Excerpt:
Trulli (trullo in singular) are round or square dwellings or storebuildings with cone shaped roofs found in the Itria valley in the Apulian region of southern Italy. They are traditionally built completely without mortar – to avoid taxation, it’s been said. Allthough some foundations can be traced back to the Neolithic period, really ancient trulli don’t exist, because people used to tear them down when they became rickety and rebuild them or build new ones using the material from the ones they tore down. New trulli are still being constructed the traditional way.
Traditional symbols of good luck and protection against the evil eye are painted on the roofs. They can be pagan, Jewish, Christain, Hellenic, magical – some are so old nobody remembers their origin or exactly what they mean.
Ann,
I appreciate your contributions to expanding my horizons. Let it be known that there is value in something other than 3 br, 2 ba, 1500 sf ranchers that fit nicely into the Fannie guides.
Who came up with those guides anyway and when was it they were promulgated?
Lenders, of course!! They wanted to sell their loans on the secondary market. Freddie and Fannie started getting active in the 1970s. That’s when the first standard appraisal forms came out. The “Green Hornet”.
I started appraising at an assessor’s office in 1976. Did my first lender appraisal in 1986. It was a real shock to have someone telling me what to put in my appraisals and how to do them!!