Tagged: suburban

Opportunity to Work for Free is Not a Plan 73

‘Opportunity’ to Work for Free is Not a Plan

I gave this ‘opportunity’ further critical analysis in terms of time spent versus the fee income potential.  Appraisers, I’d like to disclose a personal ‘opportunity’ that was presented to me last fall, early winter. A company with AMC roots was, or is, recruiting people to become “property inspectors” with the resulting reports potentially fed to other appraisers who do HYBRID, or maybe even DESKTOP reports. The GSEs never intended the DESKTOP report to incorporate separate ‘property inspections’ from a hired third party, but that’s been the evolution because they just look the other way. Last fall, due to the slowdown...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees

Visualizing Market Activity Using Graphs & Trendlines 4

Visualizing Market Activity Using Graphs & Trendlines

Spreadsheets and graphs are powerful tools for appraisers. With proper data, and incorporated into reports, they can enhance your professionalism and decision-making ability.  Appraisers, this article will highlight the process I use to bring clarity to my research and analysis of ‘comparable’ properties. This completed process becomes an exhibit in all my appraisal reports because it helps the Intended User(s) visually see what the market has been doing over a known time period. The exhibit graph also indicates a daily rate of change for the sales over the time period, which can then be applied as a ‘time’ (market) adjustment...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

Remove Predominant Price from the New Forms 16

Remove Predominant Price from New Forms

Something that has ‘stuck in my craw’ or ‘frosted my cookies’ for years is the nonsense about stating a specific “PREDOMINANT” price for neighborhood homes. And then being forced to explain why the Opinion of Value is not precisely that number, and if not, why not. Real estate is IMPERFECT. Properties, especially comparables, seldom, if ever, sell for the very same or extremely similar prices. If that is the case, how can there be an exact “PREDOMINANT” figure? The possible exception to this are highly dense urban developments where the new construction homes are cookie cutters, and the builder sells...

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

Subject Property Actual Location - Where Is It? 26

Subject Property Actual Location

Don’t say that the subject property is ‘within’ a particular City or Town due to the postal ZIP Code that applies to the street address unless that is accurate. The actual location may be miles away from there. Appraisers, this article was prompted by my ‘coming in contact with’ several appraisal reports where different regional appraisers report the physical location of the subject property “in” a particular City associated with the postal ZIP Code for that City. Actually, the property was not “in” the City at all. It was in the County. Since I observed this inaccuracy among appraisers who...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

Is This Room a Bedroom? 3

Is This Room a Bedroom?

I often see discussions on various forums about “is this room a bedroom”, or similar comments. In case you’ve never seen the IBC requirements, I found this on a set of building plans for a new house: IN EVERY SLEEPING ROOM, PROVIDE AN EMERGENCY EXIT WINDOW WITH MIN. HT. OF 24″ AND MIN. WIDTH OF 20″ AND NOT LESS THAN 5.7 SQ.FT. OF OPENABLE AREA AND NOT MORE THAN 44″ FROM FLR. TO SILL So to decipher: A BEDROOM egress window sill must be no more than 44” above the floor. The opening height of the window must be no...

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

Language Barrier... What We Got Here is … Failure to Communicate 9

Failure to Communicate

Realtor’s language is “local” whereas an appraiser’s language is universal… What we got here is … failure to communicate. It’s a line from Cool Hand Luke … a great old movie with Paul Newman. Newman played a prisoner in a jail in the Deep South. The story was all about Luke Jackson, played by Newman, who was sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm. Well, Luke was a free spirit who didn’t play by the rules and this angered the prison’s sadistic warden. In one memorable scene, the warden said, “What we’ve got here is … failure to communicate“. That line was...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

Subject Street Scene Photos' Policy - Appraisers Blogs 13

Street Scene Photos of the Subject Property

Appraisers, the discussion of subject photos occurred recently on a forum I read. How many of you know the street scene “view” policy of FHA and FNMA? How many of you were trained to just take ONE photo from the very front of the subject, looking down the street in one direction or the other (without having the subject in the photo)? Is that ‘good enough’ for a lender to know the context of where the subject is on the street? If a ‘street view policy’ between agencies is more strict for one, would it be appropriate to adopt that policy for...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Administration / FHA

Report Observation & Trigger Points - Don't Fall Into a Trap! 10

Report Observation & Trigger Points

Appraisers, this is another essay written about a report I have ‘observed.’ I’ve mentioned before that I “come in contact with” appraisal reports from a variety of sources. Those that I determine have significant issues I write about. Conclusions about the ‘real value’ will be disclosed below. Trigger points for having reports formally reviewed are discussed. I do this because a majority of appraisers do not participate and interact with their peers on a consistent basis, and therefore may not get exposed to items that clients and lenders see in reports, which they question. I believe it’s important to expose items in reports that...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

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...

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

FHFA Working Paper Credibility Questioned by AGA 10

Working Paper Credibility Questioned

NO REAL ESTATE APPRAISER IN THE COUNTRY IS ALLOWED TO MISS THE MARK BY 7.8% WITHOUT RISKING LOSS OF LICENSE! The Working Paper demonstrates more than anything else, that given an 8-hour work day the computer will take 6 full working days (1.2 working weeks) to arrive at a result that is at best 7.8% error prone. Office of the Director, Honorable Melvin Watt Federal Housing Finance Agency… Dear Sir(s) The American Guild of Appraisers is a Guild within the more than 12 1/2 million members, retirees and family members of our parent union OPEIU, AFL/CIO. In addition to representing...

AGA / AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

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