Basement Finished Area

[TerryRohrer]

They should revoke your license.

On the Fathead Flacco rule, or something more substantive?

 

[Joe Flacco]

On the Fathead Flacco rule, or something more substantive?

He was removed from the panel by US Bank because he has been signing reports certifying that he inspected the properties when he didn't. He didn't get removed by because his experience hours were noted in the addendum.

License should be revoked.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I am safe, I think, in stating that there were a lot of people who understated, overstated hours on their lists and many banks who retrospectively determined that trainees were doing appraisal work they wanted to see the supervisor do. And the rules were very ambiguous for a time in both OK and AR that I think some interpretation was not only questionable but confused at best.

The only exception I would make were supervisors claiming trainees did work where the trainee was never on the property nor prepared the report. I have seen that when a "new" trainee was introduced to me by his supervisor and 6 months later the 'trainee' was a CR when they were supposed to have 2,000 hours. Someone padded the resume is all I can see. But until recently our board did not specify the exact tasks of the trainee. The "list" they provided allowed 8 hours per report for the trainee, 20 hours for commercial and agri over 40 acres. Nonsensical in the scheme of things when a SFR might run 16 hours and a land report 5. But put MORE than what you worked and you got fried over it.

 

[Charles West]

He was removed from the panel by US Bank because he has been signing reports certifying that he inspected the properties when he didn't. He didn't get removed by because his experience hours were noted in the addendum.

License should be revoked.

That's a big no no.

 

[TerryRohrer]

He was removed from the panel by US Bank because he has been signing reports certifying that he inspected the properties when he didn't. He didn't get removed by because his experience hours were noted in the addendum.

License should be revoked.

I think you have it *** backward (but you have done a masterful job of reading into the equation that which is unstated), but will let the OP clarify. But to be sure, it is the place of the board who issued their license to make that determination.

 

[TerryRohrer]

I'm curious as to what other appraisers do in markets with basements when it comes to estimating finished basement area.

Over time I realized that the only way I can confidently do it and maintain some sort of consistency across the board is to estimate the finished area based on a 95/50/0 method that I came up with on my own. This was a result of listing agents never being able to properly reflect the finished area of basements on the MLS. When the MLS shows the basement is finished, I take the entire basement area and factor that 95% of the basement is finished with 5% being attributed to utilities. Part finished I go 50% and unfinished I go 0%. I document this in my report as an estimation only to remain consistent with my adjustments and I include an extraordinary assumption in this as well.

A few years back when I was trying to get a designation through Appraisal Institute, the person reviewing my reports said this method is fine as long as I explain my method.

In 2020 I was removed from US Bank's approved appraisers list for improperly documenting a trainees assistance, and as of this week was denied approval to be back on the list and they cited my basement methodology as one of the reasons.

I should note that this estimation is primarily for comps and not the subject, although I do use it for the subject as well as it is challenging to get an exact calculation of finished area in many instances in my market area.

What are other appraisers doing for basements?

Here, the Assessor usually has a reasonable record (in some areas), but realtors can't copy accurately. When they report Full finished or 100% finished, I use 90%, which is consistently close to what I measure (utilities being the balance). If I measure otherwise, I use my measurements. Our MLS also has an area to report room counts and most report those for basement. Between them all, you can usually get close enough. Sounds like your method is reasonable. What method does the idiot banker use?

 

[sputnam]

I'm curious as to what other appraisers do in markets with basements when it comes to estimating finished basement area.

I guess you are asking about comparables... since, you should have measured the subject yourself. Here basment and finished basement areas reported in the MLS are iffy. I check every source I can find and then reconcile my best 'guess'. I usually include a comment about the basement SF being unreliable and explain why. All you can ever do is the best you can do.