Serving Northern & Central New Jersey
Independent appraisals for lending, estates and divorce
The assignments where the number has to hold up in front of someone who would rather it didn't.
- 3–7 business days
- Quoted on request
- 11 counties
Rather just ask? (201) 815-1000
- Reports conform to USPAP
- Fees are never contingent on the value reached
- You deal with the appraiser who signs the report
Assignments
Start with the purpose
Every one of these wants a different date and a different kind of support behind it. Settling the purpose first is what keeps people from paying for a report that was never able to do the job.
Cannot tell which one applies to you? It is far and away the question that comes up most, and it takes about a minute to settle.
Most of what we do
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Estate & date-of-death
What the property was worth on the day the owner died — the figure that fixes the heirs' basis and supports the return the estate has to file.
Quoted on request 5–7 business days
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Divorce & equitable distribution
One impartial number on the marital residence, dated as counsel instructs, and set out so it survives being read by someone who wants it to be wrong.
Quoted on request 5–7 business days
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PMI removal
An appraisal can end a monthly PMI payment, but only on terms your servicer sets. Find out what those are before anyone takes your money.
Quoted on request 3–5 business days
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Pre-listing
Genuinely useful in some situations and a waste of money in others. This page is mostly about telling the two apart before you spend anything.
Quoted on request 3–5 business days
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Two-to-four family
A small income property is not a large house. It gets valued twice — as a building and as an investment — and the two figures rarely agree on the first pass.
Quoted individually 7–12 business days
Also handled
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Gift tax
Dated to the day of the gift, and written to the standard that starts the clock the IRS has to beat.
Quoted on request 5–7 business days
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Litigation support
Written on the assumption that opposing counsel will read every adjustment and an opposing expert will go looking for the weakest one.
Quoted individually 7–14 business days
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Retrospective valuation
A value for a day that has already gone, built only from what the market knew at the time and not from anything that has happened since.
Quoted on request 5–10 business days
Every report is written knowing that someone will go through it line by line.
Lending, estate and divorce work across 11 counties.
What a report written to be questioned looks like
- You deal with the appraiser who signs the report
- Whoever walks the property does the analysis and puts their name on it. You talk to them, not to a coordinator, and your booking does not sit behind somebody else’s lender volume.
- The effective date is chosen, not defaulted
- A date of death. The day a gift was made. A date counsel has fixed. Most appraisals simply carry the day they were written, and almost none of this work can. Ordering the wrong date is the most expensive mistake on offer here, and it is usually made before anyone has been engaged.
- Written for a hostile reader
- An estate report may be read by the Division of Taxation. A divorce report will certainly be read by the other side. So the sales chosen and the adjustments applied are shown and reasoned rather than asserted.
Also licensed
Real estate brokerage
Alongside the appraisal practice this is a licensed New Jersey real estate brokerage. If what you actually need is to sell the house rather than to have it valued, say so on the call and you will get a straight answer about which of the two serves you.
One capacity per property, always. Appraisal and brokerage never both on one house, and never one after the other inside the same transaction. Where brokerage is the route that serves you, that gets said before an appraisal assignment is accepted rather than after. An appraisal carries weight with a lender, a court or the Division of Taxation only where the person who signed it had nothing riding on the answer.
Public record
What the record already says about a property
Block and lot, property class, the assessment on file and the last recorded sale — straight from the State's own files, for any address in New Jersey.
It is a starting point and not an answer. An assessment is set for taxation, sits at a ratio to market value that moves by municipality and by year, and lags the market. The distance between that figure and what the property would actually sell for is the thing an appraisal measures — and the reason to pick up the phone.
Rather just ask? (201) 815-1000
Not sure which you need?
An assessment is not a valuation, and a valuation is not always what you want
Three different things, at three different prices, for three different purposes. Say which situation you are in on the phone and you will get a straight answer about which one serves you — including when it is the cheapest one.
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An appraisal
An independent, USPAP-compliant opinion of value, written to be examined. What a lender, a court, a county board or the IRS will accept.
What we appraise → -
A comparative market analysis
Quicker and cheaper, for deciding what to list at. It is a broker’s pricing opinion, not an appraisal, and it is not accepted for lending, tax or legal purposes.
Ask about a CMA → -
Selling the property
If the goal is to sell rather than to establish a value, we are a licensed New Jersey broker and that may be the shorter route.
Ask about brokerage →
One capacity per property. Appraisal and brokerage are never both taken on the same house, and never in sequence on the same transaction. Whichever serves you is settled before an assignment is accepted — which is why the choice is put here rather than after. (201) 815-1000
Reviews
What clients say
5 out of 5 stars
Mr. Zaccone is one of the top appraisers out there. He clearly knows his craft and has an excellent grasp of the real estate market. He’s approachable, professional, and an absolute pleasure to work with.
Gabriela Emiliano· via Google 5 out of 5 stars
I appreciated the service that was rendered by Al and his team. I found him to be definitely top tier with his knowledge, professionalism and keen attention to details. I highly recommend CSR Appraisals.
Sashoir· via Google 5 out of 5 stars
When I was thinking about listing my house, I was told I should get an appraisal first, so I looked around and came across Al. I am glad I did because he was super friendly and answered all the questions I had about the process. I will definitely recommend him to my friends!
Joseph Anderson · Pre-listing· via Google
Reviews
Worked with us?
A short review on Google is the most useful thing a past client can do for us. It is also the only place these can be checked by someone deciding whether to call — which is exactly why they belong there and not on a page we control.
Next step
Tell us the purpose and the deadline
If an appraisal is not the right instrument for what you need, or a cheaper one would serve, you will hear that before anything is ordered.