I concur with the previous reviewer. I unfortunately did not get to choose who did my appraisal, they were assigned by my bank as I was seeking a refi. The appraisal came in 10K below what zillow says (and I know zillow is not the end all), but here's some other items to consider. I have a very custom kitchen (8k ref, highest quality granite, real cherry wood 42"" cabinets, Dacor oven, etc), a 400 sqft deck, 3 car garage (real) wood and tile floors, video surveillance system, home theater, each room is wired with in wall speakers, centrally managed (whole home audio system), tankless water heater, over 100K in landscaping (tiered yard with retaining walls on almost 1/4 acre, gas fire pit under a pergola, exterior shed). These are all improvements that are above and beyond what the rest of my neighborhood has, I'm also on a corner in a ranch house. Pulling comps of house with similar sqft in my area that have sold within the past six months shows a sale price of between 107.7 to 147 dollars per sqft. That would value my house at 270K to 367K. Their appraisal came int 15k below the lower end, and my house has more upgrades/improvements than any of the others sold in this area. I had to point out the refrigerator was a built-in a would command a premium (which ultimately I don't think they even considered). The appraiser didn't even think to look at that. In all he spent five minutes inside my house and about 10 minutes outside (most of that time was spent measuring the dimensions of the house). I had my house appraised in Jan of 2009 (during what is arguably the lowest valuation of home prices during the economic down turn) and the value then was 310K, so how the @#$% did in go down over 50K! when the markets been going up (as evidenced by the comps in my neighborhood). They're idiots that's how.
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