Effective Age Of This House?

[Debra]

Hello!

I've got an appraisal appointment 30 something minutes away from here monday morning. I'd like to pre-comp it if possible to save driving time. The property is Rural on 7 acres with very limited sales of any kind for that county. This house was built in 1926. The Property Assessor's Office shows 2394 square feet as a 1.5 story house. The home owner told me that he added square footage upstairs in 2001 and now it's 3400 square feet. Anybody have a guess at what effective age that I could try to comp it at before going to the property? I might have to come back and re-comp it, but, maybe not.

 

[Jerry Lieb]

Debra,

That's a tough one to answer without seeing it, merely based on the actual ages of the two sections of the house.

If you're going to attempt to pull comps before seeing it, why not research some comps on a high effective age and the others on a lower effective age? You have no idea what condition the 1926 portion is in. You can reasonably assume that the 2001 portion is in average to good condition - but as you know from being in this business, there are ALWAYS surprises.

My main concern is: Did the owner obtain a permit for the 1,000 square feet he added in 2001? If not, then you may have an issue with the value of the additional square footage. If is was built without a permit and not to local building codes, then the value of the addition is questionable.

I hate to say this, but it looks like a "two tripper" from what you've said. Hope you've quoted a high enough fee to cover the time and travel for possibly two trips.

Good luck.

Jerry

 

[CANative]

The property is Rural on 7 acres with very limited sales of any kind for that county.

Run ALL of the sales and then decide what's comparable after you've seen the subject.

 

[Debra]

Hello Greg, I did that. It borders on 2 other counties besides the one that it's in. One has less sales, one has more. So, I'm considering those also. Thanks for your reply also Jerry. I'll bet that this will be a 2 tripper though...

 

[xm72mhd]

I know nothing about Tennessee, but here it is rare to find that house the age of the one you are speaking of that has a market perceived effective age that is signficiantly different than its actual age. I know this runs against the prevailing wisdom and the thought that if you remodel you re-capture the cost on sale, (NOT)but this market has demonstrated to me over and again that if I choose comps of simliar actual age and size I will be pretty much on target. Now remaining economic life is a matter that I can't extract from the market as easily.

 

[Jerry Bone Jr]

16-18 Eff.Age 70 TEL
Please let me know if I've won.

 

[Jim Hill]

Whenever I am not sure of the comps I take as many as I can find and then just use the ones that are similar to the subject property.

I live in an area where they are buying homes for between $150,000 and $350,000 and then knockng them down to make way for much larger newer homes.

I did one that appraised around $300,000 dolllars and was really a nice home with a pool and in very good condition and when the owner told me the new owners would be knocking it down to build a two million dollar home on the property he had tears in his eyes. He was a short distance from Tampa Bay and what a vew he had.

I saw one home in Connecticut that sold for $800,000 dollars and was knocked down to get the land to build an 1.8 million dollar home and it was sold before they finished building the new home.

Taks plenty of comps so that you do not have to go back a second time.

Just my opinion J. Hill

 

[Fred]

“Effective age” is way of rating property condition, but these are personalized systems. You and some other appraiser could choose the exact same comps and reach the exact same conclusion, while one says they all have an EA of 20 and the other says they have an EA of 30.

 

[Otis Key]

How do you think you can establish an effective age of a property before you see it? Also, shouldn't be considering the sales that are similar in age (actual & effective), location, size, proximity and amenities?

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

The effective age will be up to you only after you take a good look at the subject.

Forget effective age in the grid. For the subject, use the actual ages showing it something like:

79, Adn 4

Then explain. Hopefully, you can find other sales of similar original age with newer additions. Something like this you use whatever you can find that's the most similar to the subject, but I doubt I would consider properties where the original house is less than 50 yrs.