Florida Room or Enclosed Porch

[Don Clark]

USPAP and "Normal course of business"

Brad,

In the student manual there is an example where an appraiser who is 50 miles from the courthouse contends that his use of the available local data through MLS, etc is the "normal course of business" so he does not drive 50 miles on every appraisal to gather data from the courthouse. The courthouse will not give him any information over the phone, by Fax or otherwise. USPAP student manual says that he is correct. His "normal course of business" would not necessaril require hime to go to the courthouse as it is outside "normal course of business". However, in a similar situation, an appraiser refuses to join and use the local MLS, has easy access to the courthouse, and his peers do use MLS and do go to the courthouse. Since this is the "normal course of business" he must do similar or the same or be in violation of USPAP. How is that different than saying if the normal course of business, local custom and practice does not include an open ares on the second floor(not floored) as GLA but in another market it is included by local custom and practice, one is not according to ANSI the other is, how is that any different as long as the appraiser applies local custom and practice which causes his/her work to be consistent with his/her peers? Personally I like ANSI. I have taught short courses in it, think it makes sense. But, in my market we have one or more independent cities(not part of counties) that have no clue what the area of a second floor on a 1.5 or cape style home is. They use the first floor measurements X 1.5 to get total GLA. Now, I would have to measure all comps to know for sure how much actual room is on the second floor. But, that is not the "normal course of business" here. And, some of our individual cities are even worse than that. So, I use the best and most verifiable I can get. That is the nature of the beast here. BTW, even tho North Carolina has their own version of ANSI on the state real estate boards web site, and suggest it's use, it is not mandatory.

 

[William Casewell]

I think the rules being this should define your GLA

1. finished
2. insulated.
3. heated by a thermostatically controlled heat source.
4. egress meets code. generally a door into the house and or 10 sft of breakable glass.


step ups or steps down means nothing - just an excuse not to appraise.
field cards can be wrong and can be a year out of date since they are based on the current assessment year. If the assessments are done in november its and theres a change, it wont show on the card until next november.

 

[aussie ken]

Go Otis.......!

 

[Brad Ellis]

Don,

Not sure where you are giong wth this. Obviously, ANSI will not count unfloored or unfinished areas either. The analogy of MLS access does not make sense to me since whether or not to join is up to the individual.

To use ANSI, however, all one needs is a copy. I got mine from NAR when it was published by fax for free! This is hardly a problem with the "normal course of business".

Neither have I said this involved state boards. I do believe, however, that given the broad adoption of ANSI in so many quarters that it is a recognized method/technique.

Finally, if the assessor is wrong or incomplete how would you get the comp size anyway? We'd guess like we always have done by using a fotprint size and some multiplier.

Brad

 

[Mike Boyd]

Florida, Arizona, Utah and 49 others

My interpretation of any state named room is that it is an add on built of single wall metal panels and also with a metal roof. Some type of insulated panels may be affixed to the walls or ceiling. Whether it is heated/cooled or not, I call 'em enclosed porches or enclosed patios. Depending on how utilitarian they are, I might give them the same value as I am giving the GLA, but most likely not especially if it is a very large room.

If the room is constructed the same as the main part of the house I would not call them a state named room. It would be whatever it is used for....a bedroom, a den, a family room, etc etc etc. In California, houses are not re-appraised by the assessor's office within any paticular time framework. The only reason for ANY assessor appraisal is to determine taxes. With CA's prop. 13 the only significant increase will be when it sells or if there is a major remodel or major addition. The assessor gets the inofrmation from the building department and raises the taxes accordingly. Sometimes, an increase in square footage will be reflected in the assessor's data you pull but it might take years or it might be never that the increase will show. Entering that data by itself does not raise any money and THAT is the only reason for their existence.