Appraisal for relative

[Mike Boyd]

Can you-yes; SHOULD you-only you can decide but I would never appraise a relative's house, especially my in-laws!

Ditto. Except I have no living in-laws.

 

[JoTetherow]

friends house

funny thing, my GF of many decades called me up yesterday and said she needed an appraisal for IRS purposes.

I told her my policy, i will not appraise a friend or relatives property. I value the friendship more than the $$. I also consider carefully if i want to appraise a home within a couple of blocks of me. I dont want my house to get egged.

anyways, told my friend i could refer a good appraiser to her and she said, but i dont have any money to pay for an appraisal.....so i guess what she was really asking me was if i would do a free appraisal for her. glad i have my no appraisals for friends policy.......

 

[MelissaBrooks]

Biased or Unbiased Opinion

Well an appraisal first and foremost is supposed to be and should be an unbiased opinion. I have to think that in someways you surely don't hate your mother-in-law, and more than likely you actually like her, so either way love or hate you simply could not give an unbiased opinion in this matter. m2:

 

[Virgil Brown]

Never do do it, if they for some reason don't like you can never get away from them. I will not even review work done by former trainees or co workers.

 

[444nutman]

I would like to hear that discussion at the next family reunion. There is no way I would do it. I give them addresses of homes that have sold in the area and tell them they can go look at them but I give no opinion. They can develope their own. My mom is an LO for a lender that writes their own loans. Would I love to do that work, yes. Would I work for her lender, no way. When she retires I will go after that client. I have helped her out when she needs someone in my neck of the woods or she has a question but she makes the best meatloaf on the planet. There is no way I am giving that up. I also give friends data but once again no opinion.

 

[Bama Bayou]

You can with disclosure but I would never do an appraisal for a relative. When the lender sees the disclosure they won't use it anyway.

 

[Karl]

Never get laid where you get paid, never mix business with plesure & never do business with a relative & never loan a relative money. You'll have a much less stressful life.

 

[Bama Bayou]

I am not kidding the first appraisal class I took from the AI, RE Appraisal Principles, the instructor would use the example of appraising the mother in law's house all the time. Funny as hell stuff. He also told us to never trust an appraiser with a gold medalion riding a motorcycle. He was from Miami, of course.

He was trying to make the point that just because it is legal or allowed with disclosure some things just ain't worth doing.

 

[Mike Siegfried]

I would think that if you or your wife are in line to possibly inherit the home should the unthinkable occur, it would be reasonable to say that you might well have a prospective interest in the property.

Mike

 

[Pat Butler]

USPAP does allow for appraising a property that you have a present or prospective interest in so long as it's disclosed. Personal matters aside, it's obvious that many of us have relatives that trust us and would prefer that we provide the service rather than some stranger.

I can't see any reason why an appraiser would want to have a bias with a relative anyway just as a result of being related. I've done estate appraisals for some of my relatives and knew full well that my work was eventually going to be judged based upon the ultimate sales price of the property anyway.