December 8, 2015 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
Over the years Pittsburgh housing trends have been fairly steady. In fact, it has been sort of a running gag when someone asks how much their home has appreciated the ‘off the cuff’ answer was always about 3% per year. It has been like this for decades. In fact, this phenomenon was one reason that Pittsburgh survived the housing bubble due to Pittsburgh housing trends not being in a bubble.
This post and the graphic to the left depicts only Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraiser, housing trends, maximize value, maximizing value, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh housing trends, pittsburgh values, real estate, time to sell
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | No Comments
October 27, 2015 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
Beware! Upside Down Builders

I’m sure many of us have seen them and frankly, probably never gave it a second thought, the homes that were built upside down.
Well, upside down I guess is only a matter of opinion. You can call them just about anything, even contemporary will work. However, there is one thing you can’t get away from, why is there only 1 bedroom on the 1st floor and all the rest of the bedrooms are downstairs? Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraiser, builder plans, construction plans, custom builders, maximize value, maximizing value, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh values, real estate, realtor, single family
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | No Comments
September 1, 2015 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
Over the past number of years, I had the opportunity to appraise many 2-4 family properties in the Pittsburgh and surrounding areas for pre-listing, divorce, estate and other reasons. The reasons behind the appraisals are not the story; the story is why, and how, there was such a reversal of fortunes so to speak in the overall value of both single family residential, and multi-family (2-4 unit) properties. At this spot in the blog, I must point out that this is not only an issue in Pittsburgh, but the entire southwestern Pennsylvania region. Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraisal adjustments, appraisals, appraiser, appraisers, maximizing value, multi-family, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh appraisers, pittsburgh values, single family
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info, Uncategorized | No Comments
December 2, 2014 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
If you live in, or own a Split Level, or Split Entry/Bi-level style dwelling within Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Somerset, Washington or Westmoreland Counties, be forewarned. Your property may be assessed at a higher value than the property should be due to a lack of uniformity. The lack of uniformity is what created the court ordered re-assessment process in Allegheny County and Read More »
Tags: allegheny county, appraisal, appraiser, assessment, assessment appeal, Bostedo appraisal services, How To Build Home Equity FAST, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh values, quick sale, real estate, single family, washington county
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | No Comments
November 6, 2014 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
If you are like most and haven’t had an appraisal done on your home recently, one of the first things that may come to your mind is, “What do I need to do to get ready for the appraiser?” Here are some things you may want to consider prior to the appraiser coming to your home. Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraiser, bank appraisal, Bostedo appraisal services, cheap appraisal, cheap appraisers, Fannie Mae, FNMA, How To Build Home Equity FAST, maximize value, maximizing value, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh values, real estate, realtor, renovation, single family, technical, technically advanced appraiser
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | No Comments
October 21, 2014 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
One of the best ways to increase the market value of a home is to make structural improvements or add features such as a deck or an extra room. I do want to emphasize, if your plan is to enlarge your home, there are some things you may want to consider in your planning. Make sure to read the Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraiser, build home equity, home equity, How To Build Home Equity FAST, maximize value, maximizing value, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh values, real estate, remodeling, renovation, single family
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | No Comments
September 12, 2014 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
Zillow vs Certified Appraisal. Let us first start out by explaining what is Zillow? Zillow is what is known as an AVM an Automated Valuation Module. Locally in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and next, the surrounding Counties, we are all too well familiar with an AVM although we don’t know it. This is the same type of computer program that has and is creating each and every properties’ assessed value and we all know how that is turning out. Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraiser, bank appraisal, certified appraisal, certified appraiser, cheap appraisal, cheap appraisers, cma, Fannie Mae, FNMA, maximize value, maximizing value, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh values, real estate, realtor, single family, technically advanced appraiser, zillow
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | 1 Comment
August 5, 2014 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
Well, we will start with the easy part. What is the difference between a Row House and a Town House? In a word, nothing. A town house or town home and a row house or row home are the same. The names are only STYLES or DESIGNS of a type of residential dwelling. Both town and row are Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraiser, bank appraisal, certified appraisal, certified appraiser, condo, condominium, Fannie Mae, fee simple, FNMA, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh appraisers, pittsburgh values, real estate, realtor, single family, town home, townhome
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | 1 Comment
July 15, 2014 by Bostedo Appraisal Services - the Pittsburgh Appraisers
Some of the most common Pittsburgh FHA appraisal repairs many homeowners are not aware of nor that these common Pittsburgh FHA appraisal repair items will be needed to be addressed with an FHA appraisal for an FHA loan.
The FHA has three main concerns, for FHA appraisers, they are called the three S’s. The three S’s are Safety, Soundness and Security. A property must meet these three main criteria to qualify for a FHA loan. The most common repair items Read More »
Tags: appraisal, appraisal adjustments, appraiser, bank appraisal, Bostedo appraisal services, certified appraisal, certified appraiser, common fha repairs, common pittsburgh fha repairs, FHA, FHA appraisal, FHA appraisal conditions, FHA appraiser, fha repairs, How To Build Home Equity FAST, maximize value, maximizing value, pittsburgh appraisal, pittsburgh appraiser, pittsburgh appraisers, pittsburgh values, real estate, remodeling, renovation, single family
Posted in Appraisal info, Education, Real Estate info | 1 Comment