Newz: Parcel, Deed and Tax Data Differences, New URAR, Probate/Estate Appraisals
June 6, 2025
What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)
- LIA AD Problem with An Affidavit
- The Difference Between Parcel Data, Deed Data, and Tax Data
- Nautilus House in Naucalpan, Mexico
- Brains, Bytes, and Bracketing: Why Appraisers Need Both Carbon and Silicon in Their Toolkit By Ernie Durbin
- What’s new in the New URAR?
- How Probate Appraisals Really Work By Tom Horn
- An Appraiser’s Musings on Adaptive Reuse By Hal Humphreys
- Mortgage applications decreased 3.9 percent from one week earlier
————————————————————–
Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news
—————————————————————-
—————————————————————–
The Difference Between Parcel Data, Deed Data, and Tax Data
Excerpts: Parcel, deed, and tax assessor data — what’s the difference between them, and which type of data do you need?
What Is Parcel Data?
Parcels, or property boundaries, can be defined as a shape or polygon and displayed on a map. These mapped areas comprise parcel data, and they might also show points of latitude and longitude, streets, or zip codes. Parcel data also includes ownership details, acreage, and the boundaries for the parcels.
What Is Deed Data?
Deed data include the information contained within a property deed. Unlike parcel data, deed data is not map-based although the data points can be overlaid on a map. A property deed is a legal document that transfers ownership of real estate and is required for real estate transactions, legal proceedings, and tracking property ownership history.
What Is Tax Data?
Tax data are collected by the county tax assessor. Tax data include property identification, addresses, current and past property ownership, legal descriptions, property features, property values, and taxes.
As you can see, these three real estate data types have some level of overlap. However, boundary data are required for mapping purposes and deed and tax data are critical for businesses providing legal, mortgage, and titling services.
To read more, Click Here
My comments: Read more details. Very good information. This article was written by ATTOM data, who provides all the types of data above. You can read the Mortgage sections of the article to see how it affects mortgages and appraisers.
When I started my first appraisal job at an assessor’s office in 1975, I was very lucky. I appraised the land for every parcel, improved or not. I had great training on the topics above.
I went to the county records to find, read and understand deeds.
I learned how to read assessor’s parcel maps, as that is how I found the properties I appraised. I attended a 3 day class by a property surveyor to understand how they determined property maps.
When I started my appraisal business in 1975 the chief appraiser one of the local lenders I worked for required that the appraisers read title report including the deeds for every property. You initialed the report.
I doubt if many appraisers got the training that I received. I was very, very lucky.
The deeds also include easements and other restrictions. When I am not sure the parcel map has correct dimensions or there may be easements, I obtain a copy of the deed’s legal description and run down the property lines (length, angle, etc.
In my city, there are many Victorians side by side on narrow lots with garages in the rear that use the driveway between the homes for access. A client wanted to get her parking rights between her house and the neighbor. Her neighbor did not have a car now so she could use the full driveway. I told her the neighbor could sell or rent her home and her driveway parking might be gone. There was a recorded driveway easement. I told her to get a survey. She purchased a car that fit into her half of the driveway.
Another time my client and a neighbor were not in agreement on the location of a fence. I told them I assume fences are not on the property boundary, unless I have a survey. They got one and resolved their dispute.
—————————————————————————————-
Nautilus House in Naucalpan, Mexico
Excerpts: Architect’s statement: At the end of the turn-around is the piece of land, with upward topography, where the Nautilus was built. It is limited by three of its adjoining properties because each of them has high buildings. The fourth adjoining property if to the west and has wide views of a green area with mountains in the horizon.
The construction area was defined since the first studies at the back of the piece of land, leaving the pedestrian and car access at the front as well as only one façade, the so called fifth façade in architectonic language.
The social life of this dwelling place flows inside the Nautilus without any divisions. Going up the spiral stairs, continuing through the hall, going through the television room sheltered in the Nautilus belly flows the space up the spiral stairs to the study room, where you can view the mountain’s landscape.
Behind the Nautilus is wrapped the intimate and service area: bedrooms, walking closets, bathrooms and the kitchen.
To read more plus see fascinating phots, Click Here
My comment: This is one of my favorite “unique” homes.
—————————————————————————————-
Brains, Bytes, and Bracketing: Why Appraisers Need Both Carbon and Silicon in Their Toolkit
By Ernie Durbin
Excerpts: In the world of modern real estate appraisal, the toolbox is getting bigger—and a little weirder. Alongside clipboards and comp sheets, today’s appraiser might wield regression models, automated valuation algorithms, and more acronyms than a federal agency. It’s tempting to think that with all this tech, we can simply “compute” our way to a credible value.
