Comp One Blog - Your Local Expert!

 I was talking with my mother-in-law about taking on an appraiser trainee, and she related her concerns.  How do I know this person can be trusted?  Have I done a background check on him?  Does he have any references?  Not only valid concerns for myself and my business, but also valid concerns for a homeowner who invites an appraiser into their home. 

I’m just finishing up my continuing education to renew my license, and I did a doubletake when I looked at all the requirements to become a Certified Residential appraiser.  “Wow, did I do all of that?”, I thought.  Well, mostly yes, though the requirements have changed somewhat since I got my Certified Residential credential in 2005.  There are the college courses, the initial training classes, the required experience hours, the continuing education, USPAP and more USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice).  And the State Appraisers Board does require you to provide a GCIC report on yourself, and explain if you have anything on your record other than minor traffic violations.

The ability of someone to complete the required courses and experience hours is reassuring and knowing that an appraiser has had his/her background checked by the state is doubly reassuring.

It’s difficult for new appraisers to get started in this profession with the experience hours being the biggest hurdle.  Most established appraisers don’t want to take on the burden of training someone, and many worry that that new appraiser will go on to steal business away.  On the other hand, the supervisor/trainee relationship could have many upsides for both parties. 

I’ve had a trainee before and, unfortunately, it didn’t work out well for several reasons.  But I’m hopeful about this new phase in my business this time around.  I think I’ve learned from experience, and the trainee I’m looking to take on seems to be very promising.  Here’s hoping for upsides! 

Contact Comp One Appraisal Services today and put our local expertise to work for you.  Based in the Globe Building at Peachtree Dekalb Airport, we're the perfect resource for attorneys, agents, homeowners, and lenders.  Thanks for reading!

As an appraiser, I have had the opportunity to walk through thousands of homes.  It can all blend together, and most of the time I find it difficult to recall anything about a home I saw a few years ago.  You might even catch me occasionally struggling to remember a home I saw a few days ago.  What address was that?.  I have a job to do, and I'm not nosy, but you can't help but get the feel of a home and it's inhabitants when you do what I do.  You see people at all stages of life: the freewheeling and ambitious single, the exuberant young couple with a plethora of aphorisms on the wall, the somewhat exasperated and messy couple with young children, the busy middle aged couple holding it together, the empty nesters hopefully rediscovering something worthwhile, the graceful senior citizen sometimes having lived a whole life in a house and all that that brings with it.  I usually can identify with a few things: "Oh, I have that book, too.", "I'm also a musician.", "My kids are the same age.".  Ocassionally I will come across some really good decorating or organizational ideas that my wife and I could use.  Mostly, it's good stuff.  Sometimes, you find yourself in close proximity to tragedy or sad situations.  Whatever the case ,I try not to dwell on it too much, and keep a healthy perspective and respect for people's spaces.  And, as many times as people have apologized to me for messes, I figure we are all just trying to do our best to make it through the day.  Keeping a clean house is a lot of work, and not many folks have homes they are living in that look anything like the staged homes you see online.  

 

Most folks buy homes based on the monthly payment they can afford. Let's look at a quick snapshot considering two conventional loan scenarios as calculated on mortgagecalculator.org : one from two years ago with a historically low interest rate and a current scenario.

Home Price: $500,000

Down Payment: $100,000

Loan Amount: $400,000

Loan Term: 30 Years

Property Tax: $3,000/year

Home Insurance: $1,500/year

Interest Rate: 3% (those were the days)

In this scenario your monthly payment would be $2,061

You would payoff the loan in March of 2053 (As Delmar O'Donnell famously put it: "I'll only be 82")

 Over the term of the loan you will have paid $207,110 in interest.

Your total over 360 payments (this includes taxes and insurance) would be $742,110.

 

So, what about now:

Home Price: $500,000

Down Payment: $100,000

Loan Amount: $400,000

Loan Term: 30 Years

Property Tax: $3,000/year

Home Insurance: $1,500/year

Interest Rate: 5.7% (pretty good for these days)

 

In this scenario your monthly payment would be $2,697

Loan payoff in March of 2053

Over the term of the loan you will have paid $435,777 in interest.

Your total over 360 payments (this includes taxes and insurance) would be $970,777.

 

A big big difference and probably a lot more than you might think looking at the price of the home. Remember these scenarios are exactly the same with the exception of the interest rate.  Consider:

 

 

Big difference!  Usually, the monthly payment consideration drives down sale prices, however, that has not necessarily been the case recently due to the low supply of homes for sale. Lot's of people are staying put. Why? Please note previous calculations.

Contact Comp One Appraisal Services today and put our local expertise to work for you.  Based in the Globe Building at Peachtree Dekalb Airport, we're the perfect resource for attorneys, agents, homeowners and lenders.  Thanks for reading!

