Blakely Appraisals

I highly recommend Daniel Blakely for your Home appraisal needs. I was asked by the seller of a, «For sale by Owner», home to get an appraisal. Daniel was fast to respond to my email. I had contacted other companies to get quotes and availability and those companies took a week or more to get back to me only to learn that they are weeks out to actually do the appraisal. Even with his busy schedule, Daniel understood the urgency of my situation and was able to come a few days later. He took the time to see both houses on the property, answered all my questions as we walked through and was very honest about his findings. I felt very comfortable with him and trusted that he was doing a thorough job, which was very comforting because this whole home buying process had been very stressful. He provided the document within a week.

Daniel wrote me a message and explained what had happened regarding my appraisal and, long story short, there were issues with the lender and he in fact did try to appraise the house differently that would have resulted in the correct value of my home.

Dan stands out for his promptness and for the care he used in preparing the appraisal report for my home. But the most extraordinary thing he did was to listen patiently as I went over a list of relevant facts about my place that might easily have escaped an appraiser’s notice.
Every other appraiser I’ve had in the past has been a «quick study» type – rushing through the place and eager to get out the door. With Dan, that didn’t happen. He gave me and the home all the time and attention I thought was needed.
Through it all, he was personable and professional. More importantly, he showed up on time for our appointment and submitted a very careful, thoughtful, and accurate report in a few days’ time, within the time frame he had promised.

TRUE PROFESSIONAL!
Prompt service, great attitude, extremely knowledgeable and willing to go the extra mile to get the job done. Dan was hired on Friday afternoon and the report was back by the following Monday morning (1^st thing too). Dan is exceptional at what he does and he does it with courtesy and grace.

Daniel IS as good as it gets… not only is he experienced & professional, but always prompt and the icing on the cake is that he is personable! I do a lot of business w/​appraisers (I am a local real estate agent), and have drawn the «short-​straw» with shall we say, less than professional appraisers; but am always confident knowing Daniel is on the job!

I needed an appraisal before I left town on Sunday — today was Friday. I called a couple different appraiser I found online. I had 2 houses that I needed appraisals on.
I called Blakely Appraisal 2^nd. Daniel the owner answered the phone. He said he could come out the next day — Saturday morning. I called one more appraiser to see if the price was in line with market.
Not only was Daniel affordable but he didnt charge extra to come out with such short notice. I called him back because I had to change the time on Saturday — he accommodated me.
Additionally, he had the actual appraisals to me by Sunday morning — I got the email notice Sunday morning while in church.
Other appraisers said it would take at least 3 days to get this back. Daniel said he’d have it by Monday and got it back to me Sunday — Nice work Daniel Blakely! Very nice.
Blakely is my appraiser.
Oh yeah, a week or so later I needed him to assign the appraisals to my lender — he did this by 5pm the same day (I made this request after 12noon — impressive!)

guy comes in, spends less than 3 minutes in my apartment. refuses to see the pool, gym and… appraises my place for $ 20k less than county tax assessment! compares my property to places that are 300 sq smaller. not very professional. not very friendly. not very knowledgeable. thanks for nothing.

I have worked with Dan for several years, and he is by far one of the best appraisers out there. He is professional, efficient and incredibly accurate on value. He is very knowledgeable of the different neighborhoods in the Bay Area, which allows him to make proper additions & deductions. Best of all, he helps me with all of my appraisal questions. I highly recommend him!

I recently had the pleasure of working with Dan. Dan’s communication and follow up through the entire process was outstanding. He made sure to keep me in the loop and provide regular and timely feedback. I had some follow-​up issues on the property that needed our attention. Dan was not only flexible and accommodating during the process, but he went above and beyond to make sure that all went smoothly. I highly recommend him!

Daniel was extremely helpful in answering all my of questions regarding my home appraisal. He walked me step by step through this seemingly stressful process, yet made it very very easy. Thanks Daniel!

Daniel came through under an incredibly tight work deadline requiring a home appraisal. With a 48-​hour turnaround time, he not only completed the appraisal but also was very responsive to my questions and competitively priced. Thanks, Daniel!