But here’s a humbling reminder: Silicon calculates. Carbon contemplates.
Silicon—the backbone of computer chips—can do math at the speed of light. It can power your regression models, calculate adjustments to the nearest penny, and spit out R-squared values that look impressively authoritative. Silicon is your best friend when you need fast, consistent, and objective number-crunching. It never sleeps, never gets tired, and never needs to stop for coffee.
But it also doesn’t know what it feels like to stand on a porch and watch the sun dip behind the hills. It can’t sense the odor from the municipal waste treatment plant a half a mile downwind to the west or that a home has a “lived-in” charm that buyers will love (or hate). That’s where carbon comes in. Carbon—your brain, your instincts, your experience—is what lets you interpret the data that silicon can only process.
An appraiser who relies entirely on quantitative modeling without qualitative insight is like a GPS that doesn’t know there’s a construction detour. And one who relies only on instinct without market support is guessing with a clipboard.
So, let’s explore how these two worlds—quantitative (silicon) and qualitative (carbon)—coexist, why each matter, and what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expect from us as we navigate the increasingly data-driven but still deeply human world of real estate valuation.
Quantitative Adjustments: Show Me the Math
Quantitative adjustments are the most recognizable to anyone who has ever seen an appraisal grid. These are the dollar or percentage values added or subtracted from a comparable sale to align it with the subject.
Let’s say you’re appraising a house with a two-car garage. One of your comparables lacks a garage entirely. After reviewing paired sales in the neighborhood, you determine that buyers typically pay about $7,500 more for homes with garages. You add a $7,500 adjustment to that comp’s sale price. That’s a quantitative adjustment.
Qualitative Adjustments: The Judicious Use of Judgment
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the data refuses to behave. That’s where qualitative adjustments come in. Instead of assigning a dollar amount, you describe how a comparable is superior, inferior, or similar to the subject in specific attributes.
For example, let’s say you’re appraising a property with a sweeping mountain view, and one of your comps is nestled between two fast food drive-thrus. Even if no reliable data tells you exactly how much value to assign to the view, you know intuitively (and from market behavior) that the subject has an edge. Rather than inserting a wild guess—“$12,000 for not being next to Bill’s Burgers” (featuring the onion burger)—you may instead rank the comps and use bracketing to support your conclusion.
So, What’s the Smart Approach?
The most credible appraisals use a balanced mix of both. Think of quantitative adjustments as your foundation—solid, measurable, and built on data. Quantitative adjustments are typically appropriate for market change, lot size, age and GLA where data are more robust. Then layer in qualitative reasoning where the numbers fall short, using bracketing and ranked comparison to reinforce your judgment.
To read more, Click Here
My comments: Read the article for lots more understandable comments and advice. I have used both methods in my appraisals for decades. I don’t do GSE appraisals and often use Qualitative Analysis in the grid section. No dollar adjustments. When I started I put pluses (++) and minuses (- – -) in the grid. I soon found that was not needed as I came up with the same value with no plus and minuses use.
I have been appraising for 50 years. I was trained to use the “Curbside Method”. I sit on the curb across the street from the subject and ask yourself “Does my analysis and opinion of value make sense? It definitely helped me in doing mostly quantitative analysis.
I am a believer that appraising is an art and a science. I am not a trained artist but am a trained scientist.
—————————————————————————————-
Are you getting too many ad-only emails?
4 ways to get only the FREE email newsletters and NOT the ad-only emails.
1. Twitter: https://twitter.com/appraisaltoday Posted by noon Friday
2. Read on blog www.appraisaltoday.com/blog Posted by noon Friday. You can subscribe to the blog in the upper right of each blog page. NOTE: the popular ads with liability tips are below the first topic on my blog posts.
3. Email Archives: https://appraisaltoday.com/archives
(posted by noon Friday) The link is above and to the left of the big yellow email signup form. Newsletters start with “Newz.” Contains all recent emails sent.
4. Link to the 10 most recent newsletters (no ads) at www.appraisaltoday.com. Scroll down past the big yellow signup block. The newsletters have abbreviated titles, taken from their blog posts.
To read more about the 4 ways, plus information on why I take ads, etc.
