Real Estate begins with market value and market values are always fluctuating. Knowing how to conduct transactions in real estate equates to understanding how to determine market value, essentially know how to conduct your own appraisal. The irony is that appraisal is not generally understood even with industry experts. Appraisal is not hard, it is simple and the critical factor to everything in real estate. Whether you are buying a property, refinancing, lowering your property taxes, investing, etc. everything correlates to market value and the funny thing is that real estate market values are constantly changing. Real Estate values are constantly changing so the key is: understanding appraisal and how market values are determined. When you understand appraisal and how market values are calculated you will have the tools needed to work with your financial institutions on loans and your Assessor on property taxes. The California Little Black Book and the National Little Black Book walk you through the appraisal process step-by-step so that you know how to determine your market value and this is a tool you can use many times. Once you have the tool, the Little Black Book, you can appraise an infinite number of homes.