Adjustments made and methodology in workfile

[who knew]

This is my first post (and maybe my last)

I've been appraising for about 20 years now but I've always wondered if other appraisers who make adjustments to comparable properties have justification/support for every one of the adjustments they make and adhere to USPAP and keep the data in their workfiles.

I know that when I've talked with other appraisers they indicate that this is a well known "secret" that the extraction of most adjustments is not kept in the workfile because it isn't done on every assignment.

So.. how do we justify these adjustments when and if we are "called" on them?

It won't help me now, but I was just wondering.

 

[Tom Woolford]

Hi Who,

I dont justify EVERY adjustment, but unusual adjustments I do support with either direct presentation of the data in the report, or at least in the workfile. A couple of times a year I will do paired sales analysis for garages, screen porchs, pools etc, but I dont put that analysis in every report. Its available if requested, but in 22 years no one has asked.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

ditto Tom, I do regressions and paired sales and keep them. They are the basis of adjustments where they are not obvious by the comps used.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

I agree with Tom. Not every item in the grid needs a paired sales for each appraisal, especially when the adjustment is less than 1% of the value.

 

[Lee Lansford]

The only times that I am aware of (fyi: outside of a courtroom setting) where the appraiser is requested to provide support for an adjustment is when the adjustment appears to be totally unsupportable in the market. Though I am aware the what follows is not always possible, if there are an abundance of sold data for possible inclusion in the appraisal, these sales may provide support for many adjustments.

 

[Elliott]

who knew,
Its a symbiotic process. Adjustment amounts for different
features tend to increase with time. When making the
adjustments, if it appears the adjustments are low or high,
then I make a note, re-test the adjustments on the next
appraisals, and make changes accordingly. I include a
general statement in the report about the adjustment
methodology. Boards want numbers, so I have a spread
sheet that has the numbers to keep the USPAP police happy,
if that's possible.

 

[Hamlet]

IMO not everything requires an adjustment just because it is a difference. If I can’t extract some supportable adjust from the market even using other less comparable sales, I don’t adjust. I don’t think that the market necessarily supports every difference between properties. I’d rather not adjust for something that can’t be supported, rather than pull it out of the air and hope no one questions it. Like Tom I do paired analysis a couple times of year for the various markets in my area.

 

[The Dog]

Did you not get the secret list. Every MB and LO has it.

This is my first post (and maybe my last)


I know that when I've talked with other appraisers they indicate that this is a well known "secret" that the extraction of most adjustments is not kept in the workfile because it isn't done on every assignment.

So.. how do we justify these adjustments when and if we are "called" on them?

It won't help me now, but I was just wondering.

It is a secret and we cannot tell you. But there is a list that floats around that everyone knows.

 

[The Dog]

On a serious note, I know that I have a file with adjustment support that I continually update and if required can and will produce. Those are adjustments we usually use such as view, river frontage, size, age, quality etc.

That file is continually updated and kept current. It is somewhat of a pain at first, but does become easier as you go along.

 

[who knew]

Dang! The Dog, I must have missed that list!

In the area I'm in we have many views, lake, territorial, territorial lake, Mnt., etc. An appraiser I knew did his master's thesis on what value a view. Guess I should have kept it for my records. I've only run across 1 matched pair in my entire career and that was so many years ago and in a market I no longer cover. Guess I'm going to have to take my medicine, but not without a fight!