Any appraisers here also real estate agent?

[Terrel L. Shields]

It is understandable that the reason the photos of the negative aspects of the home were left out of the photo tour, like dated bathrooms, the outside of the house, but 5 different angled shots of the remodeled kitchen were taken, is that the listing agent is representing the interests of the seller.

I guess that it never occurs to an agent that when you advertise a "ranchette" as a "Ranch style" and you have a photo of the barn, the pond, the fencing, the driveway, and the remodeled kitchen that the lack of a picture of dwelling tells us all we need to know - the "dwelling" is a single wide trailer house.

I have yet to see an MLS listing where the house was anything but garbage when the front pix is omitted and all the pictures are something else. It gives you a big clue as to where the agent thinks the "value" lies.

 

[TxArmadillo]

Next little gem...listed at 2700 sf, due to non permitted enclosed porch and non permitted enclosed garage. The actual living area without these (poorly done) non permitted enclosures is aprox 2000 sf.

I hope at some point there is a big class action suit by buyers that would finally make NAR sit up and take notice. <snip>

J, not to get off topic but this is the kind of nonsense that I call BS on and we, as appraisers, should not tolerate.

If I stumble across bad data during my routine work, I do some additional record checks, e.g., CRS, tax record data, etc. If the info is wrong, I call the RE agent, tell them what I found and where I found it, explain why it's incorrect, give them a couple of days to correct it, then contact their broker if it's not corrected.

If the broker doesn't fix it, I would report to my local MLS services. I've yet to have to go that far and I've not burned any bridges with local brokers. In fact, they appreciate our expert review of their information and pointing out errors in the data.

Crappy data is something we do NOT have to live with it. We should, as a community, take the initiative and help clean it up.

 

[prasercat]

The problem is "selling" is very different than "consulting" or doing scientific or analytical work. This is just the way it works, and I understand this; however, there is always the tension between how far can one go "Selling" without crossing the line into "an outright complete misrepresentation" of what is being sold or pathological lying, either by inclusion or exclusion.

Normally, in my experience, a total misrepresentation is rather rare but the bias in the information provided and not provided is mostly in the expected range for "Selling".

In light of this, I have asked our MLS service to perhaps allow certain inputs from realtors in the MLS data that are for the appraisal community only and that are not visible to buyers and sellers. Such data would appear on a particular report style together with the standard information. The invisible data would also be the one scanned when doing statistical studies, since the biased or skewed data used for "selling" screws and complicates our market studies, costing us time and accuracy. For example, the inclusion of garden level basements (especially with bi-levels and tri-levels) is standard practice here by real estate agents for "selling" purposes, and it is a challenge to work around in a successful way when doing market studies (Inflated and overall inferior GLA (some of it is a garden basement) puts such inferior homes into the data of superior homes and skews the results of studies or even when one is searching for comps).

I doubt that would ever happen, but it I had to throw in my 2 cents.

I think agents using tax footage is a good idea, and it saves them time; however, I sometimes see them indicating the source as county tax data, but the county tax data doesn't match the footage used, so in such cases, I just replace the footage with the county data. A phone call to the realtor may be necessary for significant discrepancies.

 

[normando]

One advantage of being appraiser and r.e. agent is that you get to look inside the house so you get to know the condition, floor plan, lot size useability, and views. Agents have tours during weekday or you can go on Sunday's open house to see for yourself the "future" comps. I appraise in a limited number of zip codes so I see them whenever I can.
In my MLS, agents put many interior photos so you can determine condition not just from the agents sales pitch.
I remembered one agent who was so thorough giving me comps when I was doing the appraisal. She knew the history and the condition and the number of offers. I was very impressed of her knowledge. She explained the reason for her preemptive offer on the subject.

 

[marc paolella]

I am both and it can be challenging. I have 5 listings right now, 2 of which are under contract. I am adding a listing who will buy with me later this week. I am working with a few buyers, although I am very picky with who I will buy with. And like everyone else I have tons of appraisal work. It seems I turn down as much as I do at the moment and I have a parade of management companies trying to sign me up. Not interested in doing anything below full fee, and I refuse to do stips at all. My clients get my report and my bill, I don't accept clients that hit me with stips.

