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10 reasons why public records and the appraiser’s square footage can differ
My comment: Too many AMCs think that the assessor’s office square footages are correct, and the appraisers don’t know how to measure. Unfortunately, some appraisers just “fudge” the measurements to fit the assessor’s records. Big Mistake!!
From Ryan Lundquist’s Sacramento appraisal blog at www.sacramentoappraisalblog.com
I love this blog!!
Here are 2 of the 10 reasons:
5. Permitted but not updated: Sometimes a homeowner will do an addition with a permit, but the Assessor’s office never updates the property’s profile.
8. Ceiling height: A ceiling has to be at least 7 ft tall, and have at least 50% of the ceiling at a height of 7 ft. Sometimes a converted attic won’t meet these requirements, so the appraiser cannot consider it as square footage. It might still add value, but it won’t be included in the living area.
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Top Ten Reasons Why It Is Great to be an Appraiser Humor(Opens in a new browser tab)
Some appraisers are too lazy or strapped for time to measure anyway, especially upper floor area, areas below grade. Also, if the assessor’s data for the comps is incorrect, your whole appraisal is wrong anyway and misleads the user!
Isn’t “fudging” required to stay in business as an appraiser, especially for those of us wotking in the residential secondary mortgage market where everything must be on plain vanilla forms where one size fits all?