Is a GPS device usefull in Appraising?

[TC]

I agree with Walt. One of my many former bosses told me a long time ago to never ask the homeowner for directions. How well could you know the neighborhood if you don't know where the street is?

The mobile GPS for appraisal work may be a little overkill. Just keep a map book in the car or DeLorme on your laptop.

TC

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

My new Yukon has an Onstar system free for the first year. REAL guys don't use Onstar - it is the same as stopping to ask for directions!

And yes, Bobby, I know somebody that has an alligator farm, but it is my considered opinion that there isn't enough money.........

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

Oh, and Jo Ann - one of our neighboring counties that I used to have to cover when I was low "man" on the totem pole in years past did finally go to a 911 system. In fact, they even published a new map!!!!! I got a new map at the Chamber of Commerce!!!! The only problem was the map wasn't always correct and showed roads going through where none existed. So I got to know the "head" of the 911 department and always stopped by her office to have her find the houses on the county plat, as most of the houses weren't marked with numbers, anyway. She would sit there and patiently give me directions, just like they had them loaded in for the ambulance service! Man, that saved me hours of time once I found her!

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

My first step in Greenlee County is the assessor's office. Not only can they tell which wash to go down and which gully to cross and how many saquaros to go past before the left turn, which gates to close and which to stay open, they give me the complete family tree and history of who was married to who, who's kids are whos, who is getting a divorcee, the reason the people are having their home appraised, who has made offers on the house, what the offers were and why, and why the offers were turned down, and other juicy gossip. All that sure blows the confidentiality of USPAP!! But I can find the property and understand some of the marketing issues that I might run across. They also provide all that and more on every residential property that has sold in the past ten years and the locations/info of all of properties that people are thinking about selling. And if the assessor's office doesn't tell me, the entire county knows about my appraisal assignment before I ring the door bell because they saw my car parked in front of somebody's house---and then I get all the gossip from the neighbors that wave me down as I drive past their driveways.

 

[wyecoyote]

Jo Ann,

Your post takes me back to the days when I was a Rural Appraiser. I had one county that had about 3500 residents in the county. First stop is the Assessor office for plat map and property information. I learned rather quickly that you don't give them an address you just say I'm appraising the Smith's house. They would go to the drawer and pull it out. They also had a print out of all transfers in the past two years on a grab sheet. They would tell you which houses are comparable and the interior make up. This county also didn't have bedroom/bath count or year built for houses built prior to the 1980's. You had to guess the age or the homeowners would know about when there parents, grandparents or great grandparents built the house. That was alot of fun especially when LO's would call from other areas and expect you to have all the info at your fingertips or when they didn't even know how to pronounce the county. Those were the days.

Ryan

 

[Dee Dee]

Jo Ann,
Your turf sounds quite similar to some of the areas that I cover. It has it's challenges, but I prefer to work up in the mountains than head down to the urban jungle. Works for me, as most of the appraisers down there don't want a thing to do with the mountains. Once you know your area well, you can find just about everything without too much trouble.

Dee Dee

 

[George W Dodd]

GPS!

Sounds great. I think I could use one for rural properties and some new developments. That way I could plug the locations into win2000 mapping software and get an accurate location map.

Ask for directions??

Never. An appraiser is never lost, just doing field work in a previously understudied market.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

I purchased a GPS nearly 5 years ago.....use it mostly for fishing on strange lakes. Most of our listings have GPS coordinates on them now and ....yes, it is very helpful in the mountains. Do I use it???? Nahhhhh, I just get lost like the rest of the guys!.

Wanna bet most appraisers said the same thing about computers 15 years ago??????

 

[Dee Dee]

An appraiser is never lost, just doing field work in a previously understudied market.

Really????

I thought I was just in training for a future career as a pizza delivery lady!
:lol:

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Daniel Boone once said he never got lost, but was bewildered in the forest for several days.