Divorce Appraisal Work

[Richard Carlsen]

A few rules I've formulated over the years for doing divorce appraisals:

1. Take the order from whoever calls you. They become your client. Talk to nobody else about the appraisal without the expressed consent of the client; especially the other side.

2. Don't worry about the other party or the attorneys getting copies of the appraisal. That's what copy machines are for. Let them decide and pay for distribution.

3. Concerning yourself about distribution of the appraisal, who gets what, what is going on in the litigation, who said what or who will use what or if the attorney should order the appraisal is beyond the scope of the appraisal. Don't worry about such things. They are not germaine to writing a good appraisal report.

4. If at all possible, try not to let the attorney order the appraisal or be your client. They are notoriously slow pay and demanding if you work for them until you have a few orders under your belt.

5. Whenever possible, all private appraisals, including divorce appraisal, are COD at the time of the data gathering or before.

6. Whatever you do, don't take sides. The other party may someday be a good potential client.

 

[Ed Woodruff SRA]

I do appraisals for divorce on occaision, and have never had any problems. As everyone else has stated, collect at the door. I do a bit more work on a divorce appraisal than I do for a typical Lender job, because in my opinion, the people looking at them for the most part have never even seen an appraisal before, but all consider themselves to be experts in the field, and if they disagree with your report, will go to great lengths to pick it apart. I will generally use up to 6 comps, and show active listings, pending sales, etc... I also explain everything I do in detail. I do not go out on a limb one way or the other - in other words, I am not an advocate for either party - I just issue my opinion of value, and describe how I arrived at it. It would be extremely difficult to discredit one of my reports, and "I pity the fool" that would ever try.

Another great source of work is probate and estate attorneys. It is easy work - there are rarely deadlines, they always pay up front and never question fees. I work for several estate attorneys. All I ever hear after turning in a report are words of praise and thanks for a job well done.