Residential appraiser · Oviedo, Florida
Residential appraisals for estates, divorces, tax appeals, refinances and anyone who needs to know what a property is really worth. Seminole, Orange, and parts of Volusia, Osceola, Lake and Brevard. Most reports within 48 hours of inspection.
The thing worth knowing
People find that hard to believe, and it is the single most useful thing to understand before you order anything. An appraisal is not a fact about a house the way its square footage is a fact. It is an opinion of value, on a specific date, for a specific use. Change the date and the number changes with it.
That sounds like a technicality. It is not. Someone whose mother passed in early 2023 needs the house valued as it was on the day she died, because that is what sets the stepped up basis the heirs inherit. Value it as of today instead and the number could be tens of thousands off, and the report will not do the job it was bought for.
The date is not paperwork. It is part of the answer.
Divorce work is where this bites hardest. Florida does not fix one date for equitable distribution. Depending on the case it might be the date of filing, the date of separation, or the date of trial, and in a market that has moved the way Central Florida's has, those can be very different numbers. The attorney names the date. If nobody has named one before the appraisal is ordered, that is the first phone call to make, not the last.
Property tax appeals have the same trap with a different date. Florida assesses every property as of January 1. Not the day your TRIM notice landed in August, not the day you decided to fight it. A report dated today is answering a question the Value Adjustment Board did not ask, and that is where most homeowner appeals quietly fall apart.
None of this is difficult once someone tells you. Nobody tells you. So here is the whole thing on one page, and if your situation is not on it, call and ask. It takes about four minutes and it costs nothing.
| If you need it for | Valued as of | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage or refinance | Today | The lender |
| PMI removal | Today | Your servicer's threshold |
| Pre-listing or second opinion | Today | You |
| Divorce | Varies | The attorney, in writing |
| Estate and probate | Date of death | Statute, or the alternate date six months on |
| Property tax appeal | January 1 | Florida statute |
| Gifting or transfer to a trust | Transfer date | Your CPA |
| Bankruptcy | Date of filing | The petition |
The Florida calendar
These are statutory and they do not move for anybody. The August one is the one people miss, and missing it means waiting a full year.
Florida assesses your property's just value as of this date. Everything that happens later in the year is an argument about this one morning.
Deadline to file for homestead exemption, and to file for portability if you have moved. Save Our Homes caps assessed increases on a homesteaded property at 3% or CPI, whichever is lower, and portability carries up to $500,000 of that benefit to your next Florida homestead.
TRIM notices go in the mail. This is the proposed tax bill, not the real one, and it tells you what the county thinks your house was worth on January 1.
The hard deadline. A petition to the Value Adjustment Board has to be received within 25 days of the mailing date, usually mid September. A postmark does not count. The exact date is printed on your notice. You can ask the property appraiser for an informal review first, but the petition still has to be in within the same 25 days.
An independent appraisal dated January 1 is the evidence a hearing is built on. It is not required and it does not guarantee a reduction. If the county's number looks about right to me, I will say so on the phone and save you the fee. More on tax appeal appraisals.
What I do
Most of the work comes from attorneys, accountants, financial planners and investors rather than from lenders, so everything below is written to be useful to both of you. Investors, builders and land buyers have their own section underneath it.
Attorneys · personal representatives
As of the date of death
Date of death valuations that establish stepped up basis under IRC 1014 and hold up under review. Retrospective work is routine, so a death two years ago is not a problem: the sales that closed around that date still exist and still tell you what the house was worth. If the estate is electing the alternate valuation date six months on, say so when you order.
Estate appraisals in detailFamily law · both parties
As of the date the attorney sets
Independent and written so it holds if it has to. Either attorney can engage me and both parties can be named as intended users, which usually costs less and argues less than two competing reports. Tell me the date in writing before I start.
Divorce appraisals in detailHomeowners
As of January 1
Valued on the date the Value Adjustment Board is actually asking about. Bring the TRIM notice and the parcel number, and note the mailing date, because that is what starts the 25 day clock.
Tax appeal appraisals in detailHomeowners · servicers
As of today
Prove the equity you already have and stop paying mortgage insurance you have outgrown. Call your servicer first and ask what loan to value they want to see, because it is worth knowing that number before you spend anything on an appraisal.
PMI removal appraisals in detailCPAs · financial planners
As of the transfer date
Valuations for family gifts, transfers into trusts and planning work, dated to the day the transfer happens. Easier and cheaper done near the event than reconstructed years later.
Realtors · sellers
As of today
An independent number with no commission riding on the outcome, before you set a price or when the one you have been given does not sit right. That independence is the entire product.
Lenders · homeowners
As of today
Standard lending work on single family homes, condos and small multi-family. The everyday job, done properly and delivered when I said it would be.