——————————————————————–
What is new in the New URAR
In the June 2025 issue of Appraisal Today
Previous articles:
May: Review of Appraiser’s Guide to the New URAR Class
April: New URAR What It Means for Appraisers
Coming in the July issue: New URAR software
Excerpts:
How I did this article
I had planned on doing a comparison of a current URAR form with the New
URAR Report. I quickly realized there is no way to compare them. So I decided to write about the new and changed topics, page by page in the Report.
I selected one “scenario”/sample report of a single family home. As far as I can tell almost everything from the current URAR form is there. But a lot has been moved to different locations on the New URAR Report. Text comments appear to have unlimited, or very long, length.
The scenario documents are NOT appraisals, but are very similar. I went through the Scenario I selected and highlighted what was new and used
Appendix F-1: URAR Reference Guide to find details.
What I like about the New URAR Reports
No more long addenda with all your comments in the appraisal that few people read. In the New URAR comment locations are included where they are needed. The Sales Grid only includes rows for what is needed in your Report. Not limited on choices for fields. Most lists of choices for a topic have “other” at the end.
They are much more understandable for borrowers than the current forms. No weird codes on that sales comparison grid that borrowers don’t understand.
Many more topics are covered as compared with current forms, but often with done just clicking a button and maybe making a comment as needed.
When you take the class Appraiser’s Guide to the New URAR you will learn
the “Big Picture” of what the New URAR does. For example, if you are using the “turbo tax” software version, the only topics that appear on your screen are relevant to your appraisal. For example, if you are not using the Cost Approach, it does not appear.
To read the full article plus two previous articles on New URAR, and 3+ years of previous issues, subscribe to the paid Appraisal Today.
Not sure if you want to subscribe?
Sign up for monthly auto renewal for $8.25!
Cancel at any time for any reason! You will receive a prorated refund.
$8.25 per month, $24.75 per quarter, and $89 per year (Best Buy)
or $99 per year or $169 for two years
Subscribers get FREE: past 18+ months of past newsletters
What’s the difference between the Appraisal Today free Weekly email newsletter and the paid Monthly newsletter? Click here for more info.If you are a paid subscriber and did not receive the June 2025 issue emailed on Monday June 2 , 2025 please email info@appraisaltoday.com, and we will send it to you. You can also hit the reply button. Be sure to include a comment requesting it.
———————————————————————————–
How Probate Appraisals Really Work
By Tom Horn
Excerpts:
Probate Appraisals: Nail the Number, Avoid the Headaches
(My Comments: FYI – In California, a probate referee is a court-appointed licensed appraiser who appraises all the assets of the person who dies: real estate, jewelry, stocks, boats, etc. ) They are only used with the person does not have a living will and avoids probate, which can be expensive and delays asset distribution. Most probate referees are also appraisers.)
Probate appraisals aren’t just “another home valuation.” Unlike a mortgage appraisal that tells a lender what the house is worth today, a probate appraisal often pegs value on a past date and must stand up to IRS and court scrutiny. In the post below, I’ll break down exactly how these differences affect the process—and why they matter to heirs, executors, and attorneys alike.
Why it matters
- Tax basis & audit risk. The value you claim today drives capital-gains tomorrow.
- Heir harmony. A defensible appraisal keeps harmony in the family at Thanksgiving.
- Deadlines tick. Courts want the report inside 9 months of the owner’s passing.
How we pin the number
- Lock the effective date — usually the date of death.
- Rebuild yesterday’s market — pull sales that bracket that date, even if they closed years ago.
- Document every step — photos, deeds, adjustments, etc.
- Explain the math — clear comps + detailed reconciliation so the IRS reviewer can follow your value logic.
To read more, Click Here
My comments: Many residential appraisers prefer Estate/Trust/Date of Death appraisals. When I started my business in 1986 I knew nothing about these appraisals. Twice a month I went to AIREA and SREA meetings with very experienced appraisers who helped me about issues such as IRS requirements and much more. I was lucky.
I have been doing estate appraisals for 40 years. For the past 20 years almost all my non-lender appraisals are for estates. I have written many articles about estate appraisals in my monthly newsletters. Some education providers have estate CE offerings.
—————————————————————————————-
An Appraiser’s Musings on Adaptive Reuse
By Hal Humphreys
How do we value the old made new? Adaptive reuse often walks a fine line between preservation and the bulldozer.
