Ted Martin
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2002
- Professional Status
- Certified General Appraiser
- State
- Kansas
I just got back from doing an inspection of a home on a 7 acre site. The current mortage holder (Countrywide) made the loan based on the house and a 5 acre site and secured the loan based on a five acre legal description. Needless to say the site split wasn't approved and likely wouldn't be approved by the county zoning board. If the property went to foreclosure and the secured legal description was sold rather than the actual legal description, and if the improvements were destroyed no permit would be issued to rebuild because of the unapproved lot split (7acres to 5 acres). The lender will probably drive me nuts when they find out that I won't do the appraisal based on the 5 acre site rather than the 7 acre site. They don't seem to understand that I can't find comparable sales of illegally split lots. This is a 3 to 10 acre market so bracketing the site is no problem whether it's 5 or 7 acres, and in terms of site value it really doesn't make much difference. Site size is a minor issue in this market, it's not uncommon to find smaller sites selling for more than larger sites that are nearly equal in all other factors.