In any case, real estate is a fun "getaway" from the drudgery of appraising, and steady appraisal income is a nice "getaway" from the volatile income stream of selling. The two together are a lot of fun, and there is a more varied palette of activities, which keeps things fresh. Appraising is insular as we all know, and it's hard to make friends in the business as everyone you meet is a one-off. Real estate agency, on the other hand, puts you in constant contact with lots of people, so it's a good avenue for social activities and fun.

Doing both keeps me independent at both. Meaning, since I have decent enough income from both endeavors, I do not have to tolerate any clients that are irrational or otherwise get on my nerves. So I can be picky with who I work with, and that helps keep me far away from being an "employee".

I totally advocate it, but only if you can tolerate high demands on your time and energy. When both fields are busy, you will understand and appreciate the concept of being "interrupt driven".

 

[prasercat]

Doing both keeps me independent at both. Meaning, since I have decent enough income from both endeavors, I do not have to tolerate any clients that are irrational or otherwise get on my nerves. So I can be picky with who I work with, and that helps keep me far away from being an "employee".

Marc, that is precisely the beneficial yin-yang relationship I was hoping for and it is similar to one I had prior to being an appraiser, although the professions were different. It was my most prosperous time and it liberated me in a number of ways not to be dependent on just one income stream.

In any case, real estate is a fun "getaway" from the drudgery of appraising, and steady appraisal income is a nice "getaway" from the volatile income stream of selling. The two together are a lot of fun, and there is a more varied palette of activities, which keeps things fresh. Appraising is insular as we all know, and it's hard to make friends in the business as everyone you meet is a one-off. Real estate agency, on the other hand, puts you in constant contact with lots of people, so it's a good avenue for social activities and fun.

The other thing is breaking out of the cave (or island, as you mentioned). One of the best parts of appraising for me quite often is out on inspection talking to the homeowners about their homes. Naturally, the discussions revolve mostly about the home, but not entirely, since any conversation has some branches - like a tree. The branches often have some really interesting information, some of it even useful for understanding more about their location or home.

I would like to be in a position to solve a real estate problem for a client and be rewarded in a win-win; I think not so much different than helping people with investments. However, buying and selling a home is likely a much more emotional experience for most people (I would guess that managing expectations and personalities may get challenging at times, but then again, that happened as an investment consultant and dealing with emotional interactions is second nature to me at this point).

I'm curious, you say you are independent. Does that mean you work out of your own office or do you work with a franchise as an associate? Here in Colorado, one must work two years as an associate before going independent (there is some additional course work involved as well). I'm not sure about this going forward, but I would at least want to be able to go independent at the first opportunity, even if I don't actually do it or do it right away.

I can't say I have unlimited stamina, and need sleep (I can't work on 4 hours sleep - but only if its a rare exception; however, I do work nights and many weekends as an appraiser, so that should not be a major problem). I really don't know how it will shake out, but one or the other will likely be dominant. If the real estate end of it progesses well, I'd be more willing to cut back on the appraisal work.

I'm just studing the coursework now, but, just like appraising or a host of other jobs I've done in the past, the coursework has little to do with the day-to-day work of the profession. I've purchased a few books to get a primer but it is largely an unknown at this point.

Thanks for your detailed response and I'm glad you are finding what seems to be a good balance between the two professions - that will be my goal.

I've never heard of the term "interupt driven", what does that mean? At a certain point I had to stop answering my phones directly, since it was bogging me down.

Currently, there are so many appraisal orders and price and turn quotes being requested of me, that I'd be on the phone most of the day and not get anything done (many lead nowhere). When the phone rings now, I just look at the caller ID and if it isn't a call I need to hear from, I just let it go to voicemail. So now I just review my messages at certain times of the day, which is much more efficient and I can just ignore the one's that won't be profitable, they won't accept my fee or I just won't be able to turn it quick enough given the backlog. I always assume they call me because they have a "problem appraisal" that is not being taken by other appraisers, so each price and turn quote requires an investment of my time to find the "hitch". Although, now I'm getting more assignments that are more typical and close to home - a good thing, but I see it as temporary.

 

[prasercat]

I think this thread may be getting long in the tooth; however, I came across this article from someone recounting their hilariously tragic 6 month journey into real estate sales - I think there was a silver lining in there somewhere..maybe. Well, no...not really?


[url]http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505183_162-28557277-10391735/so-you-want-to-be-a-real-estate-agent-good-luck/[/URL]