Mztk1
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2006
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- Florida
I'm a lender client guy 85% of the time and each one that I work with has a specific scope of work I am supposed to follow. All of them state as part of the appraiser's scope of work that the appraiser must measure the subject. I do. I measure model matches in the development even when I am appraising the same model house on the same day on the same street. I've seen walls bumped out 2 feet and things like that; but more importantly, my client is paying me for a specific service and they are going to get that service on every product.
As far as public records in Florida go, someone said they are mostly reliable. No way. Polk County is right less than 1/2 the time; Pasco, when it is off, it is way off; Hillsborough doesn't do angles and squares everything, often to extreme detriment, plus all are measured by the county appraiser from the outside only, which can miss what should be LA and what shouldn't be.
I think Mike said something like "He counted the stairs on both levels, so I won". Obviously neither paid $20 for the ANSI Z765-2003 standard because in most cases the stairs ARE counted on both levels using that standard, which is, after all, the only national standard for measuring finished area.
Not only do I measure each house, I measure every wall. Sounds anal. But the fact is, it forces me to see everything. Quite a few homeowner's say this to me, "Wow, you're thorough, the last guy walked in the front door, out the back, and less than a minute later was on his way". I doubt any of the appraisers on this board take detrimental short cuts on purpose, but how many of these guys using public record measurements - not measuring - are simply taking a pic of the front, the street, walking to the back and snapping there, and calling it a day? Do they walk fully around the house? The grounds?
I don't do many reviews on good reports; but the reviews I do get - the bad ones - almost all have tax data reported GLA and the sketch is a copy from public record. Most times living area isn't an issue, but sometimes it is.
I've had my square footage questioned once by a bank because it was far off from tax data and the other appraiser had exactly what tax data stated (2 reports were required for the loan program). I challenged them to go out and measure the house themselves and two guys from the bank, with my email copy of ANSI in tow, did just that. I was right.
But I am not always right. I make mistakes. Like someone else said above, though, when I make a mistake, I'd prefer it was my mistake and not someone elses.
As far as public records in Florida go, someone said they are mostly reliable. No way. Polk County is right less than 1/2 the time; Pasco, when it is off, it is way off; Hillsborough doesn't do angles and squares everything, often to extreme detriment, plus all are measured by the county appraiser from the outside only, which can miss what should be LA and what shouldn't be.
I think Mike said something like "He counted the stairs on both levels, so I won". Obviously neither paid $20 for the ANSI Z765-2003 standard because in most cases the stairs ARE counted on both levels using that standard, which is, after all, the only national standard for measuring finished area.
Not only do I measure each house, I measure every wall. Sounds anal. But the fact is, it forces me to see everything. Quite a few homeowner's say this to me, "Wow, you're thorough, the last guy walked in the front door, out the back, and less than a minute later was on his way". I doubt any of the appraisers on this board take detrimental short cuts on purpose, but how many of these guys using public record measurements - not measuring - are simply taking a pic of the front, the street, walking to the back and snapping there, and calling it a day? Do they walk fully around the house? The grounds?
I don't do many reviews on good reports; but the reviews I do get - the bad ones - almost all have tax data reported GLA and the sketch is a copy from public record. Most times living area isn't an issue, but sometimes it is.
I've had my square footage questioned once by a bank because it was far off from tax data and the other appraiser had exactly what tax data stated (2 reports were required for the loan program). I challenged them to go out and measure the house themselves and two guys from the bank, with my email copy of ANSI in tow, did just that. I was right.
But I am not always right. I make mistakes. Like someone else said above, though, when I make a mistake, I'd prefer it was my mistake and not someone elses.