Investors and builders
As is tells you what you are buying. As repaired tells you what you are building. The gap between them, less your scope of work, is the whole deal. Both ends are worth more coming from somebody with no stake in whether you close.
Buyers · lenders · partners
As of today
What the property is worth today in the condition it is actually in, with nothing repaired and nothing assumed. This is the figure a lender, a partner or a hard money source asks for before anybody funds anything, and it is the one people most often try to skip.
Flips · rehab · rental conversions
As of today, subject to completion
What it is worth once your scope of work is finished, written subject to completion against your plans and your budget. The only hypothetical part is that the work has not happened yet. Everything underneath it is closed sales, adjusted the same way any other report is adjusted. On a flip this is the number the whole thing turns on, which is exactly why it should not be a guess.
Builders · construction lenders
From plans, or at a stage of completion
Appraised from plans and specifications before the slab is poured, or as of a stage of completion partway through the build. Construction lenders draw against these, so they get written to be drawn against.
Land buyers · developers
As of today, or retrospective
Lots and parcels valued on their own. A different comparable set and a different set of adjustments, for size, access, utilities and entitlement. It is more work than a house and it is honestly why a lot of appraisers around here would rather not take it.
Every one of the above
Both ends, in writing
As is at one end, as repaired at the other, your scope of work in between. I will not tell you whether a deal is good, because that is your call and your money. What you get is both ends of it from somebody who does not care which way you decide.
I appraise residential. Commercial appraisal is a separate certification and I do not hold it, so if that is what you need I will give you the name of somebody good rather than take the work and learn it on your money. Commercial real estate transactions on the sales side are a different thing entirely, and those I do handle.
The other half
Most agents price a house from what is listed around it. I price it the way I build a report, from what actually closed, adjusted for how those houses differed from yours. It is the same discipline, pointed at your listing instead of at a lender.
Step one
Before anything is signed
Built from closed sales with the reasoning shown. If your expectation and the evidence disagree you hear it up front rather than in week six when the showings have stopped. That conversation is uncomfortable exactly once and it saves months.
Step two
Before it goes live
What to fix, what to leave alone, and what buyers in your particular pocket of the market actually pay for. Two decades of adjusting for pools, kitchens and lot position tells you which improvements come back and which are money you will not see again.
Step three
Weeks one onward
Listed, marketed and shown, and you hear what buyers are saying including the parts you would rather not. A correction in week two costs far less than one in week ten.
Step four
Under contract
This is where having an appraiser on your side is worth something concrete. I read that report as somebody who writes them, see what was used and what was missed, and tell you straight whether a reconsideration of value is worth pursuing or whether the number is fair and you should take the deal.
What it costs
No rate printed here
Every commission is negotiable, all of them, always, which is exactly why there is no figure on this page. Quoting one would be answering a negotiation you have not had yet. Whether you also offer anything to the agent who brings a buyer is a separate decision, and since August 2024 that offer cannot be published on the MLS, so it is made off the listing.
I do not appraise a house I am also listing. An appraisal is only worth its fee because it is independent of the sale. If I am selling your home, your appraisal goes to somebody else and I will tell you who is good. Buyer representation and commercial transactions are available as well, and the same rule applies to both.
Where I work
Based in Oviedo. It is a deliberately small footprint, because knowing why two streets in Winter Garden are not comparable is the job, and nobody covering half the state knows both streets.
Oviedo, Winter Springs, Sanford, Lake Mary, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry. Home county, and usually same day for an inspection.
Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, Baldwin Park.
DeBary, Deltona, DeLand and Orange City. The southwest corner of the county, the side closest to home. Outside those, ask before you assume, because the answer depends on the address and not on the county line.
Kissimmee and St. Cloud. The developed north end of the county. It thins out fast south of there, which is why the line is drawn where it is.
Clermont. Lake is a wide county and the far end of it is a long drive from Oviedo, so this is the piece of it that makes sense to cover properly.
Titusville, Cocoa and Port St. John. The north end of the county rather than the whole coast. Further south is somebody else's market and you are better off with them.
About
I have been appraising residential property in Central Florida for over twenty years, and for eighteen of them I was also an area realtor. UCF graduate. Before starting this firm I appraised at Metropolis Real Estate Solutions while that office was handling large volumes of Fannie Mae foreclosure work, which is where the volume and the deadline discipline came from. I live and work in Oviedo and I cover Seminole, Orange, and parts of Volusia, Osceola, Lake and Brevard.
The licenses read Albert Giammattei III and everybody calls me Al. The person who answers the phone is the person who inspects the house and writes the report. That is not a slogan, it is just how a one man practice works, and it means when you ring up about page 14 I know what is on page 14.
The eighteen years selling houses matter more than they sound like they should. Knowing what a buyer will actually pay for a screened pool in Oviedo, or why the far side of a road can be a different market, is the difference between a report that reads well and a report that is right.
