Original Comp Photos: Dangerous, Unnecessary
by Damian Downie
Excerpts: As I do many times a day, I was taking comparable (comp) photos for an appraisal. This one in particular is a condominium, so I was taking photos of two condos in a competing complex. There was a gate into the property, so I stopped across the street and snapped a photo of the gate.
Three minutes later, about a mile from the site, I looked over to my right out the passenger window, and I saw a man holding his phone up and pointing it at me. I asked him what he was doing and he angrily asked me why I was taking pictures of his car.
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My comments: Always a hot, hot topic!! We’ve all got appraiser stories about comp photos (dogs, police, crazy people chasing you down the street, locked gates, etc., etc.)!! After 45 years of appraising I am never bored. There is always something new or weird that I see ;> My scariest experience (for the subject) was when two large Dobermans broke through the screen door of a mobile home and came after me. I got back into my car and told my client to get another appraiser!!
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Excerpt: A new sewer line. That’s what 2020 gave my family as a parting gift before the year closed. Yep, just before Christmas, we had to replace our entire line at a whopping $13,688. I know that sounds crazy expensive, but we had four separate bids and went with the most reasonable one. In part it was so pricey because we had one hundred feet of the line under eighty feet of concrete.
Excerpts: It can be easy to over-simplify value because the value is not always as clear cut as it appears. For example, if a one-acre lot is selling for $10,000, does that mean that a two acre lot is worth $20,000? Not necessarily. The value of something usually changes depending on its size.
