Walkup Clark & Associates

I was surprised to see only one 3 star review for this firm. Most buyers and clients don’t know who the appraiser is as the bank usually hires the firm to do the appraisal so I guess I can see why they may not have many high level reviews.
I am an indirect client of Walkup Clark as a realtor and have had clients use them on dozens of occasions. They are one of the go appraisers for Sterling Bank and Trust who does most of the fractional lending for TICs (Tenants in Common) in San Francisco. There are two partners and a few underlings who do the appraisals. If you have a tricky building or valuation to do of a multi unit or a TIC I think these guys are the go to for this sort of stuff and are honest, etc. For regular houses I am sure they do a fine job are super experienced appraisers in the Bay Area.
Bottom line, the other review was only for 3 stars because she didn’t like the valuation and felt it was off. Part of getting a real appraisal is not necessarily getting what you want in a value, it is about the real facts of an appraisal which is different than what a realtor who would give as a value.
Bottom line: solid firm, good reputation in the industry and a real appraiser.

Home appraisals are tricky business. Everyone has an agenda and depending on who’s footing the bill, I suspect the outcome varies widely.
We had two appraisers take a look at our future house. Walkup estimated the worth to be less than 65% of the asking price, which seemed wildly off the mark. The other appraiser ended up being right on the money.
As appraisals determine lender amounts, a low estimate would have been to our disadvantage should we have taken a loan. It was also too low to give us real negotiation leverage with the owner.
I will hand it to these folks for being timely and thorough as some appraisers take the lazy route and go by the listing square-​footage instead of taking their own measurements.
However, given that their services are significantly more than most appraisers, the cost/​effectiveness ratio drops ‘em down a star in my book.