To Drive or Not To Drive, That is the Question!!Excerpt: The argument of using MLS photos or shooting your own photos has been debated by appraisers for the last few decades. You, as appraisers, want to be sure the comparables you are using are of the correct house and also look as the MLS illustrates. Most importantly, you want to make sure the house is still standing. The listing agent’s job is to sell the house. As the salesperson they will highlight all the positives and leave the negatives up to the imagination. This is one of the main reasons it is extremely important to not solely rely on MLS when utilizing comparables.
Click here to read the full post, plus over 50 comments from appraisers. Add your own comments!!
My comment: this issue has been going on for decades and is still controversial. Especially in rural areas!! Note: the post is a sorta promo for proxpics, a photo taking service, but the appraiser comments are great. Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!! To read more of this long blog post, click Read More Below!! |
Sorry, home appraisers, bots are coming for your jobs
NOTE: This post was published in December 2018. This topic has been going on for a very long time since AVMs started in the 1970s.
Federal regulators are looking to change appraisal rules to allow for more automated appraisals
Excerpt: Such a change could prove lucrative for upstart property valuation companies that use algorithms, artificial intelligence and drones to value homes. If these rule changes had been in effect last year, roughly 214,000 additional home sales, or some $68 billion worth, could have traded hands without an appraiser. Bots replacing appraisers?
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Plan to Reduce Human Appraisals May Lead to ‘Wildly Inaccurate’ Estimates
From NAR:
Excerpt: Automated home evaluations likely would take the place of in-person appraisals for qualifying properties-a move appraisers warn could lead to inaccurate estimates and more sellers who are unrealistic about home value.
Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe
For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com
Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!!
To read more of this long blog post, click Read More Below!!
Working Together in an Appraisal Business – Is it for you?
Excerpt: We are a husband and wife appraisal team. We are both real estate appraisers and have been working together now for 12 years. My husband has had his business for 30 years but I was formerly a school teacher. I joined him in 2006. I will admit that I wasn’t sure at first if it would work but we have been going strong ever since. I have reached out to other appraisers who also are married and work together. They have shared some of their stories with me as well as tips and advice for working together. If you are considering working together as appraisers or other forms of business here are a few tips:
1. Keep work life and home life as separate as possible…
Click here for more advice:
My comment: my husband Zeke worked part time in my appraisal business for many years. He was not an appraiser but was great at collections. Once a mortgage broker owed us money. Zeke was a very big guy. He put on his black suit with a black shirt and tie and said he was here to collect what we were owed. He came back with all the cash…
Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe
For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com
Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!!
To read more of this 9-13-18 long blog post with many topics, click Read More Below!!
Schizophrenic Adjustments
By Dave Towne
Excerpt: Appraisers, I’ve written in the past about what I believe are strange ways to report adjustments in appraisals, and suggested ’rounding’ is a perfectly acceptable way to report them. This is largely due to buyers and listing agents thinking and listing in $100 increments – not down to exact dollar amounts.
During the past couple of weeks, I ‘came in contact with’ two separate appraisals done by different appraisers on totally different properties, in different market areas.
What struck me was the incredibly precise adjustments made for only certain items in these reports, while the rest of adjustments were ’rounded’ to even dollars. Here are the examples:
Click here to read more:
My comment: I love the image at the top of this post….. sorta creepy but very appropriate ;> Who do you think it represents?
Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe
For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com
Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!!
To read more of this 8-23-20 long blog post with many topics, click Read More Below!!
Who’s busy and who’s not?Varies widely around the country. Maybe it depends on housing affordability? See articles below. But, it is really hard to say what causes the geographic variation for appraisers.
Many areas have seasonal variations, but now we are in the traditionally strong summer months, so it is clearer that some areas have less appraiser work.
How do you tell if it is down? AMCs dropping fees. Fewer emails, phone calls, etc. Other appraisers complaining.
What about steady to increasing biz? Decent fees, turning down work, etc.
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Changes in turn times and fees when biz slows downAppraisers just don’t seem to understand that AMCs work for lenders and try to do what they want.
Why do AMCs/lenders want faster turn times?
AMCs work for lenders. They are competing on turn times primarily, like they always have. Business is very competitive and is declining.
Value pressure?
Is there more value pressure from some of your AMC clients?
Some lenders want to close as many loans as possible and keep profits from dropping.
Why do AMCs drop fees?
Direct lenders have their own fee panels don’t send out bid request to lots and lots of appraisers. Their fees don’t change dramatically. They have never focused on changing appraisal fees frequently. AMCs need lower appraisal fees to keep their profits up, just like you do. I have always thought of AMCs as very large appraisal companies that mostly fee out all their appraisals.
