Author: Guest Author

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The Cost Approach – An Approach to Value, Without Worth, Really?

Back to Basics (Part 2): The Cost Approach – An Approach to Value, Without Worth, Really? The foundations of appraisal were based upon three independent approaches to value. A system, when developed correctly, presents a check and balance within the report. The idea being that when an appraiser takes the time to develop each report, the data will show three independent motivations and three separate value conclusions. Nonetheless, the conclusions will support one another because the underlying principle for each approach is the principal of substitution. For the purposes of valuation or real estate appraisal, the principle of substitution is...

Back to The Basics - “Preaching” About the Basics of This Industry 0

Back to The Basics

…“preaching” about the basics of this industry… The more I read residential mortgage related appraisals, underwriter comments and comments from the quality assurance departments from major lenders, the more I have come to realize that it is far beyond time to get back to “preaching” about the basics of this industry. For those of you who have been in the business back when you would take the photos, pull it out of the camera, wait a few moments before you pulled the front off the photo before coating it with the “magic wand” to keep it from fading (thank you...

You Need This In Your Reports 6

You Need This In Your Reports

Please consider utilizing the following statements in your reports… In my years of appraising, I have had had to argue with many Lenders, Attorneys, and general pains in the butt. What many of us have found is that when Banks screw up, they come knocking at your door. What we need to do as appraisers is to state the separation of Lending liability to appraisal liability. Please consider utilizing the following statements in your reports after your statements of intended users that is required in your reports. I have been using this for years in my reports as it returns...

Confidential Information Sharing with Another Appraiser & USPAP 1

Sharing Report with Fellow Appraisers a USPAP Violation?

Is Sharing a Report with a Fellow Appraiser a Violation of USPAP Confidentiality?…Appraisers routinely share confidential information & communicate assignment results with other appraisers… Appraisers frequently are faced with chances to make mistakes related to confidentiality. The Confidentiality Section of the ETHICS RULE of Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), as published by the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) of the Appraisal Foundation and enforced by the North Carolina Appraisal Board, provides the rules for appraisers in North Carolina. Appraisers often are reminded about and advised how to avoid the pitfalls of communicating with property owners, real estate brokers, lenders...

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State of the Appraisal Profession & Residential Market Overview

In March, I once again traveled to Modesto, CA, and attended the Annual Spring Conference of the Appraisal Institute’s Northern California Chapter. This month, I will share some useful and interesting information from the presentations. The conference focuses on the California market, but many of the presenters also covered topics related to the national market. The first session was “State of the Appraisal Profession”; the speaker was Lance Coyle, MAI, and SRA who is national president-elect of the Appraisal Institute. He started by giving a brief history of the profession and pointed out that significant changes came to the profession...

Should Appraisers Carry Weapons on the Job 4

Should Appraisers Carry Weapons on the Job?

Individual right to possess and carry firearms The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms. In the twenty-first century, the amendment has been subjected to renewed academic inquiry and judicial interest. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision, expressly holding the amendment to protect an individual right to possess and carry firearms. In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the Court clarified its earlier decisions that limited the amendment’s impact to a restriction on the federal government, expressly holding that the Fourteenth Amendment applies...

A Journal Piece of Appraiser Independence (Part 2): Appraisal Independence Violated 2

Appraiser Independence Violated

A Journal Piece of Appraiser Independence (Part 2): Appraisal Independence Violated History is an important reminder to us all of what went wrong and what went right. When history is known we tend to skip the mistakes we made. We can either choose the right path for the wrong reason, the right path for the ‘right’ reasons and, we can take the wrong path in a similar manner. The MARKET needs to take the right path for the ‘right’ reasons. In years of late 1998 and 1999 several ideas were brought forth to a Forum filled with Individual Appraisers carrying...

Appraiser Independence Appraisal Independence 4

A Journal Piece of Appraiser Independence

A Journal Piece of Appraiser Independence (Part 1): Where Do We Go From Here? Buyer Beware! Where is the Value? (PART 1) In the years of 2007/2008, the ideologue of, “Appraiser Independence” had become popular for the real estate market’s economic agents and the processes it relies on to function properly. The idea gained respect, due to the perseverance of Real Estate Appraisers carrying out their Independence, during the decade of 2000-2010. The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) was introduced according to prevailing design and initiative:  the advancement of a market in need for an inspired and renewed sense of...

House measurement square footage 6

How Big is My House?

As a house gets older the wood begins to shrink… Do you ever get those questions? “Well ABC appraised my house last year and my house was 3,726 square feet. Why do you say it only contains 3,698 square feet?”. I have always wanted to say, well as your house gets older, the wood begins to shrink… Everyone knows of course that houses come in different sizes, shapes and that walls can be built at angles other than 90, 60 or 45 degrees, thus accurate measuring can be a challenge. When you factor in roof pitch for upstairs rooms, or...

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Non-Lender Valuation: Consumers Should Tread Carefully

Competition, in a free market, is a fierce catalyst: one that can effectively sort out the bad apples from the bunch. Capitalism works, it is simple when left unfettered and when all parties are ethical in their approach to business. It works until politicians, however well meaning they try to be, step in with a”solution”. Through the Dodd-Frank reform and the Andrew Cuomo created Home Valuation Code of Conduct that predates Dodd-Frank, congress effectively went anti-small business again. I liken this profession’s recent undermining by congress to how they saw to sort out the small-family farmers by paving the way...