Frequently Asked Questions

Full-service appraisals — standard interior-and-exterior, drive-by, and desktop — are available throughout San Diego County and in Temecula and Murrieta. That includes Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista, San Marcos, Encinitas, Escondido, Poway, Fallbrook, Rancho Santa Fe, the City of San Diego and its neighborhoods, La Jolla, Coronado, Chula Vista and the South Bay, East County, and the rural backcountry. For property elsewhere in California, a desktop appraisal is available with no site visit required.

Yes, as a desktop appraisal. A desktop report is built from public records, MLS history, and closed comparable sales rather than a physical inspection, which means it can be completed for a property anywhere in California. In-person inspection work is limited to San Diego County, Temecula, and Murrieta.

Residential reports start at $299 for a Basic Desktop and run to $799 for a full Standard appraisal of a 2–4 unit property. The Services & Fees page lists every tier. Acreage, high-value, unusually complex, or rush assignments are quoted individually, and you always know the exact fee before committing.

Yes. Brian Ward is a California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser with more than 20 years in practice and over 7,000 appraisals completed. Every report is prepared in compliance with USPAP, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.

An automated estimate is an algorithm's guess drawn from limited public data, and on an unusual property it can miss by a wide margin. A certified appraisal is a professional opinion of value supported by analysis of specific comparable sales and the actual characteristics of the subject property, and it carries the credibility courts, attorneys, and the IRS require.

Most residential assignments are delivered within several business days, depending on report type and property complexity. Court deadlines and escrow dates drive much of this work, so raise your timeline on the first call and you will get a straight answer about whether it can be met.

A retrospective appraisal answers what a property was worth on a fixed day in the past instead of today. The two common triggers are an owner's death, where the figure sets the estate value and the heirs' new tax basis, and a marital separation date in a California dissolution. The work is built on sales that closed near that day and on the conditions buyers were facing at the time, not on current prices.

Yes. This region runs from Oceanside beachfront condominiums and coastal-bluff homes to hillside view properties, estate parcels in Rancho Santa Fe, and grove and ranch acreage in Fallbrook, Bonsall, Valley Center, Ramona, and Julian. Non-standard properties are a routine part of the practice, not an exception.

Both belong to Brian Ward Appraisal. brianward.com is the primary business site covering San Diego and Riverside Counties; oceanside.pro narrows the focus to Oceanside, North County, and the markets reachable from here. One appraiser, one set of USPAP-compliant reports, two front doors.

Call (760) 547-7810, email [email protected], or fill out the form on the Contact page. I will review the property and the purpose, confirm the fee, and get the assignment scheduled.