MLS Comp Photos WTF!

[Mike Kennedy]

....the part time-Appraiser/ Back Judge was busy using a tele-photo lens to take comp pics. oops.

 

[caghag1]

Your degree of competence is showing by you NOT driving your comps. You will find the answer in your certification.

 

[DMZwerg]

You state you dont see simple homes but I would love to have someone tell me how they can spend nearly an hour inside a typical 1500 SF tract home like many claim?

I rarely do any 1500sf (or smaller) tract homes.
3/4th of the properties I appraise have areas open to below (which need to be measured), half have 2nd story walk-in attic spaces (ditto), and many are "contemporary" 1.5 to 2 stories and thus have more complex gables and roofs that make measuring and layout "interesting". Heck, Sat I inspected a riverfront property an the owner stated "You are the first appraiser who actually walked down to the river!" Think about that for a sec ... a good portion of a riverfront or waterfront property is the view of the water and the water amenities yet, as per most owners, I am the only one they have ever met that asks if he can walk on the dock or bothers to walk down to the water to take pictures of the water view (from inside & outside the house) and views of the dwelling as well, all from various locations on the property. I tell them that when dealing with a lakefront (or over waterfront) property the true "street view" and "front" of the property can often times be the side facing the water.

I measure every side, take pictures of each side from multiple angles, etc, all to create as accurate of floor plans as possible (memory may get faulty, but pictures remain) as it also would help me to recreate the report from my workfile years later.

I hear of too many appraisers who barely duck their head into the house, taking 15 minutes or less, and ask the owners no questions whatsoever ... I personally would question that rather than spending 30min-1hr for a "simple" house and 1-2hrs + for a complex floorplan (I think my record is over 3 hours for the most complex house I ever appraised ... 3 patios on different sides of the house and 2 different levels one of which was a "precipice" overlooking a pond; a wrap porch that became a balcony over one of the patios and was separated by a screen porch; a conservatory; cathedral ceilings in half of the 1st floor, a 90% finished walk-out basement; etc, etc, etc ... I had to CLIMB up two retaining walls to measure the entire building.)

1-2+ hours to drive comps huh? Either youre in a super rural area or you need to invest in a GPS. Maybe are you exaggerating a bit on this??

Semi-rural.
No need for GPS as that would give me false results probably up to 30% of the time (I often have to rely on aerial/GIS county maps to suffieiciently accurately locate properties).
I have spent over 12 HOURS driving comps before across 5 counties for one property ... my TYPICAL is only 1-2+ hours. Once or twice I ran into a simple urban where it only took 30 min or less (all within 6 blocks of each other & the subject) and I was literally shocked I was done already so no, I am not exaggerating.

Like I said, I rarely if ever get anything at or below average complexity.
I would consider a non-ranch single family in a non-homogeneous urban area, or a slightly more upscale but not tract contemporary SF in a semi-rural suburb on 1-2 acres, to be about typical complexity. Easier than those are what my mentor considered "cookie cutters" (which included the more upscale $200-$400 subdivision houses during the boom) and I rarely if ever get any of those. Nope, the ones I get all have water frontage or view, more than 2 acres, largest or next to largest in the area, multiple zoning, or choose more than one of the above. :new_smile-l:

Still think I am exaggerating how long it takes me to drive the comps?

 

[TC]

Mr. Zerg,

I hope you're being compensated appropriately.

TC

 

[DMZwerg]

I wonder what the avg age is of those posting it takes them longer than 30 minutes to measure and inspect a 1500SF tract home? Are you using all the resources available to you? Do you still use a tape or have you upgraded to a laser yet?

I have seen my mentor use a laser 3 times and get three different results.
I may eventually pick one up for helping with cut-outs but until then I trust my tape-measure. BTW, my mentor is older than I am whereas I am just over 21 again (aka just started working on the 3rd round)

Do you print off a sketch from the county assessors site or gone back into your records and printed out a sketch of the same model of the subject to verify if you have done it before to speed up the process when at the house?

