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Another version of asking for a free comp search.

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How can lender expect anybody to furnish comps for a very rural property? Comps probably are scarce. Very rural properties tend to have such a wide variety of additional improvements that it is impossible to guage anything until you inspect it. It would be a shot in the dark. This is just another reason a middle man is not very reliable. That is a good fee, though!
 
I got into this late, but good for you Pamela. Go for it!!

Red Blumenstock
 
Tim , last Friday I sent a client a report of a rural property which is in a town of about 500 and which was at its peak of good times and fanfare around the year when Kennedy urged us to get a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The old defunct businesses on Main Street reveal that so clearly. The first line of my comments on sales comparison section stated..."Sale data within (town) is extremely limited". That would be an expected first comment after one read about the neighborhood and the market back on page 1. Today I got a call from a reviewer in the home office. Man, those are rare calls, and initially I was caught off-guard, but after he said that he was in Chicago and I said this small town has about 500 people I was able to get him to see some light. His question..... could I explain why there was a ~$46K spread between the sold prices of the comps and then a $26K spread between the adjusted prices ? I asked if he had my 2 map pages to look at....."No".....and then asked if he had all the photo pages !....."No". So that's 3 additional photos of just what the subject revealed and the throw-ins of comps 4 and 5 to help paint a better picture of what small-town rural reality can be. Sometimes sales data is very limited because nobody wants to buy there ! Cash purchases and bank-REO's are what seems to transact. The intermediary "client" office had only sent along to him the 3 pages of 1004 and 4th with addenda...no sketch, no maps, no pictures. I have come to learn that MANY decisions are made on just that (1004), without the supporting information. Go figure.
 
Oh Ross, you are so right.

Famous words of 20-something UW from last year; "Oh, did you put pictures of the comps and a map in your report?"
 
Obviously the $500 fee quote was not high enough! He called me today, said he really only needs to know if there are comps that will make the value needed prior to ordering an appraisal!!!!!! Unbelievable :!:

I told him this is rural. I would have to spend most a day finding the potential comps and that would be after I found out what the subject is really like.

He said OK - that he would probably send me the order in the next few days.

Oooops... should have quoted $800. Think I will still turn this one down. Anyone that wants a value ahead of the finished appraisal - or wants the comps and a value prior to ordering an appraisal - or wants the appraisal process stopped after it's started because it won't make a predetermined value - is NOT a client I want or need and obviously has no problem asking an appraiser to act illegally. Really should be illegal for them to even ask this of us!!!!!!
 
Pamela

You can certainly tell the LO that there are comps in the market that would support a certain value but that it is only after inspecting the subject that you will know which comps are relevant and which are not. It is a fact that there are sales in subject's market in the price range they have quoted. Telling the LO this fact is not violating any guidelines, as you have not related the comps to subject's value. You are simple stating a known fact.

So it is not a question of if there are comps; it is a question of which comps are relevant to the subject.
That simple fact can only be determined after you have visited the subject and gatherer your data.........."So send the order and let’s get the process started. We are wasting time."
 
Richard & Pamela:

I know several upstanding LOs that would construe your statement to mean you can support the value needed and then nail you to the wall if you didn't. To me, the safest statement is no statement at all.
 
Richard, Haven't we all been there....when the voice on the other end of the phone inquires about a property, and a possible assignment, and a "possible" value with the cross-fingered hope that we will say.."sure, no problem, can do". Like you said, we must so often reply be saying that we "will have to see the house and view those sales of homes just like it in the nearby market area and only then will YOU and I have a better idea what value it holds". I always ask them to tell me about the house...how old, how big, style, any garage, what acreage ?.....and they usually know absolutely nothing about the house ! They have nothing to share which would even begin to help me prognosticate from the other end of the phone. To which I can only say, that "it looks like we both lack sufficient information to venture a notion about the value there, right ?". That is my clue that this client is just out there looking for a number-hitter. I am usually very quick then to offer my earliest time to see the place and a projected turn-around time and am prepared (in reserve) then to require a c.o.d. arrangement if they accept and indicate a willingness to proceed. Many of these potential assignments are a good distance from home and I am not going way out there and seeing and photo-ing comps and driving back without a c.o.d. in my hand. They seem to mumble some sort of acknowledgment and say that they will fax the order in the next few minutes......and the fax never rings and they never send the order. Just par for that course.
 
<span style='color:brown'>Pam, this is a perfect time to initiate your new credit policy.......payment in advance on any new client until such a time as you have been able to evaluate the relationship. Get your $500 first, then, after you have done the research and after their third status call (you know you will be getting them) explain that the project is requiring excess research and another $300 will be due on completion, and prior to delivery. I would consider adding about $100 for each status call they make.

BTW, I have a "bill paying account" that I use to make payments and purchases online. I never keep more than about $10.00 in it unless I am going to buy something or pay a bill. Then I transfer enough funds into it to cover the cost of the transaction. That way when I give out my account and routing numbers I feel more secure in knowing they cannot hit me for a second or third time......in the case above, I would have them do an electronic transfer to the "bill paying account" and when the funds are deposited, move them to my regular account.....then I would do the work.</span>
 
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