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Horizon Valuation Group
Horizon Valuation Group

Certified General · Certified Residential · Clark County, Nevada

Appraisals written to be cross-examined.

Horizon Valuation Group appraises commercial and residential real property in Clark County for the matters where the number gets challenged — litigation, estates, dissolutions, tax appeals, and property nobody else will take on.

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01 Litigation

Expert witness and litigation support

Deposition and trial testimony, appraisal review, and reports built for a state that runs admissibility on NRS 50.275 — not Daubert.

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02 Luxury

High-value and luxury property

The top of the Las Vegas market, where the comparable set is thin, the number is large, and a bracketed sales grid will not carry it.

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03 Complex

Assignments that require a non-routine scope of work

Special-purpose, gaming-adjacent, fractional interests, contaminated or stigmatized, unentitled land, and property with no comparable sales.

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Residential lending, relocation and private-client assignments are a core part of our practice. Find your matter →

Both certifications · one engagement

The house and the strip center.

A divorce with a marital home and a rental portfolio. An estate with a residence and a ground-leased pad. A partnership dissolution with both. Nearly every appraisal firm in Las Vegas is residential or commercial — so you retain two, reconcile two effective dates, and prepare two witnesses. Horizon holds both Nevada certifications under one engagement letter.

Certified General

All property types, no value limit. Retail, office, industrial, land, special-purpose and gaming-adjacent real property.

Michael Brunson — A.0207222-CG

Verify on the ASC registry

Certified Residential

One-to-four units at any value and any complexity — including luxury estates and high-rise condominiums.

Jason D. (“JD”) Osier — A.0206633-CR

Verify on the ASC registry

One firm. Coordinated scopes of work. Residential and commercial expertise under a unified engagement.

An AQB Certified USPAP Instructor teaches the standard the report will be measured against. Very few testifying appraisers hold this credential.

Practice one · Litigation support & expert witness

Nevada is not a Daubert state.

Admissibility of expert testimony in Nevada runs on NRS 50.275 as construed in Hallmark v. Eldridge, 124 Nev. 492, 189 P.3d 646 (2008) — qualification, assistance to the trier of fact, and limited scope. The Nevada Supreme Court has said expressly that it has not adopted Daubert, though federal decisions "may provide persuasive authority". Our reports and our testimony are built to that standard, and to USPAP Standards Rules 1 and 2.

Qualification

Education, experience and licensure on the record, with a current CV and a case list you can put in front of the court — and a license number the other side can verify in twenty seconds.

Reliability

Methodology stated, data sourced and verified. Adjustments and analytical conclusions supported by available market evidence and clearly explained. If an approach was not developed, the report says which one and why.

Scope

We give an opinion of value. We do not opine on liability, on the law, or on what the court should conclude. We limit our opinions to matters within the appraiser's assignment, expertise, and developed scope of work.

Where we have appeared

  • Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County — Civil, Business and Family Divisions
  • U.S. District Court, District of Nevada
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Nevada
  • Clark County Board of Equalization
  • Nevada State Board of Equalization
  • Arbitration and mediation panels

Testifying-expert experience of Michael Brunson: U.S. Bankruptcy Court · Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada · U.S. District Court of Nevada. A matter-by-matter case list is available to counsel on request.

How an engagement starts

Conflict check

Send the names of the parties and counsel. Nothing else — do not send case facts. You get a cleared-or-declined answer in writing.

Fee basis

Litigation work is billed hourly. Our fee is never contingent on the value reported, on a stipulated result, or on the occurrence of a subsequent event.

Scheduling

Deposition and trial dates are held at engagement. If the trial date moves, tell us early — expert calendars in this valley are thin.

Run a conflict check

Practice one (b) · Appraisal review

We read the other side's appraisal.

Appraisal review is its own discipline under USPAP Standards Rules 3 and 4, and it is a different assignment from appraising the property. We review for scope of work, method, data and support, and we state whether the opinion is credible, where it is not, and why.

  • Review report

    A signed Standards Rule 3/4 review of the opposing appraisal, suitable for disclosure and for the record.

  • Rebuttal with an independent opinion

    Where the review supports it, we develop our own opinion of value as a separate, separately-scoped assignment.

  • Cross-examination preparation

    The questions the report cannot answer, written out for counsel, with the pages to point at.