For Spring Break this year I ventured with my wife and three kids to Boston.  Boston is a city steeped in history, a good portion of which my fourth-grade twin boys have been learning about this year in history class or whatever it is they call it in fourth grade these days.  Between my jokes about Boston being the Spring Break Capital of the World (I got a lot of mileage out of that one), we managed to explore a lot of the city and take in the sites, and we even ventured afield to Lexington, Concord and Salem.  What does this have to do with appraising?  I'm glad you asked. 

When Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) forms came in in 2011, Fannie Mae required that appraisers begin to more specifically describe the style of the subject home and the comparable homes.  Prior to that, most appraisers described homes as "Traditional" or "Contemporary" or....  well, that was about it.  Now we would be charged with describing the houses style more accurately.  I say all of this because, on my trip, I was able to visit some cool old houses including Paul Revere's Elizabethan Tudor style house: 

And, in Salem, the Georgian style House of the Seven Gables.

And adjacent to it (not it's original location), another more modest Georgian, the home which was the birthplace to Nathaniel Hawthorne.  


And the "Old Manse" in Concord.  Home at different times to both Emerson and Hawthorne (built by his Emerson's grandfather).  Yep, it's another Georgian.    

Well, I hoped for a greater range of style in homes I actually saw in Boston and the surrounding areas, but in my work as an appraiser I've seen homes of all styles.  I try to simplify my descriptions to about a dozen styles: Townhome, Bungalow, Ranch, Cape Cod, Colonial, Craftsman, Europen, Split Foyer, Split Level, Tudor, Modern and Contemporary (still ok).  It seems that the only overriding rule is not to lump everything in as "Traditional".  My trusty book on house styles has tons more accurate descriptions that I deem to be above my pay grade.  I think the Boston area homes above may qualify as "First Period English Style", then, to name a few, there are Stone Enders, Dutch Colonial (have used that one), French Colonial, Greek Revival, Neoclassical, Elizabethan, the Saltbox, Jacobean, Federal (have also used that one), Victorian (and that one), Queen Anne, American Foursquare, Prairie (that one too), Mid-Century Modern (of course that one- a local favorite) Rustic, Meditterranean (did I spell that one right?) and my favorite Neo-eclectic, a style I have seen many times but have never quite had the fortitude to put on a report that I remember.  Here's an example:   



Looks like a Colonial to me.  


Contact Comp One Appraisal Services today and put our local expertise to work for you.  Based in the Globe Building at Peachtree Dekalb Airport, we're the perfect resource for attorneys, agents, homeowners and lenders.  Thanks for your referrals and thanks for reading! 

There is a lot of buzz around hybrid reports in the appraisal business these days.  This is where another person inspects the property, and then the appraiser uses that persons observations to complete the appraisal report.  Some appraisers say they would never do this type of work because of the liability, or bemoan the end of the profession because the lender can pay the appraiser less.  Personally, I'm not averse to doing this type of work, but I'm not exactly seeking it out either.  I have yet to have one of my existing clients ask me for a hybrid report based on an inspection done by someone else, but if they did I'd be okay with it. 

So who are the "Property Data Collectors" doing these inspections?  Clear Capital has a program specifically for agents and brokers.  It's all done in an app that walks you through the process including photos, observations about the property and a CubiCasa scan of the floorplan.  Here is a link for more info: 

https://www.clearcapital.com/join-us/broker-application/pdc/#learn_more 

A registered appraiser and real estate agent that I plan to take on as a trainee later this year has done this type of work and offered me some insights.  Like many things, it seems to be a mixed bag.  The assignments pay between $55 and $95.  Consistent with the appraisal business, there are times when there are many assignments available and there are times when there are 0 assignments available.  You can pick and choose what assignments to take, but the options aren't great sometimes, geographically speaking.  It sounds like there is a learning curve, but the inspections can be rather time consuming, especially at first.  

In my mind, this could be a good opportunity for new agents or agents looking to supplement their income while things are slow.  It's work in the real estate field, and it gets you in front of homeowners who might one day use your services.  On the other hand, it doesn't appear to be all upside considering the fee relative to the time, the distance you might have to travel and the inconsistent flow of work.  

My typical fee for an appraisal is $450.  I'll be interested to see what lenders will be willing to pay for a hybrid report where I'm using the data collected by someone else.  So far it hasn't come up.  

 Contact Comp One Appraisal Services today and put our local expertise to work for you.  Based in the Globe Building at Peachtree Dekalb Airport, we're the perfect resource for attorneys, agents, homeowners and lenders.  Thanks for your referrals and thanks for reading!