Effective Age

[Farm Gal]

I for one am not qualified to determine the remaining life of such items...----... furnace, plenum, hot water systems, plumbing and waste systems, AC compressors etc.. My appraisals are based on the assumption that the HVAC and mechancial systems are all in working condition.

Frederick:

There ARE sources for SOME of the items you mention, publications like Home Mechanix, Fine Home Building, Handyman Mag, even (gag) Popular Mechanics USED to have some stats, sometimes incorporated in a single article, sometimes as part of a series regarding home ownership! However as mentioned in another thread, before you go using such stats you may want to question their sources... or seek a compendium of sources. You can find a vairiety of average life expectancies posted. Our office has a reference binder of handy dandy sources cut from various places :idea:

Some items are minimally observable (plenum, Plumbing/waste, AC compressor, etc.) If it's all rusty and corroded... 8O Knowing your market is also germaine, if you happen to know that in a certain subdivision 50% of the homes have new HVAC units and your subject doesn't it is a fair bet that at some time in the near future it may need one, and that a knowlegable buyer MAY recognise this fact!

Granted that making some assumptions about condition is reasonable and required, being professional about what you 'think' is going on ought to be part of the job description! (and one too often overlooked by a certain group of my competition :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Frederick R. Ruffell]

Lee ann,
I also hold a general contractors license and know how to test AC compressors, calculate the btu output of a given furnace and do thermal calculations to determine if the unit is adequate given the area being heated, and on and on... But this is outside the scope of an appraisal IMO and if i were to make such determinations my liability goes way up. Therefore I do not make any determinations as to life spans and remaining life of mechanical systems.

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

Actually, that was me that quoted Henry. Probably what most of us do is do (for the most part) what the person that trained us did....and some of my reasoning is based on what I was told or taught. If you remodel the home and update it, you are essentially "making it newer" and reducing the age of the home. Typically when I make a condition adjustment, it is curable items, such as paint, dirt, torn up carpeting, walls with holes, site cleanup needed, etc. Some homes have had nothing more than general maintenance and even though they may not be in poor or fair condition, they have not had those new items added that the market may or may not want in later years. Such as, here in west central Florida, all of the new homes have these huge master bathrooms with these huge tubs, some with jacuzzi jets. I would be willing to bet you that 99.9% of the people never even get in the tub (I can tell from the condition and the items of decoration the Mrs. leaves around). Or everybody's new love affair with ceramic tile and pergo flooring. But, the market apparently wants these things right now and pays more for them. Homes that have had substantial remodeling to include some of these newer items are effectively newer than ones that weren't. I'm not talking about "normal" maintenance, but something that "makes the home have a newer effective age."

 

[Anonymous]

its a judgment call, and M & S and others have anticipated life expectancy tables for appliances, etc. It beats PFA (pull from a...ir), and I am not afraid to use it.

Judgments are just that... You are hardly ever going to be sued over a judgment, rather sued over a fact or a results of your judgment.

ter

 

[brunge]

I’m sure my opinion has been covered here, but, I didn't have the time to read all of the post on this thread.

Effective age and condition are most often totally different topics of concern. A 20 or 40 year old home may be a bit dated in nature (older plumbing fixtures, appliances, tile color, etc.) but still be in very good condition. Clean as a whistle. It would be misleading to describe a home in good condition as anything less.

The effective age attempts to estimate the degree to which a dwelling meets current expectations. The floor plan, major mechanical systems, appliances, plumbing fixtures, colors, etc... all make up the formula for estimating effective age. If a 40 year old house has been updated and modernized from top to bottom, it may very well have a lower effective age than a 15 year old house with all original equipment, etc...

I display AA (actual age) and EE (effective age) under age in the grid, but, only when appropiate.