An appraisal review is not undertaken to produce a predetermined criticism. If the work under review is credible, the review will say so — and knowing it early is worth more to your client than a fight you lose on the stand.

Who signs, and who testifies

When testimony is required, the testifying appraiser is the one responsible.

Reports are signed by the appraiser or appraisers responsible for the analysis, opinions, and conclusions. Significant appraisal assistance is identified as required.

Michael Brunson

Nevada Certified General Appraiser

A.0207222-CG

Commercial and complex real property, litigation support, and appraisal review. Certified General, so the commercial half of a matter does not have to go to a second firm. An AQB Certified USPAP Instructor — he teaches the standard the report will be measured against.

Designations
Senior Residential Appraiser (SRA, Appraisal Institute) · Member, National Association of Appraisers (MNAA) · Master Property Appraiser (MPA) · AQB Certified USPAP Instructor
Also licensed
California Certified General Appraiser, 3003517
Testimony
U.S. Bankruptcy Court · Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada · U.S. District Court of Nevada

Verify this license — ASC National Registry

Jason D. (“JD”) Osier

Nevada Certified Residential Appraiser

A.0206633-CR

Residential real property of any value or complexity — the Certified Residential credential is not capped by price, which is what makes luxury and high-value estate work signable.

Verify this license — ASC National Registry

Independence

We hold no ownership interest in properties we appraise, take no contingent fees, and run no brokerage or lending side business that could be adverse to an opinion of value. Prior engagements with any party are disclosed on request.

Practice two · Luxury & high-value

At the top of the market, the comparable set runs out.

A custom home on a two-acre ridgeline lot is not a bracketed sales-comparison problem. There may be three closed sales in eighteen months, none of them alike, and one of them never hit the MLS. High-value work is where paired-data analysis, cost-approach support, land residual and calls to the listing side stop being optional.

Where this work is

The RidgesMacDonald HighlandsAscayaQueensridgeRed Rock Country ClubAnthem Country ClubSouthern HighlandsSeven HillsSpanish TrailLake Las VegasResort Corridor high-rises

Intended uses

  • Estate and gift tax reporting (Forms 706 and 709)
  • Trust funding, decanting and fiduciary accounting
  • Divorce and marital property division
  • Pre-listing and pre-purchase
  • Non-lender private financing
  • Property tax appeal
  • Charitable contribution

High-value assignments are handled by a principal. We do not publish addresses, photographs or client names from any engagement — which is why there is no portfolio gallery on this page.

Interior finish and specification carry value the sales grid cannot bracket.
Site work, elevation and view are the adjustments that decide the number.

What we appraise

Two certifications, one caseload.

Nevada splits appraisal licensing in two, and most firms in this valley sit on one side of the line. These are the property types a single engagement here can cover.

Certified General

Retail and shopping centers

Strip centers, pads, single-tenant net lease, anchored retail.

Certified General

Office and medical

Suburban office, flex, medical and dental suites, owner-occupied.

Certified General

Industrial and distribution

Warehouse, light manufacturing, truck terminals, outdoor storage.

Certified General

Land and development sites

Entitled and unentitled parcels, excess and surplus land, assemblages.

Certified Residential

Luxury and custom residential

Estates and custom builds where the comparable set is thin.

Certified Residential

Condominiums and high-rise

High-rise and mid-rise units, view premiums, HOA-encumbered interests.

Certified General covers every property type at any value; Certified Residential covers one-to-four units at any value and any complexity. Between them there is no gap.

Practice three · Difficult & complex

The assignments that arrive after someone else has passed.

”Complex” is not a marketing adjective. It means a routine process will not produce credible assignment results, and the scope of work has to be tailored to the property, intended use, available data, and appraisal problem before anyone drives to the property.

Special-purpose property

Churches, schools, car washes, self-storage, funeral homes. Little or no sales market, so cost and income carry the value.

Gaming-adjacent property

Separating real property from business enterprise value and from FF&E — and defending the split.

Ground lease, leased fee, leasehold

Three interests, three numbers, one parcel — and the rent escalation clause decides which one matters.

Partial and fractional interests

Undivided interests and tenancies in common, discounts for lack of control and marketability, and the limits of an appraiser’s role.

Contaminated and stigmatized property

Value in the impaired and the unimpaired condition, with every hypothetical condition and extraordinary assumption on the record. Environmental conditions and remediation assessments rely on appropriately qualified environmental professionals.

Unentitled and pre-entitlement land

Zoning, utilities and absorption assumptions carry more of the value than the dirt does.

Water rights and appurtenances

In Nevada water is separately valuable and separately traded — and it does not always convey.

No comparable sales

When sales comparison cannot be credibly developed: say so, support the alternative, and be ready to explain it.

Retrospective value in a disrupted market

A date of separation four years back. The discipline is refusing to use data that did not exist on the effective date.

Excess land, irregular parcels, access problems

Easements, landlocked remnants, and frontage worth more than the depth behind it.

What we decline.

Assignments offered on a contingent fee or with a predetermined value. Assignments where we have a conflict we cannot cure. Assignments outside our competency where we cannot associate with someone who has it. Assignments with a deadline that will not permit credible work. Assignments where the scope requested would produce a misleading result. We would rather refuse the engagement than write around it.

Find your matter

What is this report going to have to survive?

Choose the row that matches your matter and the intake form opens with the right questions.

Divorce and family law

Family law counsel, or both sides jointly

Cross-examination in the Family Division, often on a retrospective date-of-separation value — and often on a residence and an income property at once.

Probate, trust and estate administration

Probate counsel, trustees, personal representatives

Beneficiary scrutiny, and for taxable estates, IRS review. Date of death, or the alternate valuation date.

Estate and gift tax reporting

CPAs, estate planners, tax counsel

Estate and gift returns call for an appraisal that meets the qualified appraisal standards, prepared by a qualified appraiser. Appraisers are exposed to penalty under section 6695A for a substantial or gross valuation misstatement.

Bankruptcy

Debtor and creditor counsel, trustees

A §506 valuation hearing, where the value standard follows the proposed use of the property.

Partnership and LLC dissolution

Business and transactional counsel

A competing expert, and a real property opinion that has to stand separately from the entity valuation.

Eminent domain and inverse condemnation

Condemnation counsel and property owners

Before-and-after analysis, severance damages, and the project-influence rule.

Nuisance, property damage and diminution in value

Plaintiff and defense counsel

A competing expert on causation and the measure of damages, and cross-examination on whether the loss is temporary or permanent.

Clark County property tax appeal

Owners, tax agents, counsel

A hearing calendar that does not move.
Clark County reassessment notices are mailed in mid-December, County Board of Equalization petitions fall due in mid-January, and State Board appeals in early March. Confirm the current cycle's exact dates with the Clark County Assessor — they shift by a day or two each year, and the deadline is the one thing in a tax appeal that cannot be cured.

Lending and institutional

Banks, credit unions, private and bridge lenders

A reviewer’s checklist and the interagency appraisal requirements.

Owners, buyers and agents

Directly

Pre-listing and pre-purchase decisions, insurance replacement cost, retrospective valuation for estate, tax-planning, or reporting purposes, and PMI removal.

How an engagement runs

From conflict check to cross-examination.

01

Conflict check

Names of the parties and counsel. No case facts. You get a cleared-or-declined answer in writing.

02

Scope and engagement letter

Property, interest appraised, intended use and users, effective date, definition of value, and the fee basis — signed before work starts, because the scope decides the shape of the report.

03

Inspection and data

Interior and exterior where access permits. Assessor, recorder, MLS, commercial data services, and primary interviews with brokers and principals. Anything we could not verify is stated as such.

04

Report

A written appraisal report meeting USPAP Standards Rule 2, with the workfile retained and available to the extent the engagement and the rules permit.

05

Testimony and support

Deposition preparation for counsel, rebuttal of opposing reports, deposition and trial testimony, and supplements when the record changes.

We do not publish a turnaround time.

A 1,200-square-foot tract home with six closed sales on the same street and a 40-acre unentitled parcel with an appurtenant water right are not the same assignment. You get a delivery date with the fee quote, before you sign — and we hold it.

Horizon Valuation Group

Start

Tell us what kind of matter this is.

Different matters need different first questions. Pick one and the form changes.

Send the names of the parties and counsel so we can run a conflict check. Do not send confidential case facts through this form — we have no client relationship with you yet.

We will ask about the property, dates and venue after the conflict check clears.

Submitting this form does not create a client relationship, an engagement, or any duty of confidentiality. Litigation work is billed hourly, and our fees are never contingent on the value reported or on the outcome.