Tagged: GLA

Schizophrenic Adjustments - Down to Exact Dollar Amount 35

Schizophrenic Adjustments

Appraisers, I’ve written in the past about what I believe are strange ways to report adjustments in appraisals, and suggested ‘rounding’ is a perfectly acceptable way to report them. This is largely due to buyers and listing agents thinking and listing in $100 increments – not down to exact dollar amounts. During the past couple of weeks, I ‘came in contact with’ two separate appraisals done by different appraisers on totally different properties, in different market areas. What struck me was the incredibly precise adjustments made for only certain items in these reports, while the rest of adjustments were ‘rounded’ to...

Goodbye 1004MC, Hello Analysis 22

Bye-bye 1004MC, Hello Analysis

On July 31, 2018, at the Appraisal Institute Annual Conference, Fannie Mae announced the end of the 1004MC. News quickly spread among the appraisal blogosphere, and on August 7, 2018, the new Selling Guide showed that the 1004MC was no longer required. Rejoicing was heard throughout the land. Although the 1004MC is no longer required by Fannie Mae, the appraiser still needs to support their opinion of market trends, supply and demand, and marketing time. The exact verbiage found in the 8/7/18 updated Selling Guide is: The appraiser’s analysis of a property must take into consideration all factors that affect...

Comparable property CHARACTERISTICS 2

Comparable property CHARACTERISTICS

What are the CHARACTERISTICS to consider? Appraisers, In over 17 years in this business, I’ve seen hundreds of properties. My service area encompasses urban through rural properties in an area 40 to 100+ miles distant from the largest metropolitan area in the state. Each appraisal assignment and subject property I do is different from one day to the next. Because of this diverse experience, and some of the essays I write, I am often contacted by other appraisers across the country to discuss report situations that are challenging, complex and questionable. Such was the case recently. A technical review appraiser...

Photo of Comps When People or Children Are Present - Standing Rule 75

Did That Guy Just Take a Picture of My Kids?

Looking at the tricky question of taking photo of comps when people are present… I want to talk to you today about something most of us appraisers do on a daily basis – taking comparable photos. Now, I don’t want to get into the whole “Are comps a waste of time? Do they actually serve any purpose?” debate. That’s gone on long enough and it isn’t going to stop any time soon. Instead, I want to try and clear up what is and isn’t actually required from your FHA comps; specifically, we’re going to be looking at the tricky question...

AMC Abuses? What's Your Story? 85

AMC Abuses? What’s Your Story?

Many of you have filed formal complaints against AMC abuses with State appraisal boards… The place was a small subdivision developed with coastal style homes on the Ocean side of route 12 in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The bank was Bank of America. The AMC was LandSafe and the time was just before Corelogic purchase of Landsafe for $122 million. I was asked by this AMC to appraise a home for a purchase transaction. My comparable sales consisted of one recent sale of the next door neighbor, one on the same street, and two closed sales in the...

ClearVal Value IS So ClearCut - What IS a “ClearVal Appraisal” 162

What IS a “ClearVal Appraisal”?

Clear Capital ClearVal… Value Not So ClearCut… I’ve finally had an opportunity to read a hybrid ‘appraisal’ start to finish. All may read the unedited, non-redacted version in all its glory… or infamy, as the case may be. Please click here (report also embedded below) and read it first. I’ll wait right here. Finished? Great. One thing is clear. It is not an appraisal by any current accepted definition that I am familiar with. Ironically, there is also very little that is clear as far as support for the opined values is concerned. (I’m old fashioned and think it should...

Rounding of Adjustments Because We Are Just Not That Good 16

Adjustment Question

Rounding of adjustments is perfectly acceptable. Would someone kindly, and logically, explain to me why the ‘Site’ is adjusted precisely at $0.20 per square foot, down to the nearest dollar, but all other adjustments are rounded to $50? Are ‘we’ appraisers really that good, where we can divine buyer motivations or values (i.e., adjustments) as accurately as that?  In other words: “Well, I believe it’s worth exactly that much.” Usually I see this kind of adjustment practice to the nearest dollar when applied to the Gross Living Area and below grade areas, which is also screwy (IMHO).  This is the...

Quit Overreporting 12

Quit Overreporting!

Why Do Appraisers Keep Overreporting…? Appraisers, Another friend has provided a copy of an appraisal on the friend’s home. Good golly, miss Molly… Why do appraisers keep overreporting comparable property data, which really isn’t comparable? This subject property is an 1,100 sq.ft. single story home, in a near-beach side community, with partial marine view, not on WFT, in a suburban location. Similar ‘comps’ are extremely limited (no more than 6 sales and 2 listings) due to its GLA, location, age, etc., based on the appraiser’s report, and my own research from multiple searches which proved similar comparable properties are almost non-existent. The report...

Pendings Can Reveal Market Trends - Use of Graphs in Appraisal Reports 5

Graphing Using Spreadsheet – Including Pendings

Pendings can reveal market trends, turns and current activity… Appraisers, How many of you use visual graphs in your reports to demonstrate sales (and Pending) trend data? This can be a very important tool to convince your clients that you really have a good understanding of current valuation issues. I am indebted to David Braun, Patrick Egger, Steve Smith, George Dell, Anthony Young and Joe Lynch (among others) for their presentations about this key feature we can utilize. Frankly, using spreadsheets and their built-in graphing functions is something every appraiser should learn. I bring this up because an appraiser peer was...

Public Records Are Dead Wrong - How Big, Really... Size Matters... Suggestions 20

How Big, Really… Size Matters… Suggestions

Very often the public records are dead wrong… Appraisers, We all know Fannie Mae (FNMA) has their Collateral Underwriting (CU) report scoring system after the .xml file of the report is submitted through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) portal used by both GSE’s. This system of theirs is used to ‘score’ an appraisal for a loan quality rating, and it’s also used to provide a lender with a guarantee of relief from a FNMA loan buy-back demand, if the report ‘scores’ a number of 2.5 or lower. We’ve previously discussed how that can be manipulated by a lender or an...

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