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Hillside & Custom Home Appraisal in Claremont and the Inland Empire

Appraisals of custom, architect-designed and hillside homes where views, grade, access and one-off construction quality make automated estimates unreliable. Claraboya and Padua Hills homes in Claremont routinely need comparables pulled from a wider radius and adjusted with stated reasoning, and that reasoning is written out in the report. Suited to properties that reviewers and underwriters tend to question.

Gordon Hall, California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, BREA No. AR003877 (opens the state license lookup)

Who orders this

  • Owners of hillside and custom homes selling, refinancing or settling an estate
  • Lenders financing one-off homes
  • Buyers of view properties in the foothills

What the report includes

  • Comparables drawn from a wider radius where the pocket has too few, with the radius and each adjustment for view, grade, access and construction quality explained
  • The client, the intended use (what the report will be used for) and the intended users (who may rely on it), stated on the first page
  • The effective date, the date the opinion of value applies to, and the date of the report
  • The scope of work, meaning the inspection, research and analysis performed, including any limits on access
  • Comparable sales chosen for era, pocket and lot character, each with the reason it was used
  • Adjustments for differences such as gross living area, lot size, condition and location, each explained
  • Interior and exterior photographs and a measured sketch of the living area
  • A signed certification with Gordon Hall's California license, BREA No. AR003877

The page a reviewer reads first is the sales comparison grid: the subject beside the closed sales, every difference adjusted and explained. This is its shape, left blank.

Sales comparison approach

File no. blank

Sales comparison, blank
RowSubjectComp. 1Comp. 2Comp. 3
Addressblankblankblankblank
Sale dateblankblankblankblank
Sale priceblankblankblankblank
Gross living areablankblankblankblank
Lot sizeblankblankblankblank
Year builtblankblankblankblank
Conditionblankblankblankblank
View / siteblankblankblankblank
Adjustmentsblankblankblankblank
Adjusted valueblankblankblankblank
Figures come from the inspection and the closed sales on your blocks. A blank grid is shown because report contents are confidential under USPAP.

What we need from you

  • The property address and who will provide access on inspection day
  • The purpose of the appraisal and who will read the report (lender, court, assessor, CPA, trustee or yourself)
  • Permits, plans or a survey for any addition, remodel or ADU
  • A list of improvements with approximate dates
  • Architect or builder information and plans, if available
  • Any geotechnical, retaining wall or grading reports

Claraboya, Padua Hills and the foothill custom homes

Claremont's foothill neighborhoods, Claraboya and Padua Hills near the historic Padua Hills Theatre, and the newer homes of Northeast Claremont near the Wilderness Park, hold houses built one at a time: different architects, different lots, different views of the valley. The same is true of the foothill streets of La Verne toward Marshall Canyon and the north end of Upland toward San Antonio Heights. An automated estimate has almost nothing to work with, because the nearest sale may share a street and nothing else.

The report therefore looks wider, to other hillside and custom sales across the foothill band from La Verne to Upland, and explains the adjustments that matter here: view and its permanence, grade and driveway access, lot usability, construction quality and design. Where a reviewer is likely to question the radius or an adjustment, the reasoning is written out in plain language so an underwriter, a court or a buyer can follow it.

Timeline and next step

Reports are typically delivered three to five business days from the inspection. The inspection runs 30 to 60 minutes for a standard single-family home, longer for hillside, custom, multi-family or homes with additions that need to be measured and sketched.

The fee is set by the scope of the assignment and quoted before work begins. It does not depend on the value, and it is never contingent on a result.

Send the address through the order form, or call (909) 324-6122.

Straight answers

Questions

Why do custom homes need comparables from farther away?
Because the nearest sales often differ in view, grade, size and quality. A wider search finds homes that are genuinely similar, and the report explains the radius and each adjustment so a reviewer can follow it.
Can an online estimate value a Claraboya home?
Not reliably. An automated estimate works from public records and nearby sales and cannot see the view, the grade or the construction. Portals themselves say their estimates are not appraisals.
How long is the inspection for a hillside home?
Longer than the 30 to 60 minutes of a standard single-family home, because access, grade and the full living area need to be measured and photographed.

Related appraisals

Request this appraisal

The property, the purpose and the effective date set the scope and the fee, which is quoted before work begins.

Gordon Hall, California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, BREA No. AR003877 (opens the state license lookup)

The property and the assignment

Effective date of value (optional)

The date the value has to apply to: today, or a date in the past such as a date of death or separation.

How to reach you

Additions, an ADU, a prior appraisal, a hearing date: whatever shapes the scope.

Nothing is scheduled until you say so.

Prepared by Gordon Hall, California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, BREA No. AR003877. Reports are prepared in conformity with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Wider-radius comparables are chosen for similarity and explained; no result is implied by the property type.

Get the value documented before someone else needs it.

Two minutes for a fee quote and a turnaround date. Nothing is scheduled until you say so.

Request an appraisal