About

Meet Tom Horn

Hello, I’m Tom Horn, I appreciate the time you’ve taken to check out my blog. Do you want to pull your hair out when trying to understand how the appraiser made the adjustments he did? Are you interested in knowing how the real estate market is performing? And lastly, are you a little curious about why and how appraisers do what they do? These questions are at the heart of why I write my blog.

In the past appraisers have not been that great at explaining to homeowners, real estate agents, and others about what we do, so our profession has been cloaked in a veil of confusion. With this blog, I want to be as transparent and as straightforward as possible so you can easily understand why and how appraisers do what they do as well as gain some useful knowledge about the real estate market.

Along with writing this blog, I enjoy speaking at local real estate offices to help agents understand the appraisal process so their jobs are made a little easier. Agents, homeowners, and loan officers have told me they appreciate how I help them understand the appraisal process. In addition to providing value to local real estate professionals, I had the honor of attaining “power blogger” status with Phil Crawford who hosts the widely listened-to podcast “Voice of Appraisal”.

A Little About Tom

My appraisal career began in 1990 when I was looking for a change from working in the consumer finance field. During my time as a loan officer, I was exposed to the appraisal profession because we utilized appraisals when making mortgage loans. I thought it would be interesting work and when a job transfer occurred, which I didn’t care to pursue, I decided to switch professions.

I’ve always been one to take things to the next level and shortly after making the move to the real estate appraisal profession I decided that it would benefit my career to pursue the Appraisal Institute’s SRA designation. The SRA designation differs substantially from appraisers who only gain the minimum qualifications of state licensing.

In the workplace, SRAs offer more diversified valuation services such as providing review appraisal services and consulting and/or counseling services. I earned my SRA designation in 1995 after spending several years taking Appraisal Institute courses and gaining valuable hands-on experience as a staff appraiser.

At the current time, I concentrate in the area of single-family, vacant land, 2-4 family, and condominium appraisals in the central Alabama area (Jefferson, Shelby, and surrounding counties). In addition to performing appraisals for first mortgage loans and refinancing, I prepare reports for other uses such as estate planning, private mortgage insurance removal (PMI), For Sale By Owner (FSBO) marketing, and insurance valuations.

Many of my clients include leading real estate agents in the Birmingham real estate market who trust me to provide them with a reliable appraisal to aid them in accurately pricing their listings.

With over 25 years in the real estate appraisal business, there is one thing I have found that my clients seek more than anything else and that is trust. They want to know that they can trust me to provide the most accurate unbiased value on the assignments they give me. I take great pride that my clients continue to use me for their appraisal needs because I have their best interests at heart.

On a personal side, I am happy to say that I have been married to my wife Gina for over 20 years and we have two awesome children, Bryant and Camille. In addition to keeping busy with my appraisal work, I enjoy spending time with family and friends as well as keeping up with college football (Roll Tide!).

Speaking/Education

In addition to performing appraisals for his clients Tom Horn is also active in speaking at local real estate offices and agent meetings to discuss the local Birmingham, Alabama area real estate market as well as educating agents on why and how appraisers do what they do. He shares market trends about the various communities and neighborhoods he performs work in. He also shares tips and tricks that agents can use when pricing their listings so that their pricing follows the process appraisers use. By doing this Tom has found that there is less of a discrepancy between the eventual contract price and the appraisal obtained for mortgage lending purposes. He welcomes invitations from local real estate offices to participate in sales meeting to help educate their agents.

Connect with me on these social accounts:

Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Linkedin
Google +

Geographical Areas of Coverage

Tom Horn performs appraisals in all the communities within the counties of Jefferson, Shelby, and Chilton. He also works in selected communities in the counties of Tuscaloosa, Blount, and St. Clair. Please give me a call if you have a question if I cover a certain area.