I have only twice ever found a sketch on any county, city or town website. Actually one was a survey of the land and the other was a builder's sketch. I have had homeowners provide me with copies of surveys a couple of times, a few times had copies of the of the original blueprints handed to me, and at least twice gotten a copy of a sketch from a previous appraisal. Guess which of the three was within inches every time, which was off by as much as a foot or two or had additional features, and which was off by between 5-10 FEET.

Or do you waste your time redoing what you have already done before?

Because of those experiences I have a policy of trusting anyone else's measurements above my own, and yes, I measure every side at least once.
BTW, the answer is the assayer's were always closest to my own and one previous appraisal (which used original pre-construction blueprints AFAICT) was the furthest off.

In my case, I have measured the same model of a house dozens of times and usually have a sketch of it in my files already, especially in the developments that are less than 10 years old.

They come in models???
WTH! I didn't know homes custom built to owner specs came in models!!!

Given what and where I typically appraise I rarely encounter the same basic model twice (except for occasional an older style ranch, and ever ranch built in the 70's is exactly the same size, right? :laugh and even then the older (more similar) properties tend to have custom additions such as decks, patios, screen porches, saunas, sunrooms, and so forth.

Therefore my point is that experience varies and some people can specialize in a single urban zip code where all the properties are 95% identical and others spend their careers appraising a wide variety of properties.

 

[DMZwerg]

Mr. Zerg,

I hope you're being compensated appropriately.

TC

I try to be.
The one that took over 12 hours for driving the comps paid over 100x that in fee. I estimated correctly in advance and scattered the driving over a couple of trips to the area as I passed to go to a wedding, etc.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

I guess I am very lucky to live in a county with thousands of cookie cutter tract built homes. Since 1978, builders are required to provide a set of plans to the county. Our assessor has drawings on file for all properties. I am able to obtain a copy of that drawing and I blow it up and put it on the back of my inspection sheet. It's a simple matter to verify the measurements.

Typically, I am in and out of a property in less than 30 minutes UNLESS I find something unusual. Interior pictures really assist when it comes time to write the report. Also, most real estate agents take from 6 to 15 photos that appear in the listing.

Over the last 29+ years I have completed more than 13,000 residential appraisals. Never had anyone ever complain about how long it took me to do my appraisal inspection. We look at the "marketability" of the property...not a home inspection. Guess that is why I really don't care if I ever do FHA appraisals. In my opinion, FHA tries to make the appraiser a home inspector.

 

[DMZwerg]

I guess I am very lucky to live in a county with thousands of cookie cutter tract built homes. Since 1978, builders are required to provide a set of plans to the county. Our assessor has drawings on file for all properties. I am able to obtain a copy of that drawing and I blow it up and put it on the back of my inspection sheet. It's a simple matter to verify the measurements.

You are very lucky indeed.

Different counties around here all have different levels & degrees of reporting and include different things in what is or isn't accessible. We have one county that actually has every floor defined and square footage given, even garages and other outbuildings. Very useful indeed. Others don't even report GLA 90% of the time.

As for MLS photos about half the comps I have looked at have at least 5 photos besides the frontal shot used for MLS but the other half have only the one (if any) photo. You can almost tell which properties were distressed sales based on the lack of pictures (over 80% with only one picture sold in "as is" condition, have serious deferred maintenance, or typically have some additional oddities about it).

Bottom line is just as ever market is different every municipality or county is also different and has different standards of data collection and reporting.

 

[G-man]

Well, I'm off again.

Time to hit the hay and get ready to pony up for another 200+ miles in the saddle. Yep, got the Mazda all oiled up with a new filter, set of wipers and and $0.65 in the coin slot for the 36 ounce soda pop down at the Circle K gas station. Doin' three houses, driving through three to four counties and then calling it a day. All this after I go to the gym to burn off the McDonalds i had for dinner this evening. All ya'll have safe a pleasant day.

 

[DTB]

I don't know, maybe I'm doing something right... or wrong. On site observation yesterday, never been there before- 4, 399 square feet on 3 above grade levels and full finished basement.

I observed and recorded the finishes in every room including basement, 2 laundry rooms etc. Measured the whole thing including the bluestone patio areas, rear composite deck and the garage roof top deck that it all leads to.

Value between 2.2-2.5M and it all took a lot less than some are claiming in this thread for a cookie cutter.