side will challenge every assumption, disputes among beneficiaries, courts or agencies that require an interior inspection, and properties whose condition or features photos can't capture. For those, Brian Ward Appraisal offers inspection-based appraisals.

Brian Ward has prepared desktop appraisals for every purpose listed on this site. Some situations still call for an inspection-based appraisal, so check with your attorney or tax advisor before you order to be sure a desktop report fits your matter.

Because email and the online form are faster. A written request arrives with the address, the dates and the purpose already spelled out, photos travel in the same message, and nothing waits on a callback. Send questions to [email protected] at any hour.

The front and back of the house, the kitchen, each bathroom, the main living areas and bedrooms, plus anything that adds or subtracts value: upgrades, a pool, a view, damage, unfinished work. Smartphone photos are fine. For a past date, send photos that show the home as it was then.

Yes, and it saves time. Upload them right after you submit your order, or reply to the confirmation email with them. The clock starts the moment payment arrives.

As a PDF emailed to you, ready to forward to your CPA, attorney, trustee or the agency that asked for it.

If a feature, the condition or the quality of the home was misread or misdescribed, the appraisal is revised at no charge. Tell us what's different and include anything that shows it.

California single-family homes and condominiums, including townhomes and PUD homes. Cwift does not appraise 2–4 unit buildings, apartment buildings, commercial property and vacant land. Luxury homes, large acreage and highly unique properties may need a custom quote.

Yes. Desktop appraisals are available for property in all 58 California counties.

No. Lenders must order their own appraisals, and an appraisal can't be readdressed to a new client later. Cwift reports are for tax, legal, estate and personal decisions.

Brian Ward, California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, license AR036053, who has appraised California homes since 2004. No trainees, no outsourcing.

Through the secure online invoice emailed to you after your request is reviewed. Payment and photos start the 24-hour clock.