A new one!

[Tom4value]

After 34 years of appraising, I rarely have a “new one” I can share but I have one now.

I got an order from a new client. Want to keep them so I am going to make up communities. They ordered it as a 1004 sf at 123 Main st., New Appraisertown. I live 1.5 miles away so I know the area. It was a 3 family. Called the owner and scheduled the appointment for 10 am Tuesday. In my prelim work, I noticed that she was not the owner. I asked if she was the owner and she said yes. She would send me the deed and the rental leases.

Got the leases and noticed that the tenants were at “New Appraiserpark”! That is 120 miles away! Called her back to confirm and that was right. Told her I would still do the appraisal and had to go “old school” and go to realtor offices in that town to get enough knowledge to do a credible appraisal…all the while praying I didn’t find any safety issues that would require me going back. Bottom line, what was going to be a less than an hour job turned into a whole day affair.

So two things.
1. I now know that those 2 addresses 120 miles away are both 3 family properties.
2. Hope the person ordering the appraisals just had a bad day and is not a complete idiot!

 

[J Grant]

After 34 years of appraising, I rarely have a “new one” I can share but I have one now.

I got an order from a new client. Want to keep them so I am going to make up communities. They ordered it as a 1004 sf at 123 Main st., New Appraisertown. I live 1.5 miles away so I know the area. It was a 3 family. Called the owner and scheduled the appointment for 10 am Tuesday. In my prelim work, I noticed that she was not the owner. I asked if she was the owner and she said yes. She would send me the deed and the rental leases.

Got the leases and noticed that the tenants were at “New Appraiserpark”! That is 120 miles away! Called her back to confirm and that was right. Told her I would still do the appraisal and had to go “old school” and go to realtor offices in that town to get enough knowledge to do a credible appraisal…all the while praying I didn’t find any safety issues that would require me going back. Bottom line, what was going to be a less than an hour job turned into a whole day affair.

So two things.
1. I now know that those 2 addresses 120 miles away are both 3 family properties.
2. Hope the person ordering the appraisals just had a bad day and is not a complete idiot!

ugh - fiwiw if it were me, I would decline the assignment for reasosn of ...I am lazy and do not want to drive 120 miles

2) I would personally feel not geo-competent, especially if I do not have access to their local MLS - if I missed a sale or a value element that affected results, , the effort to do a first appraisal to impress a new client could backfire.