54 Page Residential Appraisal Report

[timd354]

The market(s) in which I work are, for the most part, not particularly homogeneous, requiring comments about data limitations and comparable selection.

That may well be, but it certainly does not take 54 pages to do that.

 

[Peter LeQuire]

That may well be, but it certainly does not take 54 pages to do that.

FWIW - I didn't say 54 pages were necessary. But then I didn't recite all of the stuff you (as representative of those wanting well-developed appraisals in cogent, well-written reports) are entitled to (and appraisers are required to provide) in every GSE related appraisal report. Maybe I need to be retrained, but I seem to be incapable of writing a neighborhood description with any detail (beyond those infamous appraiser descriptors of "average proximity" to "adequate" neighborhood shopping and "average" access to roads, served by "average" utilities" etc. ad nauseum). I certainly have difficulty providing meaningful discussion of neighborhood market conditions that doesn't overflow from the front page of the form. I'll be danged if I'm going to not explain in some detail how the neighborhood one-unit trends were developed if there is insufficient data to indicate those trends on the MC addendum.

Few of my GSE reports rise to that number of pages, but the minimum number seems to be around 30 (with more than 4 comparables required, with the generally required interior photos, the required maps and aerial photos, a copy of my license the generally required USPAP compliance addendum, etc & etc. If appraisers are dumping unnecessary commentary, exhibits, boiler plate and CYA crud, those who are requiring that stuff - and who have belabored appraisers with irrelevant requirements for follow up and additional data and explanation bear a considerable portion of the burden.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

I just looked at the report I'm doing now. Residential; UAD format. The page count will easily be 35+/- when complete. Between the UAD form, Definitions Addendum, and 1004MC, that's 10 page right there. There's 11 photo pages for the subject, another 6-8 pages of miscellaneous addenda (aerial photos, building sketch, lot layout, sales map, etc.), probably 4-6 page of Text Addendum, and cover page. Very little boiler plate.

 

[timd354]

FWIW - I didn't say 54 pages were necessary. But then I didn't recite all of the stuff you (as representative of those wanting well-developed appraisals in cogent, well-written reports) are entitled to (and appraisers are required to provide) in every GSE related appraisal report. Maybe I need to be retrained, but I seem to be incapable of writing a neighborhood description with any detail (beyond those infamous appraiser descriptors of "average proximity" to "adequate" neighborhood shopping and "average" access to roads, served by "average" utilities" etc. ad nauseum). I certainly have difficulty providing meaningful discussion of neighborhood market conditions that doesn't overflow from the front page of the form. I'll be danged if I'm going to not explain in some detail how the neighborhood one-unit trends were developed if there is insufficient data to indicate those trends on the MC addendum.

Few of my GSE reports rise to that number of pages, but the minimum number seems to be around 30 (with more than 4 comparables required, with the generally required interior photos, the required maps and aerial photos, a copy of my license the generally required USPAP compliance addendum, etc & etc. If appraisers are dumping unnecessary commentary, exhibits, boiler plate and CYA crud, those who are requiring that stuff - and who have belabored appraisers with irrelevant requirements for follow up and additional data and explanation bear a considerable portion of the burden.

I never stated that it is not necessary to overflow several sections of the appraisal forms with commentary flowing into an addendum and there is alos no doubt that some of the pages added to the report are in response to GSE or additional lender requirements. However, a 50+ page report for most residential appraisal assignments is ridiculous, and often what I see in many long appraisal reports is pages and pages of CYA, boilplate and just fluff that I guess is designed to somehow make the report look substantial even if the underlying analysis is weak.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I just looked at the report I'm doing now. Residential; UAD format. The page count will easily be 35+/- when complete. Between the UAD form, Definitions Addendum, and 1004MC, that's 10 page right there. There's 11 photo pages for the subject, another 6-8 pages of miscellaneous addenda (aerial photos, building sketch, lot layout, sales map, etc.), probably 4-6 page of Text Addendum, and cover page. Very little boiler plate.

How much of your 4-6 page text addendum is boilerplate?

 

[Peter LeQuire]

I never stated that it is not necessary to overflow several sections of the appraisal forms with commentary flowing into an addendum and there is alos no doubt that some of the pages added to the report are in response to GSE or additional lender requirements. However, a 50+ page report for most residential appraisal assignments is ridiculous, and often what I see in many long appraisal reports is pages and pages of CYA, boilplate and just fluff that I guess is designed to somehow make the report look substantial even if the underlying analysis is weak.

And I didn't say anything to defend the type reports you describe. But the pressures of the GSEs and the entities selling product to them continues to be toward standardization of the data and the data format, to which a significant amount of analysis reported in prose is antithetical. Someone picking up one of my reports from a county of 120,000 or so people has the same expectation of uniformity of data and reporting as does someone picking up a report from Columbia, MD or Fairfax County. It's not there, and if appraisers are not to be faulted if they believe they need to provide reports that will stand scrutiny of a USPAP conscious MAI sitting on the North Carolina REAC, regardless the number of pages.

Perhaps the two-tiered system of residential finance (GSE and everybody else) will become better defined, in future.

 

[Peter LeQuire]

How much of your 4-6 page text addendum is boilerplate?

How much of my describing how adjustments were derived, or what market conditions are, would you (or an AMC reviewer) consider boilerplate?

 

[Joe Flacco]

What I want to know is what is "fluff"?

I try to minimize the number of pages and I am at about 35-40. I can probably cut out a couple more pages.

 

[Joe Flacco]

How much of my describing how adjustments were derived, or what market conditions are, would you (or an AMC reviewer) consider boilerplate?

If it is generic and same in all reports then I would consider it to be boilerplate. But if it is specific to the assignment then it is not boilerplate.

 

[Joe Flacco]

URAR, MC, UAD definitions - 9 pages
Photos - subject and comps - 11 pages
Maps - 2 pages
sketch - 1 or 2 pages
License page (I have one) - 1 page

That's 25 pages without any text addendum or cover page. So the bare minimum a report can be is 25 pages.