Rick Hartenstein – Real Estate Appraiser

Rick was recommended to me by a lender who I was working with in connection to purchasing a home.
Since the person I was helping was purchasing a home for the first time, neither or us knew what a headache it would be to purchase a home under FHA federal guidelines. There are kinds of conditions that come with borrowing money with Uncle Sam backing it and that’s fine, but these lenders need to get their shit together.
By that I mean making the process a little less hassle free and letting potential borrowers know up front how long the process and a tentative list of documents required for loan approval and closing costs. Make sure you ask these muthacluckers about every single BS fee they are charging you because it’s their job and it’s how they make their money (by charging the BS fees).
On to the reason why Im Unilocaling the real estate appraiser.
Rick was a referral and was nice enough to come out the same week, usually real estate appraisers need 2 – 4 days in advance notice. On top of that do not think that you will get the appraisal report right away. It might take a week or even more if your appraiser is busy.
Rick came out and walked around the proposed property for purchase with his camera and took notes. It was hot as hell outside but he went everywhere inside and outside the property making notes and taking pictures.
All in all, Rick was very friendly and thorough in his job. Make sure you ask lots of questions. It’s their job — just dont be annoying.
After about a week or more, I had to get the lender to send me a copy of the appraisal. Keep in mind that if you plan on using this appraisal for different lenders because you are shopping around make sure you mention it. If you are doing FHA loans, the lender has to put in an order for one. I paid for one out of pocket, ended up going with another lender.
Also, if you want to save some dough on closing costs, go down to the mortgage and conveyance office to get a copy of a survey of the property. It will cost you $ 3 instead of some bullshit $ 400. It cost your time and parking maybe, but overall it’s cheaper than letting the lender sock it to ya with those ridiculous BS fees.
If you go down to the mortgage and conveyance office, make sure you have the name of the person or entity that appears on the title, if there was a succession, make sure you have all of that info too because it will help the person who will research and look up the property in question locate the actual survey.
Ok yall — overall Rick was friendly, his report was detailed, objective but he was slow in returning calls and emails, probably cuz the guy is busy so give him a chance to get back to you. Cost was $ 400 but you may want to shop around for one and that takes time. I had a guy tell me his friend would do it for $ 350 but it was too late… overall do your research and call around asking about flat rates and turnaround time.