Tagged: square footage

The RPR® Epidemic – Online Valuations vs Trained Appraisers 11

The RPR® Epidemic – Online Valuations vs Trained Appraisers

Consumer protection goes right out the door as consumers learn to trust these online valuations over a local, highly trained appraiser. Realtor Property Resource® is a private automated system just for Realtor® members. They are making great strides in promoting this service, and more and more agents are using this system to create their CMAs to present to owners. I recently reviewed a report provided by the listing agent which included sixty-nine pages of every imaginable piece of information. To an owner, this must look very impressive. However, to anyone who understands what a “Comparable” sale is, this report was...

American National Standards Institute / ANSI / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models

Agents Blacklisting Appraisers 47

No I Won’t Work With This Appraiser

How much power do agents have over the appraisal process? The lender gets a call. Agent tells them that appraiser “X” just called to set up an appointment to do the appraisal for 123 Main St. That darn appraiser killed my last deal and if he is appraising this house, I will have my clients find another lender. I flat-out refuse to work with this appraiser. Whether it’s the listing or buyer’s agent, who put this person in charge of the appraisal process? Does the banker have to listen to them and risk losing the loan? It depends. What’s his...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

GLA Adjustment & Pizza Slices – They Do correlate! 22

GLA Adjustments & Pizza Slices – They Do Correlate!

Determining the GLA Adjustment in Appraisal Reports I promised in a previous post I’d send out my method for determining the GLA adjustment in appraisal reports. Goodness! Appraisers actually found that statement buried in the prior post, and have ‘rung my chimes’ requesting this info! OK, but first, the pizza analogy. I often tell clients and other appraisers that appraising (residential) real estate is far more complex than grabbing a store-bought pre-boxed pizza (that has exactly the same ingredients from box to box no matter which store you shop in) at a grocery and then applying 425 degrees of love...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Collateral Underwriter / CU / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

Appraiser’s Response to LRES Order Blast 80

Appraiser’s Response to LRES Order Blast

LRES Standard Interior Appraisal Request? Your special requirements and micromanagement of the appraisal process dictate that I charge a fee commensurate with the additional, but typically unnecessary work needed to produce credible results. You are the potential client (agent), so that that is your prerogative and it would be my pleasure to accommodate you as long as appropriate compensation is provided. Respectfully, there is little about your appraisal request that is “standard”. Please explain briefly what you consider to be a ‘standard interior appraisal’. That definition does not appear in The Appraisal Institute’s Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal. To be...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

Real, Real Estate Reform Needed 5

Real, Real Estate Reform Needed

What a crazy system we have grown into since Dodd-Frank. All this talk about “Big Data” and “Standardization” makes me want to scream! Enough is enough. Before we get to the appraisal process discussion, let’s talk about how real estate is priced all across this country. Realtors® price homes, period. No Big Data, no thoughts of mortgage risk, accuracy, consistency, transparency, and no one is looking over their shoulders asking “why” on every choice they make. No regression analysis, no quality or condition ratings, not too much of anything that resembles an appraisal these days. Yet, they are quick to...

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

Claims, Complaints and E&O Insurance - Imagecredit Flickr - SEO 1

Claims, Complaints and E&O Insurance

E&O vs. General Liability First some background. Errors & Omissions (E&O) is malpractice insurance for mistakes in your report- say you measure square footage incorrectly. General Liability (GL) covers property damage and bodily injury while you’re at the premises and more. Examples of GL claims are, if during a walkthrough you knock over and break a vase (property damage), or back over and injure a homeowner as you exit the driveway (bodily injury). Business Owners Packages (BOPs) typically go beyond the job site, providing coverage for losses to your own business, such as a trip and fall at your office,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions / Indemnification Clauses

Do you laser - laser distance measuring tool 3

Do You Laser? Watching the Red Dot

Laser Measuring Tool One of the fastest and reliable ways to measure properties is with a laser distance measurer.  These devices are accurate to 1/8th inch over long distances, not that we ever need that preciseness. I started in this business like most other appraisers using a 100′ tape and a 25-30′ tape. I still carry those in my ‘tool pouch’ when measuring, but a majority of the time I use my laser. There are times when I find the tapes better for a particular situation. There are several manufacturers of laser distance measurers, with probably the best known having...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News

What is Gross Living Area and What Does it Include 29

What is Gross Living Area (GLA)?

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...

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

Unpermitted additions assignment condition 1

Unpermitted Additions “Zombie” Assignment Condition

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...

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

6

Indeed, Size Matters!

Many agents have asked; “Does this square footage stuff really matter to me? Isn’t it more of an appraisal issue? Fair questions. Let’s take a look at one sale where the agent now understands just how square footage affects a listing value. It was a hard lesson in the importance of square footage, and one they will not soon forget.

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

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