Tagged: cost approach

April 28, 2014

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...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

What Does the Missing Malaysian Jet have to do with Appraising

March 27, 2014

Malaysian 777 Disappearance and Appraising?

What Does the Missing Malaysian Jet have to do with Appraising? I find it fascinating that a jet full of passengers can just disappear. As time passes, it is becoming more and more evident that this is not going to end well. What is interesting to me, however, is the media coverage of the event. Everyone seems to have a theory as to what happened (including one ‘reporter’ speculating that a black hole might have sucked them up). The problem? Most of these theories are based on no more than a hunch. There is little to no evidence supporting most...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

March 18, 2014

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...

American Measurement Standard / American National Standards Institute / AMS / ANSI / Appraisal / Appraisal News

February 11, 2014

Welcome to Life as an Appraiser in 2014

I want to meet the lucky appraiser these days who is getting all of the easy appraisals. Welcome to life as an appraiser in 2014. It seems every appraisal has time constraints, distance constraints and knowledge constraints. I want to meet the lucky appraiser these days who is getting all of the easy appraisals. Surely it can’t be lenders just getting an AVM. If lenders are using AVMs, the lack of quality comparables out there would lead to lenders just fooling themselves and relying on loss ratios again. You would think someone would say: been there, done that and got hammered....

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM

March 8, 2013

Court Evidence & Your Workfile

How a Few Key Items in your Work File Can Protect You in Court I used to work with someone who had a photographic memory. Most of us are not so lucky, and have to rely on our imperfect memories and good note-taking skills. As an attorney, I document everything. I handle hundreds of cases, and without good documentation I will not remember what I did on a particular day or what support I had for a particular theory. As an appraiser, your work file is your documentation. Not only is a work file a USPAP requirement1, it can help...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

January 31, 2013

FHA Updated Valuation Protocol FAQs

FHA Updated Valuation Protocol FAQs Revised 01/24/13 FHA has updated the Valuation Protocol FAQs posted on the FHA Appraiser Roster web page. The most recent FAQs can be found on page 27 of the document and provides clarification for what constitutes an acceptable conventional heating system. You can periodically review the FHA Appraiser Roster web page for alerts on recently published Mortgagee Letters of interest and other pertinent announcements. The publication contains the following topics: New Construction Wood Destroying Insects/Termites Utilities – Well and Septic Inspections & Certifications Cost Approach Accessory Dwelling Units Manufactured Housing Two Unit Properties HECM Appraisals Lender...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Federal Housing Administration / FHA / HUD

Appraisal Institute Releases Enhanced ‘Green’ Addendum

January 24, 2013

What is the Value of ‘Green’?

An academic study released last year found that homes with green labels provide a market premium of 9 percent compared to similar homes without the labels. The study, “The Value of Green Labels in the California Housing Market,” examined how green and energy efficient features impacted the sale price of homes in California. It was published by Nils Kok, Maastricht University, Netherlands/University of California, Berkeley; and Matthew E. Kahn, University of California, Los Angeles. The study also found: The premium associated with green labels is highest in areas with hotter climate. The premium is positively correlated to the environmental ideology...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

July 16, 2012

Self Evident Reports

Over the span of the last several decades, many residential appraisers were brought into this profession to meet the demand for residential mortgage lending reports. The problem with this has become clear as many were trained with one mindset, residential lending appraisals. They became “self-proclaimed experts” at filing out forms and meeting client expectations. All in the name of doing a good job and making a living. I hold all residential appraisers responsible for this sad state of affairs. Had more of the professional appraisers taken on one or two trainees and mentored them into producing credible reports then perhaps...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / UAD / Uniform Appraisal Dataset

April 18, 2012

Memo to KY AMCs

Memorandum to Kentucky Registered AMCs Regarding Appraiser Independence, Objectivity, and Impartiality From: Larry Disney, To: Kentucky Registered Appraisal Management Companies and Credentialed Appraisers, Date: March 29, 2012 Subject: Appraiser Independence, Objectivity, and Impartiality The Kentucky Real Estate Appraisers Board staff has received calls from Kentucky credentialed appraisers in the past two weeks concerning the following issue that is being propagated by Appraisal Management Companies: When appraising one unit residential properties and reporting the results of the appraisal development using a 1004 Fannie Mae form, the appraisers are told that if the cost approach is developed and reported, regardless of reasoning,...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

January 9, 2012

Extraction Has No Traction

“Land values were based upon the extraction method.” Look familiar? If I had a nickel for every phoned-in Cost Approach that had this sentence or one like it, I’d be Warren Buffet. The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal defines it as: A method of estimating land value in which the depreciated cost of the improvements on the improved property is estimated and deducted from the total sale price to arrive at an estimated sale price for the land; most effective when the improvements contribute little to the total sale price of the property. The underscored portion says it all. Usually...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / IDFPR / Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation