I would then concentrate on studying these topics. I'll jump in here with the partial interest process (in simple terms) based on my experience with such an assignment.
When appraising the partial interest of a single family home the sum of the parts does not necessarily equal the whole. For example, if two people have a 50% undivided partial interest in a home valued at $500,000, it does not necessary mean each has a $250,000 piece of the pie. If one party wanted to sell his share there is typically a discount applied (market driven) because they are selling a limited bundle of rights. In valuing a single family with undivided partial interest:
1) Estimate the fee simple value of the whole property.
2) Multiply the value of the whole property by the percentage ownership.
3) Discount the resulting value by the appropriate (market driven) discount.
If two people have a 50% undivided partial interest in a property that is valued at $500,000 and other sales of partial interests of properties sell for 15% less than the whole sum, the value of the 50% undivided partial interest would be:
$500,000 / 50% = $250,000 less 15% discount = $212,500. Therefore, in this example, the value of a 50% undivided partial interest in the $500,000 property is $212,500.
Also, if you are having trouble with math formulas then I recommended going to Amazon.com and picking up the Real Estate Math book.
