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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.  


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