A residential real estate appraisal practice for the Colorado River, Crystal River, Roaring Fork River, and White River Valleys.
Based in Rifle, Colorado
Established 2018
Defensible, market-derived residential valuation for lenders, the legal field, and property owners across Pitkin, Garfield, Rio Blanco, and the portion of Eagle County extending into the Roaring Fork Valley. Emphasis of the practice is on Western Garfield and Rio Blanco counties.
For Homeowners
Most people meet an appraiser because a lender sent one. You can also hire one yourself.
A pre-listing appraisal tells you what your home is worth before you set a price. This is an independent opinion, in a report format, based on current market analysis and what similar homes nearby actually sold for. This can be useful to understand how to price more complex, acreage, and luxury properties.
People also order one to settle an estate or a family matter, to contest a property tax value, or to check a number someone else gave them. Some order one to ask a lender to drop mortgage insurance. If that is your reason, confirm first that your loan servicer will accept an appraisal you order yourself, since many insist on ordering their own.
Here is how it works. It starts with a conversation about the property and why you need the appraisal. The appraiser visits, measures the house, takes photographs, and looks at what has sold nearby. You get a written report, in a timely manner, that says what the home is worth and shows the sales behind that number.
The value will reflect the market, whether or not it is the number you hoped for. That is the point of hiring an appraiser.
Geography of the Practice
While centered on Rifle, Silt, New Castle, Battlement Mesa, Parachute, Meeker, and Rangely, the practice covers the following areas:
Rifle·
Median prices and closed-sale volume for these areas are charted on the Market Data page.
Scope of Practice
Residential appraisal for lenders, appraisal management companies, and portfolio lenders ordering directly. Reports prepared in conformity with USPAP, the Fannie Mae Selling Guide, and applicable secondary market and investor requirements. FHA-approved appraiser on the HUD Roster.
Independent review of third-party appraisal reports, evaluating compliance, methodological soundness, adequacy of support, valuation integrity, and risk. Available for both desk and field review assignments.
Estate planning, date-of-death, trust matters, and family matters, including retrospective valuations to a prior effective date. Reports are prepared to be read and relied upon by fiduciaries, counsel, accountants, and taxing authorities, with the support for the conclusion set out plainly enough to be followed by someone who does not appraise for a living. This part of the practice draws on training in expert witness testimony and on extensive experience presenting and defending valuation conclusions in adversarial administrative proceedings.
Service as an Assessment Hearing Officer for the Denver Board of Equalization, together with work as a Real Property Appraiser for the City and County of Denver Assessor's Office, gives directly relevant experience in the tax protest cycle. Available for independent appraisals prepared for owners contesting assessed value, including the 2027 Colorado reassessment cycle.
Single-family through four-unit residential property, including acreage parcels, manufactured housing, attached and semi-detached dwellings, historic and architecturally distinctive homes, custom construction, and assignments in markets with limited comparable sales.
Opinions of value for one- to four-unit residential income property, supported by analysis of contract rent against market rent and of the income the property actually produces. Prepared for owners weighing an acquisition, a refinance, or a decision to hold or sell, and for lenders underwriting small residential income property.
Professional Profile
Michael Bracher is a Colorado Certified Residential Appraiser with an MBA in real estate from Longwood University, practicing from Rifle, Colorado. He has completed approximately 1,500 residential appraisal assignments, including assignments for mortgage lending, independent appraisal reviews, and assignments for the legal field, and has held a Colorado appraisal credential continuously since 2018.
His practice combines fee appraisal for mortgage lending and private clients with a background in ad valorem valuation and administrative adjudication. He has served as a Real Property Appraiser for the City and County of Denver Assessor's Office, performing mass appraisal and defending assessed values before the County Board of Equalization and the Colorado State Board of Assessment Appeals. He has also served as an Assessment Hearing Officer for the Denver Board of Equalization, presiding over several hundred contested assessment protests.
Having sat on every side of the table, he builds conclusions that hold up when examined.
He previously practiced across Colorado's Front Range mountain counties — including Park, Jefferson, and Boulder — and completed nearly a decade of assignments in central Denver with particular emphasis on historic neighborhoods and architecturally distinctive property. He relocated to Rifle in June 2026 and now serves the Western Slope full time.
CV available upon request.
For the Record
Contact
Tell me the property, the intended use, and your timeline. Most inquiries receive a response the same business day.