Market value appraisal
There are generally two types of piano appraisals - common valuation (or market value), and insurance valuation. The common valuation is typically for a customer's own purchasing and selling purposes. You might want to know if a piano you are interested in purchasing is under or overvalued.
Someone looking to sell their own piano may also want to make sure that they are pricing the piano within normal market ranges for their type and make of piano.
Insurance value appraisal
The insurance value is what a person needs when they want to make sure their piano is insured in case of a fire in the home or other acts An insurance value is a longer report and generally people use this on more expensive grand pianos.
For example, a piano teacher client had a fire in her home that negatively impacted the condition of the piano. Because of her specific insurance policy, she was awarded cash to replace the piano at what it would cost new.
Imagine you know nothing about pianos and you want to know if the one you are looking at is structurally sound A condition analysis report will give you the specifics on the current state of the structure of the piano. The report will also include comments on the condition of key parts of the piano such as the amount of life left in the hammers.
Getting a condition analysis report will give you an accurate idea of the shape of the piano, but it does not assess the value of a piano Similar to if you took your car to a mechanic - they would perform tests to tell you the condition of the car, but the mechanic's report does not address value.
A condition analysis report is very helpful if you are selling a piano as well as if you want to purchase a piano Either way it is smart to know what kind of shape a piano is in before you make a purchasing decision. This is true even if purchasing a new or used piano from a store. One story from someone who purchased a piano and found out later that it would not hold a tune. When this fact was brought to the attention of the store owner, they gladly took the piano back and told the purchaser to look for another piano. However, they made the buyer purchase the next piano at manufactures suggested retail price, when quite often stores offerpianos below manufacturer's suggested retail.
Piano appraisals and condition reports vary in price depending on the piano, location, accessibility and the type of report requested. The least expensive condition report - for a used craigslist piano for example, is around $100.00. For a specific price quote Mark would need detailed information on the kind of piano, location, etc. The purpose of a condition report is to point out specific items of concern about the piano.
The most expensive appraisals require reports for insurance agents. Appraisal report prices can be reduced if Mark is already on site tuning your piano
Mark Mention Piano Tuning & Associated Services mark@markmention.com 503.245.4755
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