How Many Of Of You Use The Assessor Sketch?

[TC]

Mike,

In your market it seems like the county had professionals do the measuring. In my area dwellings were measured for the first time in 2002 by 8 buck per hour drones they brought in from who knows where. The county did a reassessment which was a goldmine for appraisers, I won every appeal I did based mainly on inaccurate GLA.

TC

 

[Smokey Bear]

Originally posted by Greg Boyd@Nov 2 2005, 02:42 PM
The only fun I get out of appraising is running a tape measure around houses.

Aw Greg - that's sad. The most fun I get is playing with all the pets.

 

[Verne Hebert]

You are kidding right?

If you do, you'd better make a comment it was used, and you believe it is reasonably correct. A big comment.

A scary thought, even at this time of the year.

 

[Peter LeQuire]

Relying on the Assessor's office around here is probably not smart, particularly when it comes to houses that are more than one story and/or houses with below grade area. While the Assessor's footprint may be reasonably accurate for a one level house that's been there for a while, for anything else it's suspect. Even if you can trust them for the main level footprint, houses with "volume" ceilings, open foyers, knee walls upstairs, etc. ad nauseum will have GLAs that may be way, way off.

It is a problem that gets compounded by the fact that real estate people publish the court house living area, so that the error gets "confirmed" by default (speaking of the comps, particularly). (Which could lead to a lively discussion about the reliability of data generally, which would end up with "why bother?" and "what the heck good is an appraisal anyway?") I'd never use the Assessor's office GLA for a house that I've walked through and around: if I can't get the victim's size right, why bother?

I suppose that we're, at some level, banking on the fact that the all of the data are really bad, but at least all of it is equally bad, and hopefully the errors in it are consistent.

As to fun parts of the job, diving through the holly isn't one of them.

 

[Stone]

Originally posted by Bobby Bucks@Nov 2 2005, 03:58 PM
Both. I use the assessor’s sketch. I also measure. In fact before I leave my car I draw the assessor’s sketch dimensions on graph paper because it saves time. Try it for yourself and see. Most of our assessors have initials after their names so 99% of the time it’s close so I’m essentially just verifying what’s there is correct. 1% of the time I do it like you dedicated folks do. I also slow down while viewing comparables if there is babe doing yard work in a halter top. Is that illegal now too?

That's what I do with condo plats. But, as far as I know, I cannot get assessor sketches on-line, so I don't have access in advance. The raw data is there, but not the sketch. I would love to have an outline available and only have to verify/correct what is already done.

Why do you have to be looking at comparables to slow down for that?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

OK, let me invert the question. Do you sketch your comparables? Do you sketch on 2055 drivebys? Do you measure the lot dimensions...do you round the survey dimensions? 98.23 x 141.11 becomes 100 x 140??? Is a 100 x 140' lot worth more than a 98.23 x 141.11' lot?

Use of assessor measurements depends upon the scope of the report. If I use the assessor sketch I say so. I might use it. I might use the statement of the owner. I measure what is important to measure. Some things don't need measured because they don't contribute value. Farm appraisers have a different view than others.

I just reported a poultry farm and did not measure a building. There was no house, and there were 4 existing and 2 proposed barns. Since poultry barns are a stock size, everyone bases income, costs, etc. on that stock size...in this case 40' x 500' with 2 barns being 40' x 400'. I am confident that had I measured it would have measured about 40.4 x 400.4'...and that is more "accurate"??? They are still paid on the basis of 20,000 SF and 16,000 SF respectively. Having measured 1, do I also measure the second? Perhaps it is 40.5 x 401'???

Likewise, the generator shack is a 12' x 16' building...95% of the cost is the generator and autorun controllers, not the tin shed over it...so what if I miss by 1'? I think I can trust the owner and my eyeball on that one. Only when the owner says "I don't know." will I whoop out the ole DISTO.

In scope of work, if you reference the source of your measurement, I see no compelling need to measure the obvious so long as it is not a supplemental standard of an intended user (Fannie or FHA, for instance). If they require I measure, then I measure.

 

[Billy Tsanakaliotis]

I print the sketch on a separate piece of paper mainly because its lines are straight, then I put up a tape measure on the house. Its to bad the county sketch doesn’t draw angles. As soon as I figrue out how to use my Disto in the Florida sun I will use that. I have a wheel for the tough to reach areas.

 

[G-man]

I haven't "pulled a tape" in a very long time. All of the counties that I service have assessors sketches very similar to the one Mr. Lawrence posted. I use that sketch to draw the footprint of the house on graph paper. Then I use a sonic measuring device on the interior of the home and fill in the sketch. I sketch the interior of almost all the homes I walk through, from 500 sq. ft. bungalows to 4000+ monsters that take an hour for me to walk through. I find this gives me a very good assessment of the actual dwelling area of a home. If the assessor is way off on the sketch, I will almost always catch it. Am I perfect? Hell no. But I can't see any other way of getting the acurate dwelling area of a home with complex layouts, half stories, open foyers and other sneaky items that I would miss doing just an exterior measurment. Plus, it makes the owner feel like I'm being real thorough, which I am.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

As soon as I figrue out how to use my Disto in the Florida sun I will use that.

That's its drawback. Without a tripod, red glasses, target,and the viewfinder, DISTO really sucks.

To buy the full set up will double the cost of DISTO. I don't really recommend it unless you want to measure interiors. A simple x 2 viewfinder would help immensely.

 

[Non Sequitur]

This is a very sad thread. Who says we're better than AVMs?