Quick Inspections

[ockyappraiser]

I use the tablet program from Alamode.

 

[Hashem]

Thank you

 

[ctapraser]

Is there an app for this or is it just something you made yourself?

Are we really speaking to Heshem?:icon_mrgreen:

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

i email the homeowner a 2 page pdf asking questions about the property when i set the appointment

I bet I have been given the borrowers email maybe hmm himmm .. once? in 21 years...And frankly, I delete my email off the forms. It's the last thing I want the borrower to know. They can call the banker.

Saturday I spent an hour in the rain on a farm. Today, I just got back from an early morning trip to Courthouse > Abstract office > bank > back to email the lender for more clarification. They sent 3 parcels totalling 195 acres but alluded to 4 parcels totallying 241 acres and no one (the borrower included) seems to know where that extra 45 acres came from...My "inspection" is a lot less important than my research time. I am certainly not going to create the survey from whole cloth or guess because that only invites a "redo" to "correct" the acreage that they already surveyed but no one seems to know where that "survey" went....it ain't recorded in the court house and it ain't with the abstract company.

 

[KYLECODY]

same here, still in VA and 10 minutes max. after i open every door, take every pic, BASIC sketch, go through my round of questioning there is nothing left for me to do.

and i NEVER ask the homeowner for recent sales they may know of. youre just asking for a complaint when their value comes in low...

Roger that on paragraph 2. Never open that can of worms with agents or owners regarding sales. It may make them feel warm and fuzzy that you want their input, all it does is given them an opportunity to dictate what they think its worth. Less is more with that imho.

 

[J Grant]

I never ask owners about recent sales or activity (though some of them volunteer it lol). I am polite but not "chatty" with them.

The inspection is part of the SOW. If some appraisers can do an efficient inspection with all the information they need in 15 minutes, that fulfills their SOW of inspection, if another appraiser feels they need 30 minutes to do an efficient inspection that gets all the information, then that fulfills their SOW.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

When an assignment comes in one of the first things I do is the market research including selection of sales I will be using as comparables. Some times it appears the comparable sales are below the contract price. When that occurs I do ask the listing agent if he/she has some sales he/she would like me to consider.

Every once in awhile the agent found some thing I didn't like a listing that wasn't entered properly and didn't show up in my initial search OR maybe a FSBO. I do not normally use FSBOs as comparables as it is pretty difficult to verify the data but I will use one if it is truly comparable and I don't have sales from MLS that would support the contract price. My thought is that MLS sales more accurately reflect the market.

Also, asking the agent for sales that he/she used in pricing the property often de-fuses the bomb if the appraised value comes in below the contract. We, as VA appraisers, are required to notify the point of contract if the appraised value is less than the contract price. This is known as a Tidewater Notification. It is easier if the appraiser has already "set the table" so to speak if the agent has already provided us with "their sales".

Employee Relocation Council (ERC) appraisal assignments include in the Scope of Work the appraiser asking the home owner for any sales they want the appraiser to consider. Most often these are given to the home owner by the listing agent. I have no heart burn with accepting data from any party to the transaction. The decision to use sales provided to me by either the home owner or agent is mine in the end anyway.

 

[J Grant]

MG, again, each appraiser decides his /her SOW.

What you describe, asking HO for sales is more appropriate to VA work with the Tidewater initiative or an ERC appraisal.

For other lender purpose work, imo it is less appropriate, (but still up to the appraiser.)

The reason it is less appropriate is that it sets up the expectation for an owner that since the appraiser asked them for sales, the appraiser will use the sales.

(even if the appraiser makes a speech to owner at inspection that they may not use them, actions speak louder than words, and the appraiser's action was to ask for owner for sales. Plus, most owners can't whip out data as easily as we do, it could have taken them hours or days, with phone calls to agents, etc)

I believe it is more likely that homeowners may be upset if values don't' come in when the appraiser engaged them and asked for sales. The HO could feel that they took all this time and found sales and then the appraiser "double crossed" them by ignoring the data. ( and the data a HO picks is that which will help their value goal, I mean why would it be otherwise?)

A HO is more vulnerable than an agent, who is a professional, in becoming upset if the appraiser does not use "their sales"...aka, "if the appraiser had no intention of using the sales I provided, why did he ask for them?" If I were a typical homeowner who is not a RE professional, that is what I would be wondering.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

No argument on my part just explaining what and why I do what I do. With the exception of ERC I do not ask a home owner for sales data. I do engage an agent when I see a problem.

Does that violate "independence"? I don't think so.

 

[ctapraser]

No argument on my part just explaining what and why I do what I do. With the exception of ERC I do not ask a home owner for sales data. I do engage an agent when I see a problem.

Does that violate "independence"? I don't think so.

My bold,

I agree.

This also lets me know what the agent based the original sales price on. Sometimes when its way off and I am interviewing the agent, during the inspection, I get the reply "its what the owner wants" or "I think its what the value is". It lets me gauge how the agent came up with the sales price. You would be surprised how many agents make it clear they put minimal effort/research into setting a sales price.