Ever wondered what other appraisers are doing with adjustment values? Appraisers, Have you ever wondered what other appraisers are doing with adjustments in their reports? CoreLogic has done research over the past 3 years, using 1.3 MILLION+ reports, and has produced the graph attached here. You may want to print this for reference. This graph shows the percentage of time a certain feature is adjusted, and the average dollar amount of the adjustment for each of those. It’s rather interesting. The highest amount of adjustment, approximately $14,000, is for the Quality Rating. Not really surprising as to the amount, but the percentage...
What is Gross Living Area and What Does it Include? Appraisers, There are certain properties where aspects of Gross Living Area (GLA) might not be obvious. It’s more confusing when the selling real estate agents lump all “living space” together, because that’s what they are selling, or when the county assessor includes basements with upper level areas. These include homes with a detached ADU, additional rec room or sleeping space above a garage, additional living space with roof attached to the primary dwelling via covered breezeway, basement living spaces with separate entry, etc. Fannie Mae has a giant book called...
Unpermitted Additions This is a “zombie” assignment condition that seems to never die. Let’s agree that unpermitted means something was constructed without a required written permit. There are plenty of jurisdictions that don’t issue permits because the permit process doesn’t exist. The assignment condition goes something like this: The appraiser is not to include any GLA from any unpermitted additions unless they use comparables that have similar unpermitted additions. Here’s what Fannie Mae stated in their September 2014 FAQs: If the subject property features an unpermitted addition, can the square footage of the unpermitted addition be included in the total gross living area reported on the appraisal report? If the appraiser has identified an addition(s) that does...
GLA in your appraisal reports being questioned Appraisers, today (4/30/15), Freddie Mac released a document showing Warning and Fatal codes that will trigger if certain items are found in your reports sent to Freddie Mac through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP), as of June 30, 2015. In 25 pages of codes, only 4 are ‘fatal’ and those are for items you should not be overlooking. See the PDF below and take a moment to look over the document. The very first ‘warning’ code is this one, which has two variations: FRE1001 The gross living area for the subject property ([GLA] sf)...
When is a closet a room? In most cases, interior closets are included within the total finished square footage. But, when the closet measures 12 x 20, and does not have any heat/air ducts, is it a closet or is it really a separate unheated room? Should it be counted in the total finished square footage, or should it be included within the unfinished category? According to ANSI®, the space must be heated and cooled by a central HVAC system and a closet typically serves a specific bedroom/space. If you really look through ANSI® there is not an answer to...
How many times have we, as reviewers, heard the following: “But there aren’t any sales within the subject’s development.” Or, “But the subject is the finest house in its development.” Of course there are rare instances when this is true; however, even in the instance where there are no sales that have taken place in the subject’s development within the last 12 months, the appraiser should be able to show sales at some previous point in time if the development is not newly developed. New construction appraisals will be a topic for a future post, but for the sake of...
USPAP Violations… This is a list of USPAP violations most commonly encountered by the Texas Appraiser Licensing & Certification Board’s staff appraiser-investigators when investigating complaints filed with the Board. This list of violations is given for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or instructions on how to properly comply with USPAP or properly complete an appraisal assignment. Most Commonly Encountered USPAP Violations: Sales Comparison Selection of Comparable Properties. Failing to select and/or support the selection of comparable sales using recognized methods and techniques. Examples include: Leaving the subject’s neighborhood when sales data is readily available in the immediate neighborhood; Searching by...
95% of Appraisals on Homes with Basement or Lower Levels Have Errors, Errors that Affect the Home’s Value… In the majority of markets all across the country, it is virtually impossible to get an accurate appraisal on homes that have a basement or lower levels. That’s a pretty big claim. Can it possibly be true? Absolutely it can! And, it happens every day. No one in the real estate industry wants to bring this topic out in the open for fear the public would be outraged. Well, it’s time somebody gets mad. And for all the Realtor’s® big talk about...
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...
Federal Court Rules on USPAP Confidentiality Issue in FDIC Lawsuit Against Appraisers in Colorado On September 5, 2013, in a professional negligence case against two Colorado appraisers by the FDIC, a federal court ruled on an issue concerning USPAP confidentiality. It was a simple issue, but it’s one of the very few court decisions relating to USPAP’s poorly written confidentiality rule (this previous post here explains why the rule is poorly written). This is the rule: An appraiser must not disclose: (1) confidential information; or (2) assignment results to anyone other than: the client; persons specifically authorized by the client; state appraiser...
