For attorneys
Independent valuation support
Estate, matrimonial and litigation assignments across Northern and Central New Jersey — written on the assumption somebody will be paid to pull them apart.
- Fee
- Quoted on request, in writing before the inspection is booked
- Turnaround
- 5 to 7 business days from inspection; rush available
- Delivery
- Counsel, the client, or both — whoever the engagement names
- Testimony
- A separate engagement, quoted separately
What this practice is
A residential appraisal practice organised around the assignments where the number gets contested or reviewed rather than filed. The effective date is set by the matter instead of defaulting to today, and your scheduling does not sit behind somebody else’s lender volume.
Every report conforms to USPAP. The appraiser who inspects the property is the one who signs the certification and answers for it afterwards — which becomes relevant the day a single adjustment needs explaining eighteen months after delivery.
Credentials
- Credential
- Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser
- License
- New Jersey Real Estate Appraiser Board #42RC00217900
Scope by matter type
The date changes with the matter, and it is the single thing most often ordered wrongly. Each entry below names the date that applies and what the report is built to carry.
- Estate and date-of-death
- Dated to the death. The analysis runs on sales that closed around that date rather than on today's market trended backwards. Written to carry the New Jersey inheritance return and, where one is filed, Form 706 — and to fix the beneficiaries' stepped-up basis under IRC §1014.
- Equitable distribution
- You supply the date; it is a legal determination and not ours to make. Joint or single-party retention, with identical analysis either way. Where the date is still being fought over, the engagement can carry a second one later at reduced cost instead of running the assignment twice.
- Litigation generally
- Partition and dissolution, boundary and easement disputes, casualty claims, schedules in bankruptcy. Scope set against the intended use and stated on the report. Each adjustment is built to stand on its own, since one at a time is how they get taken apart.
- Gift reporting
- Dated to the day the gift was made, and written to the standard that supports adequate disclosure on Form 709 — which is what starts the three-year assessment period and stops the value staying open indefinitely.
- Retrospective dates
- Any date already past: a death, the day before a casualty loss, a date fixed by the pleadings. Developed only from what the market knew then, with later sales used to corroborate a trend and never to arrive at the conclusion.
Independence, stated plainly
The USPAP ETHICS RULE requires impartiality, objectivity and independence, and forbids accommodating any party's interests — including those of whoever is paying the invoice. Concretely:
- No fee turning on the value reached, on the direction of the opinion, or on how the matter ends.
- No advocacy. The analysis gets explained and defended at whatever length is required; your case does not get argued from the box by an appraiser.
- No holding both appraisal and brokerage capacity on one property. One capacity per matter, and where brokerage is the better route that gets said before an appraisal assignment is accepted, never after.
Opposing counsel asks about all three before anything else, so they are set out here rather than left to be discovered.
On testimony
Deposition and testimony sit outside the appraisal engagement and are quoted on their own. Raise the possibility early rather than at the point it turns urgent — the calendar is what binds, not the analysis.
Whether a given appraiser is qualified as an expert in a given matter is the court's determination, made on that record. Nobody can promise it beforehand, and a practice advertising otherwise has told you something useful about how carefully it makes its other claims.
What goes in the file
The measurement, the comparable sales with every adjustment shown, and the reasoning tying the two to the conclusion. Adjustments are itemised rather than summarised, so somebody who wants to disagree with the arithmetic can actually follow it and say where.
Living area comes off the site measurement. Where that differs from the assessment record — and in older housing stock it frequently does — the report shows both figures and says which it used, because that gap is often the thing the matter turns on.
FAQ
What counsel usually asks
Will you accept instruction from both sides?
Yes, and a joint engagement is usually the cheaper route as well as the calmer one — a single joint expert produces one figure both parties are working from, which removes a whole category of argument before it starts. Where each side retains separately nothing about the analysis changes: the USPAP ETHICS RULE requires impartiality and independence regardless of who engages or who pays. Retention decides who the client is and who is entitled to the report, and nothing else.
What do you need from us before starting?
The intended use and the intended users, since USPAP requires both identified before scope can be set. The effective date, or word that it is still contested. Access arrangements. Any discovery or filing deadline you are working to. And any earlier appraisal of the property — particularly the one you would rather we did not read, which is almost always the one that matters.
Can the scope be limited to keep the cost down?
Scope can be tailored, and once tailored it has to be disclosed on the report. What cannot happen is a quietly narrowed scope, because that is exactly what opposing counsel will find and open with. Where the budget is fixed, say so and you will get a straight answer about whether what remains still supports the intended use — including the answer that it does not.
How do you handle confidentiality?
The USPAP ETHICS RULE imposes a confidentiality obligation over both assignment results and confidential information. The report reaches the intended users named in the engagement and nobody else absent written instruction. That extends to declining to confirm to a third party that an assignment exists at all.
What are the fee terms in a contested matter?
Fixed, and agreed in writing before any work begins. Never contingent on the value reached, on which way the opinion goes, or on how the matter resolves — all three are prohibited, and all three are among the first things opposing counsel will ask about. Deposition and testimony sit outside the appraisal engagement and are quoted separately.
What clients say
Read these on Google5 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
Next step
Send the matter type and the deadline
Scope, fee and turnaround come back in writing. Where an appraisal is the wrong instrument, or where the date you have been given does not match the purpose, you will hear that before anything is engaged.