News and notes
Short notes on the market and the tax calendar, written for somebody who is about to order something and wants to know whether the timing matters. Updated as things move.
Florida votes on a homestead exemption increase. If sixty percent say yes, a qualifying homestead gets up to $150,000 of assessed value exempted in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. It takes effect on 1 January 2027 and first appears on the August 2027 TRIM notice and the November 2027 bill. School taxes and non ad valorem assessments are not included. Be clear about what it does not do: it moves the exemption, not the value of the house. Arguing the assessed value itself is still an appraisal dated January 1.
Source: Pinellas County Property Appraiser, Amendment 3 FAQ.
Median prices around Orlando are running a few percent below peak, inventory is up sharply on last year, and houses are sitting closer to two months than two weeks. None of that changes a retrospective appraisal. A date of death in 2023, or a tax appeal dated 1 January, is measured against the market on that day and not against this one. The distance between those two markets is exactly why the effective date is the first question I ask.
Source: Orlando Regional REALTOR Association market narrative.
The 2026 petition window closed in September. A late petition is accepted only for good cause, which the Value Adjustment Board decides case by case, so do not count on one. If you think your assessment is high, the next chance is the August 2027 TRIM notice. That appeal will again be argued about one date: January 1, 2027. An appraisal dated close to that day is the strongest evidence a hearing can use, and it is easier to support when it is ordered near the date than reconstructed later. If you filed a petition this year and your hearing is still ahead, call and ask about an appraisal dated January 1, 2026.
Source: Florida Statutes, VAB petition window.
An offer of compensation to a buyer's agent can no longer be published on the MLS. It is negotiated separately now, off the listing, and whether you make one at all is your decision rather than a rule. What did not change: commissions were always negotiable and still are, and a buyer still pays what the evidence supports rather than what the commission structure suggests.
Source: National Association of REALTORS practice changes.
What people say
Megan Johnson Judd holds the SRA and AI-RRS designations and is co-owner and chief valuation officer at Metropolis Real Estate Solutions. AI-RRS is a review designation, which means reading and grading other appraisers' reports is the job it certifies.
Megan Johnson Judd, SRA, AI-RRSAlbert worked for my company (as an appraiser), Metropolis Real Estate Solutions, during a time when we were processing large volumes of foreclosures directly for FNMA. The hours could be long, the work complicated, and the client demanding. Albert was always reliable and an excellent communicator and he produced quality appraisal reports that met the reporting needs of our client. He has a solid understanding of appraisal principles and practice and his ethics are always front and center.
While he no longer performs appraisals for our company, since he left to pursue his own agency, he does still act as a real estate sales agent under the company brokerage. His professionalism and willingness to function as a member of a team makes him an excellent realtor.
Between his advanced training as a valuation expert and his experience as a real estate sales agent, he is highly qualified to competently complete residential appraisals.
Questions
A realtor's comparative market analysis is a pricing opinion, usually free, from someone paid on the sale. An appraisal is a formal opinion of value from a state licensed appraiser, written to a standard, with no interest in the outcome. Courts, the IRS and lenders accept one of them.
No. It is not being shown and it is not going on a website. Clutter does not change what a house is worth. What helps is access. Leave the gate open, the shed open, the attic hatch reachable and any sticking door unlatched, so nothing has to be estimated or excluded from the report.
Yes, routinely. It is called a retrospective appraisal. The sales that closed around that date still exist, so the market as of that day can be reconstructed properly. Nearly all estate work is retrospective and some divorce work is too.
Recent sales of comparable properties, adjusted for the ways they differ from yours: gross living area, lot, age, condition, layout, garage, pool, view, and how the market moved between their sale date and your effective date. The adjustments are shown in the report so you can follow the reasoning instead of taking a number on faith.
Sometimes. Read the TRIM notice carefully first, because the proposed tax and the assessed value are different numbers and people often fight the wrong one. The appraisal has to be dated January 1 of that tax year, and the petition window is 25 days from the mailing date with no late filing. An appraisal does not guarantee a reduction. If the county's figure looks about right, I will tell you and save you the fee.
Usually not. A report names its intended use and its intended users, and using it for something else is outside what it was written for. If you need the same property valued for a refinance and for an estate, say so up front and it can be handled properly.
Typically 48 hours from the inspection for standard residential work. Complex properties, acreage or thin comparable data take longer, and you will hear that from me before you commit rather than after.
Attorneys, personal representatives, trustees and lenders do it all the time. What matters is lawful access to the property and a clear engagement naming the intended users. If you are unsure, ask, because checking is quicker than redoing.
Order or ask
That is genuinely all it takes to get a quote and a date. If you are an attorney or a CPA ordering for a client, put your own details in and the owner's in the notes.