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It’ll never sell that high (but then it did)Excerpt: There’s no way it’s going to sell that high. Have you ever thought that in real estate? Well, let’s talk about a property that many said would never sell at $4.1M, but then it did. I definitely have some takeaways about this lofty condo in Downtown Sacramento (CA), and I hope non-locals will relate to the commentary. (My note: median home sale price is $367,500)
Details and lots of graphs at:
My comment: The median home sale price is $367,500. This is definitely an outlier for the area.
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A floating Pacific island is in the works with its own government, cryptocurrency and 300 housesJust For Fun!!Excerpts: The Floating Island Project plans to create off-shore housing that uses its own currency and operates outside of government regulations.
– The project is a pilot program in partnership with the government of French Polynesia.
– A long-term vision for the project is hundreds of new countries floating on the ocean.
As well as offering a home for the displaced, the self-contained islands are designed to function as business centers that are beyond the influence of government regulation.
Check out the video and lots more details at:
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Technology or Human Logical Analysis? Who Wins?By George Dell, MAI, SRA, ASA, CDEI
Excerpt: There is evidence that human judgment WINS – the appraiser opinion beats the AVM and other valuations based on technology. In fact, I have often heard that the qualified appraisal, based on the human logical analysis – is the “gold standard” for the industry. This appears to be true of client groups, and appears to be recognized in administrative law, our federal and state and “quasi-governmental” bodies such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Appraisal Foundation.
Even as we say this, the human model, the appraiser, continues to lose market share to other technologies and other “non-appraiser” value providers.
Worth reading at:
My comment: George Dell’s weekly blog posts are great, but short, as is appropriate for blogs. The May issue of the paid Appraisal Today newsletter will have a much longer article by George, “Will another profession replace appraisers?” |
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Uredd Rest Area (Ureddplassen)Norway has built what may be the world’s most beautiful public toilet.Just For Fun!!Excerpt: Norway’s newest landmark is a place of absurd beauty. The redesigned rest area, situated along a section of the Norwegian Scenic Route, overlooks stunning views of the fjords and the open sea, and is a popular spot for visitors and locals to watch the northern lights in winter and the midnight sun in summer.
Now this picturesque place is quickly gaining a stranger kind of fame, for being home to what may be the most beautiful public toilet the world over.
Check out the Fantastic Photos and short description at:
My comment: Wow!! What do I use in the field? Fast food, bushes, etc. ;> Sometimes a crummy restroom or smelly portable toilet in a public park… Please hit reply of you know any other great public restrooms…
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Earth-Friendly Homes and Buildings for Earth Day, Sunday, April 22Just For Fun!!
Click on the fotos of lots of ecofriendly buildings for more info. Fascinating, sometimes Weird, and Fun!!
A few: Mathematical Puzzle House, paper house, skyscrapers, Recycled Concrete Tube House, etc.
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Appraisal Institute Requests Appraisal Standards Board to Rework Q&AsExcerpts: The Appraisal Institute in an April 13 letter to the Appraisal Standards Board formally requested changes to or the retraction of Q&A 2018-12, Employing an Extraordinary Assumption when a Client Provides Inspection Data and Q&A 2018-13, Appraisal Reporting – Certifications and Signatures.
The Appraisal Institute believes this advice is antiquated and out-of-step with appraisal practice and long-standing USPAP principles about not dictating the form, format or style of an appraisal report. Perhaps most concerning to AI is the apparent inclusion of additional requirements in this advice rather than in USPAP itself.
My comment: I completely agree with the AI’s issues with Q&A 2018-12 and -13. The certification issue has been around since USPAP required that the “previous 3 years” be included in the certification. The ASB needs to modify USPAP itself as I don’t think it addresses these current issues in appraising very well. Unfortunately, the new edition was effective 1/1/18. 2 years to wait.
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What’s a comp?By George Dell, MAI, SRA
Excerpts: Our education tells us a comp is similar and competitive. So how do we measure “comparability”? If our job entails studying market data to get an answer … might it be important to know exactly how to describe a comp?
So what’s the issue? Why should we care? I am a highly trained expert. I have a license. “Trust me. I know a good comp when I see one.”
My comments: George is writing a longer article than his blog posts for the May issue of the paid Appraisal Today. I often wish his blog posts were longer, but they are designed to be short ;>
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7 Strange home remodeling projects for appraisers
Excerpt: There’s a huge difference between decorating for your own pleasure and spiffying up your home to sell. If you’re staying put and pining for a purple bathroom, go for it! The resale value of your eclectic tastes don’t apply.
3. Too much purple or yellow
4. Too much cold white
7. A statement door that makes too much of a statement
To see all of them plus photos and details click here:
Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!! To read more of this long blog post with many topics, click Read More Below!! NOTE: Please scroll down to read the other topics in this long blog post on data, weird interior design, mortgage origination stats, Covid tips for appraisers, etc. |