Excerpts: Once upon a time, a building was built for one noble purpose: the punishment of miscreants, the salvation of sinners, or the general improvement of society through the instruction and warehousing of its children. The rigorous application of steel bars and concrete walls, stained glass and wooden benches, chalkboards and rows of desk/chairs served us well for a time in penitence, worship, and education. Then, we, in our endless wisdom and grotesque irony, decided that such institutions were unnecessary — or at least too expensive to maintain. And so, the prisons were emptied, the schoolhouses abandoned, the churches left to the pigeons, and these fine, forsaken structures stood like forgotten tombstones of bygone purpose.
Until, of course, a developer caught wind of them, rubbed his hands together, and said, “Why, these would make lovely homes.”
Welcome to the age of adaptive reuse, where buildings once meant for industry, education, or incarceration are now retrofitted as a place to remand the great American dream — homeownership. It is a trend both noble and sometimes absurd, sustainable and occasionally grotesque, a testament to human ingenuity and a damning indictment of our inability to build anything new that isn’t a strip mall.
In the end, maybe adaptive reuse is often less about sustainability and more about the grand human refusal to let go of the past. We build prisons, fill them, empty them, and then move in ourselves. We abandon our schools and then call them home. We kneel in our churches, then convert them into luxury condos with vaulted ceilings and a faint whiff of incense. And through it all, the real estate market hums along, appraising, adjusting, and finding value in the most unexpected of places.
To read more, Click Here
My comments:
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where rents and home prices have skyrocketed. There is a shortage of affordable rentals and homes. (This is happening all over the country.) At the same time, we have large empty office buildings with no forecasts of tenants returning. Maybe some can be converted to housing as apartments and/or condos. The main problem is the lack of interior windows.
In my city (78,000 population) 10 miles east of San Francisco some parts of the city has rental and condo development. My office for many years was in a Marina. I had to move in early 2000 as it was being developed into housing (condos and townhomes). The first completed and occupied building was for low income seniors. I moved across the street into a small office building.
The large former Naval Base is being developed to mixed use (industrial, warehouse and many business uses including a pickleball club. Also being built are 3-4 unit stacked condo projects.
—————————————————————————————-
HOW TO USE THE NUMBERS BELOW. Appraisals are ordered after the loan application. These numbers tell you the future for the next few weeks. For more information on how they are compiled, Click Here.
Note: I publish a graph of this data every month in my paid monthly newsletter, Appraisal Today. For more information or get a FREE sample go to www.appraisaltoday.com/order Or call 510-865-8041, MTW, 7 AM to noon, Pacific time.
My comments: Rates are going up and down. We are all waiting for rates to drop in 2025.
Mortgage applications decreased 3.9 percent from one week earlier
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 4, 2025) — Mortgage applications decreased 3.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 30, 2025. This week’s results included an adjustment for the Memorial Day holiday.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 3.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 15 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 4 percent from the previous week and was 42 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 15 percent compared with the previous week and was 18 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
“Most mortgage rates moved lower last week, with the 30-year fixed rate declining to 6.92 percent and staying in the 6.8 percent to 7 percent range since April,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Mortgage applications decreased over the week but continue to exhibit annual gains, with purchase applications running 18 percent ahead of last year’s place. Government purchase applications were little changed over the week driven by a slight increase in FHA purchase applications. Refinance activity fell across both conventional and government segment and the overall average refinance loan size was the smallest since July 2024, as potential borrowers hold out for larger rate drops.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 35.2 percent of total applications from 34.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 7.1 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications increased to 18.7 percent from 17.9 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.6 percent from 12.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.5 percent from the week prior.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($806,500 or less) decreased to 6.92 percent from 6.98 percent, with points decreasing to 0.66 from 0.67 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $806,500) decreased to 6.92 percent from 6.93 percent, with points decreasing to 0.60 from 0.69 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 6.68 percent from 6.66 percent, with points decreasing to 0.93 from 0.95 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.25 percent from 6.23 percent, with points remaining unchanged at 0.67 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 6.14 percent from 6.22 percent, with points decreasing to 0.43 from 0.46 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The survey covers U.S. closed-end residential mortgage applications originated through retail and consumer direct channels. The survey has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks, thrifts, and credit unions. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.
——————————————————————————
Ann O’Rourke, MAI, SRA, MBA
Appraiser and Publisher Appraisal Today
1826 Clement Ave. Suite 203 Alameda, CA 94501
Phone: 510-865-8041
Email: ann@appraisaltoday.com
Online: www.appraisaltoday.com
We want to know what you think!! Please leave a comment.