Another Date of Death appraisal..

[Yimmydatulip]

I received request to complete an appraisal for tax purposes on a home based on a retrospective date of death. The contact (it's the owners daugher..owner passed away) has informed me that the home has been remodeled since the date of death. If the owner were to provide me with photos of the home from before the renovations can the home be appraised based on the extraordinary assumption that the condition of the home based on the retrospective date is being extracted from the photos provided by the contact?

 

[Mark K]

Yes.

I've based the retrospective values on photos, interviews with heirs/neighbors, building permits, aerial photos, etc. That's all you have so that's what you go with.

 

[Yimmydatulip]

Yes.

I've based the retrospective values on photos, interviews with heirs/neighbors, building permits, aerial photos, etc. That's all you have so that's what you go with.

Thank you Mark - that makes sense. I appreciate your feedback

 

[Jerry Bone Jr]

I received request to complete an appraisal for tax purposes on a home based on a retrospective date of death. The contact (it's the owners daugher..owner passed away) has informed me that the home has been remodeled since the date of death. If the owner were to provide me with photos of the home from before the renovations can the home be appraised based on the extraordinary assumption that the condition of the home based on the retrospective date is being extracted from the photos provided by the contact?

Is this an "extraordinary assumption" ? What is the assumption?
Your retro appraisal is based on the facts. The facts are as given by the daughter.
IMO, there is no EA.

 

[J Grant]

I received request to complete an appraisal for tax purposes on a home based on a retrospective date of death. The contact (it's the owners daugher..owner passed away) has informed me that the home has been remodeled since the date of death. If the owner were to provide me with photos of the home from before the renovations can the home be appraised based on the extraordinary assumption that the condition of the home based on the retrospective date is being extracted from the photos provided by the contact?

yes

 

[James Micozzi]

Is this an "extraordinary assumption" ? What is the assumption?
Your retro appraisal is based on the facts. The facts are as given by the daughter.
IMO, there is no EA.

Wrong. It definitely is an EA. Since you could not independently verify the condition of the subject as of the date of death, you have to use the EA . pretty simple.

 

[George Hatch]

Is this an "extraordinary assumption" ? What is the assumption?
Your retro appraisal is based on the facts. The facts are as given by the daughter.
IMO, there is no EA.

The EA I use refers to the assumption on my part that what I'm seeing today is similar to the conditions in effect as of the prior date. If you want to say the daughter's description is factual then the assumption would be that her info is accurate. Either way there's an assumption. If using both there's still an assumption.

 

[Jerry Bone Jr]

The appraiser has relied on data provided by second-parties or third-parties in this appraisal report. Such data may include, but is not limited to, flood maps, multiple listing real estate services, tax assessment records, public land records, satellite imagery, virtual street views, property data services, surveys, engineering reports, and/or property data aggregations. After examination of the data and data sources, the appraiser has used only the data he/she considers reliable.

If there is no question about the creditability of the information, then there is no EA. If there is a creditability question, then either EA or don't use the info.

 

[George Hatch]

With respect, there is ALWAYS a question about the credibility of the 3rd party info an appraiser is using. Whether the assumption that it's sufficiently reliable to be used in the assignment can be characterized as a standard assumption or specific to this assignment (aka an EA) is doesn't alter the fact that the appraiser IS making an assumption about the accuracy of the facts being provided to them.

 

[George Hatch]

You are a power user of 2nd and 3rd party data. You KNOW FOR A FACT from personal experience that the data isn't perfect and that sometimes you have to look a little deeper to correct it. That's why you acknowledge that limitation in every appraisal report you sign. If there is an error in the data (and you have been using due diligence) then the inaccuracy isn't your fault. It can be no other way. We would not be able to perform our work if we had to claim the unqualified 100% certainty over the accuracy of every piece of info we're using.

Since you're all hot on the use of the property owner's info as beyond reproach let me run this one by you, because I run into it on the regular in my day job.

Property owner hands me a rent roll showing their rents. Am I required to take their word for it that that info is true simply because they're the property owner and they provided it?

I'm inspecting a property and there's a locked door. The property owner says that room is just like all the others. Am I to take that info as being a fact without seeing it for myself, or should I be acknowleding the point that based on everything else I'm seeing I *believe* the info is correct but that my belief is based on an assumption?