For lenders & credit teams
Valuations your credit file can stand on.
Appraisals and evaluations for Montana banks and credit unions. Scoped to the right product, inspected locally, and written to clear credit review and examiner scrutiny the first time.
Who we serve
01
Commercial lenders
One firm for the whole relationship: commercial, agricultural, and residential, by appraisal or evaluation.
02
Credit administration
Collateral reviews, re-evaluations, and consistent work across a watch list or a portfolio.
03
Ag lenders
Farm and ranch ground when it comes with the relationship, valued to the same standard as the commercial file.
04
Loan operations
Clear scope and fee up front, a delivery date given on day one, and a name to call with questions.
The right product, scoped up front
Every engagement starts with the transaction: what it is, what it is for, and what your policy requires. We confirm whether the file calls for an appraisal or an evaluation, what it will cost, and when you will have it, typically within one business day.
Evaluations are our highest-volume work. Most look routine on the order form, and the ones that are not look exactly the same until someone opens them up. Every file gets the same standard for that reason.
Built for credit review and exams
Reports are prepared under USPAP or the Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines, as the assignment requires, and checked in-house before delivery for support, data accuracy, and compliance. The goal is a file that moves through committee without a revision cycle and holds up when an examiner pulls it.
We know what your reviewer is looking for because ours did that job for eight years, on the bank side, on every property type. One of our directors was the first appraiser in Montana to earn the AI-GRS, the Appraisal Institute designation for review specialists.
Rove Valuations is a separate company, and valuation is all we do here. We take no part in the credit decision, and our fee is set before we start and does not change with the conclusion.
What moves a number, and what only looks like it does
The questions that decide a value rarely appear on the order form. Is the extra ground excess land that carries its own value, or surplus land that carries none? Is the rent above market, and for how much longer? Is there rent loss to absorb before the property performs? Does this one need a discounted cash flow, or does that only add decimal places to a guess?
Getting those wrong does not produce an obviously wrong report. It produces a clean-looking report with a number that will not hold up. That is the part we are strict about.
Send us the one nobody wants
The special-purpose building with no comparable sales. The multi-parcel estate spread across three counties. The file two appraisers have already declined, sitting in the queue six weeks with a closing behind it.
That is the work we are known for, and it is usually the work that decides whether a value holds up. Start us there rather than on the easy one. The routine files take care of themselves once you know what we do with a hard one.
The same firm in every county
We work in all 56 Montana counties, so a property in Plentywood or Libby is walked by someone who knows the town. The work runs to one standard wherever the collateral sits. We also take select engagements in other states when the property or the relationship calls for it.
- Commercial appraisals and evaluations
- Agricultural and ranch valuations
- Residential appraisals and evaluations for lending files
- Portfolio and multi-property engagements
- Collateral reviews and re-evaluations
- Appraisal review of third-party reports
How a number moves
Better data. No agenda. Different answer.
An evaluation only looks simple until something in it isn't: ground that is excess rather than surplus, rent that isn't market, a comp that sold as part of something larger. You don't know which one you have until someone who has seen it before looks.
01 / 4
It starts the same way every time.
Pull the comps, confirm the condition, document the support. Nothing in the file says this one is different.
Subject · 10,000 SF warehouse
Quick lookRove review
Comp A 2023 sale · similar warehouse
$92$97/SF
+5% market conditions
Comp B 2025 sale · newer, better location
$104$96/SF
−8% superior location
Comp C 2024 sale · 3 buildings, 1 price
$61/SF
Portfolio sale — not a comparable. Excluded.
Straight average
$86/SF · $857,000
Rove conclusion
$96/SF · $960,000
+$103,000 — the cost of a comp that isn't really a comp.
Illustrative evaluation example. Appraisals compare each sale to the subject qualitatively.
Quick check
Which does your deal need?
Result
Appraisal required
Above $500,000, a commercial real estate transaction at a federally regulated lender requires an appraisal by a state-certified appraiser.
General guidance for federally regulated lenders, based on the federal appraisal thresholds and the Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines. Your institution's credit policy governs and may require an appraisal below these thresholds. Credit unions follow NCUA rules, where the commercial threshold is $1,000,000.General guidance, not legal or tax advice. Your attorney or CPA has the final say on what a matter requires.
Questions
What clients ask us.
- How fast can we get a report?
- A standard commercial evaluation typically runs 5 to 10 business days. Certified commercial appraisals usually take 3 to 4 weeks depending on complexity and our current schedule. We confirm the date up front and tell you early if anything changes.
- Do you handle both appraisals and evaluations?
- Yes, plus appraisal review. We will tell you which product fits a transaction and why, and we are glad to work to a stricter internal policy than the regulation requires.
- Can you take a portfolio or a whole relationship?
- Yes. Multi-property loans, collateral portfolio reviews, and relationship refinancings run as a single engagement with one point of contact and consistent methodology.
- Are you independent of the loan decision?
- Yes. Rove Valuations is a separate company whose only business is valuation, and we take no part in your credit decision. Our fee is set before we start and does not change with the conclusion, so nothing about our compensation moves with the number.
- Do you work with credit unions?
- Yes. Credit unions follow NCUA rules, where the commercial appraisal threshold is $1,000,000. We scope engagements to the rules your institution answers to.
- Can you review an appraisal we already have?
- Yes. We perform independent appraisal reviews for lenders who need a second set of eyes on a report before they rely on it.
Get started
Send us the hard one first.
Property address, transaction type, and what your policy requires. We will confirm scope, fee, and timeline within one business day. We take on a limited number of new institutions at a time, so that the ones we work with get the schedule they were promised.