In 12 years I've never got this QC request.

[Fernando]

I'm surprise or shouldn't that a reviewer finally read a neighborhood comment section and sees it's a boilerplate in 12 years.

 

[Sadie]

As Dublin stated, "quality" as in quality of construction, is in the sales comparison grid. Also, in following the form's directions, an appraiser is supposed to "describe the neighborhood" which is a detailed analysis of the area being appraised. This includes the "quality" of the types of properties that are located within the subject's neighborhood.

The neighborhood description is important for the client to understand the context in which the property is located and for selecting comparable properties.

It's amazing how many appraisers just slap boilerplate in this section. It changes from location to location.

Also, I never use average sales prices of the area. I always use median sales prices. But that's just me....

By quality, I was referring to the neighborhood description. And by average price I was meant someithing like, properties in the area tend to sell for more/less than the mean/average price of the surrounding area. Says the same thing without alerting the AI. And you can have that info in your workfile.

 

[Tom4value]

Unless there is some other outstanding factor in a neighborhood like decay, renewal, a lake, golf course or a park, for 12 years my neighborhood description for suburban single family areas has read:
"The subject is located on a residential street of various style and age single family homes. Neighborhood maintenance and appeal is considered average. Proximity to commuting routes and services is considered adequate and marketability of the area should remain reasonably stable."

“…maintenance is considered average”. What does that mean? Do you mean well maintained?

With regards to “proximity”, what is your definition of “adequate”? An hour commute in Jersey could be “adequate” but a deal killer in, say my area.

What they are trying to do is to get appraisers to get away from is bias, both NEGATIVE and POSITIVE that does not affect market value and/or marketability. They found that bias towards a property can indirectly result in an overinflated value and vice versa. Also, words like “adequate” of “average” says nothing without context. Yes, for 30 years I wrote like this, too!

That is NOT to say to avoid words all together. You just need context if it DOES affect marketability one way or another. For instance, “traffic is steady in the area”. This may be a true statement so you don’t want to not mention it. However, it needs context and commentary. “Traffic on the subject street (more detailed than “area”) is heavier than most other streets in the neighborhood. Market data shows that properties on this street tend to have higher days on market and/or lower property values than competing properties on roads with less traffic.” This both supports what you say and WHY you say it.

 

[sputnam]

What is adequate proximity?

Yep. In the current bias mania, saying 'walking distance or close proximity apparently is exclusive to the elderly or infirm or to people who can't walk. The cure is specificity. It's not more difficult, just different. Just say something like 'Access to community services is via Elm Street and Intersate 40' or maybe 'The central business district is approximately 3 miles southeast of the subject property'.

 

[NC Appraising]

I'm surprise or shouldn't that a reviewer finally read a neighborhood comment section and sees it's a boilerplate in 12 years.

Yep. 80% of the reports that I see that were done by the same appraiser has the same canned statement for every report.

Anytown USA. .....Most just copied and pasted it from some book or their mentor.

 

[Sadie]

Yep. 80% of the reports that I see that were done by the same appraiser has the same canned statement for every report.

Anytown USA. .....Most just copied and pasted it from some book or their mentor.

Soem people are a little more creative-copy/pasted from Wikipedia.

 

[Surf Cat]

The canned commentary is even worse now then the good old days due to the DEI word police, AI checking systems. The wording is so vague, sidestepping, stepping on eggshells worthy that neighborhood descriptions or description of improvements don't make sense.

Also, a lot of appraisers have to work on their reconciliation.
"Most weight given to the sales comparison approach" probably makes underwriters want to slit their wrists....

No, I'm not MAGA..... I'm just for common sense.