Don Machholz Passing
Folks, yesterday, August 11, I received the following notice about Don Machholz from a California appraiser, who requested this be circulated:
With sadness, I wanted to share the news of Don Machholz passing on Tuesday, August 9 in Wikieup, AZ due to complications with COVID-19.
Don was a real estate appraiser from 2003-2018 and was well known within the appraisal industry. He was active in the Real Estate Appraisers Organization (REAA) and the Nevada County and Placer County Association of Realtors throughout his career.
Don was known for his market updates and sense of humor at the weekly marketing meetings. Don significantly helped the appraisal industry by providing free analytical spreadsheets to appraisers nationwide when the 1004MC was first released.
Don’s wife, Michele, continues to battle her own struggles with COVID and really needs all the help she can get. A GoFundMe has been started with all of the proceeds going to Michele and the family.
The family of Don Machholz aka The Comet Hunter, needs your help. Don was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1952 and passed away on August 9, 2022 at his home in Wikieup, AZ due to complications with Covid-19.
Don was a real estate appraiser from 2003-2018 and was well known within the appraisal industry. He was active in the Real Estate Appraisers Organization (REAA) and the Nevada County and Placer County Association of Realtors throughout his career. Don was known for his market updates and sense of humor at the weekly marketing meetings. Don significantly helped the appraisal industry by providing free analytical spreadsheets to appraisers nationwide to assist in newly required market conditions analytics.
Don’s passion was not in real estate but in the stars. Don established an interest in astronomy at the early age of 8 yrs old. Don served in the United States army as a meteorological observer. In the mid-1970’s Don developed a mapping system assisting him with comet hunting and discovered his first comet in 1978. Don is considered to be one of the inventors of the Messier Marathon, a race to observe all the Messier Objects (110 bright galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters) in a single night. Don completed 50 marathons in 40 Years. Don is known as the most successful living visual comment discoverer, credited with the discovery of 12 comets. Don remained active in the astronomical community up until his death, recording his “Up Looking with Don” Podcast.
The Machholz family would really appreciate any donations in their time of need.
For more about Don, please visit donmachholz.com.
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I’m so very sorry to hear about the death of a fellow appraiser and an interesting man. He was two years older than me apparently. My condolences to his family.
God Spead, his work spoke for itself
Don helped me produce a self populating spreadsheet (built off of his) that I freely shared when the 1004MC first came into existence. He seemed like a very nice man that cared about the industry he worked in. I’ll bet there are tons of stories about how Don helped so many appraisers. I plan on donating to his GoFundMe page and I encourage everyone else to do the same.
Add me to the list of Don’s admirers.
He helped all of us to better understand.
Sorry to hear about Don’s passing. He made our profession better with his help. My very best, Jerry Long
Don’s 1004MC 5C for MetroList spreadsheet has saved me countless hours of work and my computer crashed a week ago and I can’t find it on my external hard drive. I am hoping someone would be able to share their copy with me.
I hope that a late donation to Don’s wife will be helpful even after so much time has passed.