Real Estate is a people business. Real Estate Appraisal is a relationship business. Our clients can talk to us.    

Put a face with the name! We are professionals but we are all family people first. This is one of our presidents 6 favorite work samples. Yes, he has 6 children. For samples of his appraisal work see the "work samples" tab on the home page.

This web-site is designed to make the appraisal process easy for our clients both lender/clients and borrower/clients. The lending process can be confusing to anyone and the appraisal process can seem like Voodoo to some and smoke-and-mirrors to others. There are many promises offered by professionals from every corner of this business and many often over-simplify the process. This can make a person feel afraid to ask questions and many feel uneasy about a transaction even after they have made it through successfully and received the highest level of service possible. We will make every effort to insure that you make an informed choice about the appraiser you have selected.

The first thing to know at the beginning is that it really is easy! It is safe to say that since the early 1990's at least 90% of home-owners in Chicago-land that have some form of contact with the outside world has either re-financed an existing home loan or made a new purchase and obtained a home loan! The appraisers at HGS Appraisal (the appraisal company that services the appraisal reporting needs of Hans-Appraisal.com) have over 50 years of experience in the field and have a strong understanding of how our Chicago-land Real Estate Markets work. Although the appraisal profession is always changing incompetence is not an issue you need to worry about.

The second thing to understand is that appraisers don't create values for real estate properties, they report value. It is important to understand that we do not have free-reign to make or defeat any value estimate offered by a lender or a borrower. Because of the enormous volume of residential real estate lending that has occurred in recent decades the lending community has set-up an intrigue web of checks and balances and each appraiser and each appraisal report must comply. You may have seen advertisements from Realtors offering a Free Appraisal and you may have used our $25.00 Appraisal option on this web-site but neither of these options are truly valid appraisals for lending purposes. Any real estate professional who has access to a multiple listing service that shows recorded sales in a given market can offer an opinion of value for your property. But an appraisal that is adequate for lending purposes is a much more detailed report and takes time to prepare and communicate.

The third thing to understand is that direct contact with your appraiser after the initial inspection has been completed is reserved for your lending agent. You may contact our staff at any time to speak with a director, an administrator, or even the president to report any inappropriate behavior (it’s never happened yet) or to provide additional information about your property for clarity or just to learn more about the appraisal process. But inquiries regarding the estimate of value and time-line updates are only available to your lending agent. This is a necessary prohibition for us to remain impartial and comply with our requirements to the lending industry, the State of Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, and The Appraisal Standards Board. To report serious issues of alleged misconduct the State of Illinois Department of Professional Regulation has a web-site where you can go directly to the regulators with complaints (it's never happened at HGS Appraisal) and that site is at http://www.idfpr.com/dpr/re/APPRAISAL.asp you can follow the prompts at this site to contact a consumer advocate that will help you resolve your complaints.

The fourth thing to understand is that the appraisal report belongs to your lending agent and is not the property of any Borrower, home-owner, or any subsequent lending agent an individual may contract.