"Provide summary of estimated repair costs!!?

[pgerarde]

:? Help Please...

I've got a 1983, single wide manufactured home. In the crawl space I have metal jacks set on individual concrete pads. They do no appear to be anchored. After reading the HUD book, I understand that the anchors can not be screwed in but must be cast with the concrete... I think that's what I read...

My question, is it possible to do this as a "repair" as the jacks and concrete pads already exist. Seems like it would be very hard to do with the home in place already....???

I am also required on the VC form to provide a summary of estimated repair costs. I can get what the current foundation would cost from the NADA guide (but that would be for a new foundation....) I am diffenently confused.

Does anyone know if it can be "repaired" to bring it up to FHA requirements or are we talking a brand new foundation? If it can be repaired, has anyone got an estimate of the cost to repair? (Oh, lender has been made aware of this problem but still wants me to finish the appraisal.)

Thanks,
Patti in Chino Valley

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Recommend an inspection from a licensed engineer. Place your estimated cost on the engineer's stated cost to repair. Don't try to be an expert in something you are not. Lenders want us to accept the liability, don't give them the chance. You should make the appraisal "subject to" a foundation inspection by a licensed engineer to determine whether it meets minimum FHA guidelines, costs to repair, etc. Once you determined it did not meet FHA guidelines, you should defer the cost to an experienced professional.

 

[pgerarde]

Tim, I agree with what you have said (I am an appraiser not a contractor and I do not think I should be filling out this information...) but...

don't I have to provide a dollar amount on the VC form (page 3, ADDENDA B) for a FHA insured loan??? This is only my second FHA report (the first one was on a new home...not repairs of course).



Thanks for the feedback.

Patti in Chino Valley

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Hold the appraisal until you receive the report, or make the estimated repair costs that you know with an addendum that this could change depending on the engineer's report and expert costs.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Tim is correct. DO NOT make the determination regarding this foundation yourself. Call for the qualified engineer inspection and cost estimate!!!!!

 

[pgerarde]

Thanks to you both. That sure makes it a lot easier to deal with.

I have stated on almost every page in this appraisal that I am not an engineer / home inspector / contractor. Then I get to this one blank space to be filled out with information that would require I have the knowledge that I have already mentioned I DO NOT have...!!!

Don't know what I would do without this group...(go screeming into the night!!! Probably.)

Thanks again.

Patti in Chino Valley

 

[Richard Carlsen]

If you use a la mode, the Manufactured Housing Checklist is a great tool for setting all of this out. You can answer the questions that you are qualified to answer and set aside those that you cannot.

On questions on foundations, footings, supported to manufacturer recommendations and appropriate tie-downs, I defer to an engineer or county official. I'm not qualified to make those determinations and researching compliance with building codes etc. is not part of the appraisal process.

If you would like to see how I set mine up, send me an e-mail and I'll send you a .pdf copy.

Good luck.

 

[David S. Roberson]

Richard;

I use that form for all the manufac turds I appraise too. Just a side note, though: I just had an underwriter call me yesterday. That particular form asks for evidence that the trailer is real property such as specific forms from California, Nevada, etc., so the underwriter tells me that that form is only valid for appraisals in California! Just because it happens to reference their methods for determing real property as an example for the form! I could not explain to this genius that this is not the case, so I'll have to make my own form that does not reference any other state in the Union so they won't be confused. Sometimes it's worse if the Underwriter does read the form, if they can not comprehend the information in them.

 

[Richard Carlsen]

You have that right.

What I do is put something like this in the report (sometimes in several locations for the spot readers)

"Subject is a HUD Code manufactured sectional house that has been permanently sited on a perimeter foundation and taken on the characteristics of real estate to the extent that it is presently carried on the tax rolls as such and taxed by the county as real property (see tax I.D. number above)."

Here they have my “certification” that it is real property. That should be good enough. If not, they can hire the title office to get the appropriate documents from the county. Retrieving and proving that it is real property is not part of the appraisal process.