Daniel Blakely — from time to time I’m fortunate enough to get Daniel as an appraiser (can’t choose in the industry) — throughout the years he has ALWAYS been solid, professional, thorough, and understand the process — he responsibly takes care of his part. He’s RESPONSIVE: takes apts. immediately, he’s out the next afternoon, and appraisal is turned in next 1 – 2 days — definitely in the top 1%! Cross your fingers — and hope you get him. It’s hard for appraisers to get «similar» comps for sq. ft., price and have closed in last couple months — but he figures it out with what’s out there…

Dan at Blakely Appraisals is always helpful with my appraisal questions and his level of customer service is matched by his knowledge of the area. And, his appraisal is accurate and reliable — I fee like these other people who gave Dan 1 star are angry because their houses were not appraised for the inflated value they envisioned.

Dan is no less than amazing. I am in the insurance business and we often refer to appraisals to assist in replacement cost estimates. I called Dan to ask him a few questions about his appraisal and he was extremely helpful. He took the time to review the details with me and all in a very professional manner.

I have used Blakely Appraisals service and I could not be more pleased. I found dealing with them to be easy and painless. The folks at Blakely Appraisals were professional and prompt. The appraisal report was excellent and did the trick in helping me to get the loan I needed to buy my first house. Their pricing was very fair and the turn around time could not be beat.
I would not hesitate to recommend them.

I receive world class service from Daniel and his team. Part of my job includes ordering appraisals and this is the only company I use. They are extremely professional and always show up on time and are very courteous to my clients. I’ve received rave reviews from my clients about these folks as well. I’ve never once had an appraisal that was prepared by this company overturned by a lender because they are very precise and provide very complete and detailed information in their reports. When a lender has questioned a value they’ve come up with, Daniel is quick to provide me the data needed to overcome any questions a lender might have.
Hands down the best appraiser I’ve ever worked with. I wouldn’t dream of working with another one.

Updated:
Indeed it is a numbers game. I wrote a three page document using data from Zillow and recent sales to highlight the appraiser’s incompetence and the fact that incorrect comps were utilized.
Final result — an increase of 24%.
A real shame that Blakely Appraisals didn’t exhibit a bit more professionalism in conducting this appraisal. The contest process was a terrible waste of my time, and it could have been avoided if they merely drove half a mile to see that the homes used for their comps were completely different from mine.
Original post:
I had a similar experience to Meghan, but such is the times — the purchasers/​owners are subject to the appraiser’s discretion regardless of whether they know the market or use relevant comps.
Upon receiving my appraisal, we spoke to three local professionals (two real estate agents and one mortgage broker), and all said that my appraised value was way off due to the poorly chosen comps.
In reviewing Blakely Appraisals’ site, they appear to be a single person company and claim to be able to do appraisals in numerous counties including those near SF and San Diego. It’s anyones guess how they could do a know enough about each market to provide a realistic appraisal, but it’s not their fault that lenders offer them work.

Real estate appraisal is a «numbers» game. While I don’t expect my appraiser to be a calculus professor, a rocket-​scientist, or Noam Chomsky, I expect a few small things (like accuracy and decent judgement). Blakely Appraisals failed at both of these.
They took a twice as long as they other company we used to provide me with a report that was inaccurate (stated the listing price of the home inaccurately, stated the time on market incorrectly, stated the original listing price wrong) and used poor judgement.
The «comps» they used were in a different school district, contained foreclosures in terrible shape, and had significantly less desireable locations (one backed the freeway, when the home we were looking at had a lovely backyard adjascent to a park with a creek). They did not adjusting the «value» for these things.
We had to do two appraisals because we using an FHA loan over 417k. Ultimately, Blakely priced the home WAY below our expected value, well below what the other appraisal we did listed, well below the zillow estimate, well below the cyberhomes estimate, well below EVERYONE else.
I might just be bitter because I lost my dream home because of Blakely’s appraisal (they listed a value so low that we couldn’t get a loan on the property), but there were a lot of BLATENT errors on their report and a lot of «judgement calls» (like the comps that they chose) that I found dubious. I would rather pull my toenails out with pliers than use Blakely Appraisers again.
EDIT: For what it’s worth, the home sold for 20% MORE than what we were offering. And Blakley said it was worth 20% less.