(570) 368-8186

Impartial. Unbiased. Objective.

RVL consists of a dynamic team of real estate professionals.As a family owned and operated business our values extend further than the uniform standards we are obligated to adhere. With over 30 years of experience ranging from the simplest residential appraisals to some of the most complex commerical and industrial valuations in Central Pennsylvania, our professional standards are illustrated in our commitment to quality and the integrity of our work.

Why An Appraisal?

Buying, selling, and refinancing are three reasons for an appraisal. Under each reason lie motivations for each individual client. PMI removal, property tax challenge, divorce, liquidation, collateralization, estate planning & taxation, or "for sale by owner" assistance. No matter the reason or motiviation; a credible appraisal is an essential tool for understanding the market value of a subject property. A qualified and highly designated appraiser at RVL should be a first start to a credible appraisal.

Types of Appraisals:

Residential Appraisal

Trends in single-unit and apartment design change, and building components such as porches, balconies, fireplaces, dining rooms, large kitchens, entry halls, and family rooms may be included or excluded.

Housing standards vary widely for different economic situations and in different geographical regions. Historic houses are often less functional, but they may be in great demand due to their preservationist appeal. To evaluate the functional utility of residential buildings, Reis Valuations Limited analyzes standard market expectations. The functional utility of a single-unit or multifamily dwelling results primarily from its layout, accommodation of specific activities, adequacy, and ease and cost of maintenance.

Due to the nature of residential valuation, there are many different types and motivations for economic demand. We have the experience to understand what drives our market demand, while maintaining our focus on the current supplies of available inventory. This balance of approach helps to extract the natural motivations of a residential market sector. Reis Valuations Limited is uniquely equipped to provide credible opinions of value to our clients' constantly expanding market areas.

Commercial Appraisal

Commercial buildings are used for offices, retail stores, hotels, banks, restaurants, and a variety other service outlets. Frequently, two or more commercial uses are combined in a single building such as a high-rise office building or hotel with ground-level retail space. These structural and design features of commercial buildings are constantly changing and we are constantly educating our team on the new and innovative functional purposes these changes facilities.

Many mixed-use buildings combine two or more revenue-producing uses. In mixed-use buildings, each use type reflects a several design criteria, which must be competently considered. These structures present specific obstacles to solving the appraisal problem. Our team works tirelessly to stay current with the market trends and available data sources extending several decades.

Due to the extensive nature of commercial valuation, there are many different types and motivations for economic demand. We have the experience to understand what drives our market demand, while maintaining our focus on the current supplies of available inventory. This balance of approach helps to extract the natural motivations of a commercial market sector. There is a noted increase in demand for support industries within the past several years due to the relatively new Oil and Gas Industry in Central PA. Reis Valuations Limited is uniquely equipped to provide credible opinions of value to our clients' constantly expanding market areas.

Industrial Appraisal

The most flexible design for industrial buildings, and the one with the greatest appeal on the open market, is a one-story, square or nearly square structure that complies with all local building codes. The combination of old and new industrial space may create substantial obstacles to valuation. The layout of industrial space should allow operations to be carried out with maximum efficiency.

Some industrial buildings include special features which may be standard equipment for certain industrial operations but not standard for the local real estate market. Manufacturing plants and other similar buildings used for industries that involve bulky or volatile materials and products have specialized equipment and building designs, so they have few potential users. Determining potential highest and best use for such facilities is essential to properly valuing a property so that it is not valued inaccurately.

Whether the industrial property is a small or large manufacturing facility, or a mini or regional warehouse with several hundred-thousand square feet, it is imperative to have a competent appraiser. In order to adequately observe the optimal functional utility of every space to guarantee highest and best use, every variable must be considered and each variable requires an appraiser with the experience to competently perform such appraisals so that our clients receive a competent and credible opinion of value.

Agricultural Appraisal

With our team having first-hand experience in agricultural properties, there is need for critical understanding of what brings value to these types of properties. As the small, family farm has given way to fewer, larger farms, the contribution of farm buildings to the total value of farm real estate has been steadily decreasing. The number of farm buildings per acre of farmland has also decreased. Farms are increasingly operated by large, specialized business concerns, and the equipment and management needed to run agricultural operations have become increasingly specialized.

Farm buildings must accommodate the type of machinery and equipment currently used in farming. To be useful, each farm building must contribute to the operating efficiency of the entire farm. Each building's usefulness relates to the type and size of the farm. Functional obsolescence can result from having too many farm buildings when fewer would be more efficient. All barns, silos, animal shelters, machine sheds, shops, production facilities, and land must be valued appropriately in order to provide an appraisal that is unbiased and impartial to the industry to which they serve.

Land Appraisal

Although land and improvements on and to land can be viewed in a physical sense, there are other concepts of land that are less obvious. These concepts help to characterize the importance of land and provide the foundation for land value. Geographical, environmental, legal, economic, and social are all factors in the determining the highest and best use of any value opinion of land.

Geography focuses on describing the physical elements of land and the activities of the people who use it as well as the surrounding uses. Environmentally land provides natural elements that contribute to wealth of owners and leasees. From a vast domain of law, issues such as ownership and the use of land are always considered in any valuation. In economics, land is regarded as one of the four agents of production, along with labor, capital, and entrepreneurial coordination. And socially land is recognized as a resource to be shared by all people and that land is a unique, but can be owned, traded, and used by individuals.

Lawyers, economists, sociologists, and geographers have a common understanding of the attributes of land. Reis Valuations Limited shares all these disciplines' perspectives, and recognizes their attributes to the basis of real property value. It is vital to identify both the contrast between the physical attributes of land and the economic attributes that a particular parcel will demand. Markets reflect the attitudes and actions as a response to buyers and sellers in the market and Reis Valuations Limited is constantly concerned with educating it's appraisers on how the market measures this balance, so it can be properly reflected.

Specialized Appraisal

Although most improvements can be converted to other uses, the conversion of special-purpose facility generally involves extra expense and design expertise. Special purpose structures could be anything from houses of worship, theaters, sports arenas, railroad stations, firehouses, mills, schools, or any other property that would require a new owner of different interest to have an adaptive-use. The functional utility of a special-purpose building depends on whether or not there is continued demand for the use for which the building was designed. When there is demand, functional utility depends on whether or not the building conforms to competitive standards.

Individual properties are sometimes appropriate only for an existing special-purpose use. Similarly, if some specialized activity is predominant in a market area, that area may qualify as a specialty district, such as but not limited to, medical districts, R&D parks, educational districts, historical districts, and high technology or industrial parks. The value influences at work must be recognized in these specialty districts and may be similar to those affecting areas where traditional land uses dominate (in particular, office districts). Reis Valuations Limited specializes in uncovering the emphasis of value that often changes depending on the current occupancy of the specialized facility.

Where we serve

Primary Markets Include

Residential & Commercial Appraisals

  • Lycoming County
  • Clinton County
  • Union County
  • Montour County
  • Columbia County
  • Northumberland County
  • Sullivan County
  • Snyder County

Secondary Markets

Includes Commercial Appraisals

  • Bradford County
  • Potter County
  • Cameron County
  • Elk County
  • Center County
  • Clearfield County
  • Luzerne County
  • Wyoming County
  • Lakawanna County
  • Tioga County