Traditional Interior Appraisal Photo Requirement(Not COVID)

[Joe Flacco]

Meeting requirements and expectations is important but the purpose of the photos is to provide visual description of what the subject is property is. Taking photos because client says it is required is the wrong way to think about it. We take and include photos to communicate subject attributes.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Why would you not just as a normal practice not include photos of all rooms?

If working for the man, you do what the man says. But USPAP doesn't require pictures and a lot of us recall the days when you had a front, back, and street scene only and otherwise was only required to photograph defects. The picture of every room is the client/Fannie simply saying we don't trust you. I don't have a client that requires interior photos although I usually provide a few. I do not provide a picture in every room unless there is an issue in every room.

 

[bnmappraisal]

Meeting requirements and expectations is important but the purpose of the photos is to provide visual description of what the subject is property is. Taking photos because client says it is required is the wrong way to think about it. We take and include photos to communicate subject attributes.

Kind of have to agree with Terrel on this one ... because it comes down to the SOW

I often run into (1 on my desk as I'm typing this) where they only want "Front/Rear/Street" because ... it's a private/non lending assignment

Yes, for GSE's they usually want/require pics of EVERY room. Again, it comes down to SOW

 

[Carnivore]

If working for the man, you do what the man says. But USPAP doesn't require pictures and a lot of us recall the days when you had a front, back, and street scene only and otherwise was only required to photograph defects. The picture of every room is the client/Fannie simply saying we don't trust you. I don't have a client that requires interior photos although I usually provide a few. I do not provide a picture in every room unless there is an issue in every room.

I have NEVER said USPAP Required photos. In Fact I have rarely said USPAP requires anything other than what USPAP actually says.

BUT, I am surprised that any res appraiser has not already felt the client exhibit requirement creep that's been going on for quite awhile. So long it is almost doubtful they could come up with much more....Oh, wait, they will think of something new.

To put this context a little bit better. After the 08 Crash. One of the most common property defects I found in the thousands of REO appraisals I completed was deferred maintenance that clearly and obviously existed when the original report for the defaulted loan was originated.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I have NEVER said USPAP Required photos.

I never said you did say that. I simply point out it is not an USPAP issue. But it was a Fannie and FHA requirement to document defects (i.e.- photograph them)

I found in the thousands of REO appraisals I completed was deferred maintenance that clearly and obviously existed

Two things I noticed in the ORE (banks usually refer to "owned real estate" and fannie et al calls it REO) stuff we did, often being the original appraisers ourselves, is that such deferred maintenance was rarely dealt with by the owners. I have seen a number of FHA sales in the past I rejected as comps largely on the basis of a roof that obviously was falling apart but supposedly passed FHA muster during the sale (no mention in MLS.) Since I felt the value was tainted by ignoring the roof, I didn't use those comps. I recall several such houses. About 1980 I was dating a school teacher who built a new house on the corner of her parents farm. It was a cute little 1000 SF house, 2 bedroom, neat as you might expect a school teachers house. About 1985 she had a chance to take a big pay raise and sold the house and its 10 acres. Hardly another 5 or so years later early in my career, I was appraising a house nearby and was surprised to see the condition of that house which was no more than 10-12 years old. The new owners had neglected the place, broken windows and the roof shingles must have been really cheap as they were curled and "shot". I thought man this place has gone to the dogs, but another 10 years passed before going past the place again (to appraise that same property I appraised before) and it had been updated, reroofed, painted and was in good shape again. It really doesn't take long to trash a place. I have a problem on my place. I built a shed in 2013, and it has a lean to shed held up by 3 posts. The posts were ground contact treated lumber. The center of my lean to has sagged. So I put a jack to it, and guess what? In less than 7 years, the whole bottom of the post had rotted off. The other two appear solid. It is going to be real PITA to fix. Do I shore up the LTO and replace the post? Or, dig it out and pour a solid concrete post to sit the rest of it on? 7 years, any good cedar post would last far longer.

Two factors, in my book. One was a lot of sloppy appraising in those "get 'er done" days when a lot of new blood was doing the inspections while the boss rubberstamped their work. And the constant pressure for higher values and quicker turn times. In the end, it is no wonder FHA and Fannie didn't trust appraisers. It became a "show your work" sort of deal. Same with adjustments. Show me how you got that "$10,000" adjustment for "location" which neatly fit the hole you needed to fill.

But 3 pix or 40, the appraiser who desires to can ignore a huge problem with a careful positioning of the camera. I recall a 15' ceiling once where one wall truss obviously wasn't doing its job and had a repaired place where it had sagged in one interior wall. You could stand at that point and photograph the room and zero defects are noticed.

The banks could hire better appraisers but they decided to sub it out to an AMC whose only concern is ...same as before. "Get 'er done"... make the Jack. Make it honest if you can, but make the Jack.

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

I take lots of pics, but do not include them all. Many are cya pics for my file.
Such as, the electric panel. The pool eqpt.

Read the SOW. I have saved myself a trip once or twice,
when I photoed 5 bedrooms but there were 6 oops,
by citing the SOW which did not include a pic of every last bedroom.

 

[Tom D]

To be back in the good old days of three Polaroid subject photos (front, rear, street) and no comp photos.

you must have started kinda late. i only took a polaroid of the front. i think before me appraisals were done on an index card. i think photos are the best protection for your appraisal. try remembering what the inside looked like 5 years from now. one of the few extra things, to do, that i believe helps to protect me.

 

[Joe Flacco]

Kind of have to agree with Terrel on this one ... because it comes down to the SOW

I often run into (1 on my desk as I'm typing this) where they only want "Front/Rear/Street" because ... it's a private/non lending assignment

Yes, for GSE's they usually want/require pics of EVERY room. Again, it comes down to SOW

It's not about what somebody "wants" or "require".

Sometimes people don't know they want something until you give it to them.

 

[glenn walker]

I may have been dreaming, but I thought that I read somewhere a couple of months ago that in addition to kitchen, all bathrooms, and main living area, photos of all rooms were now required. Am I losing it or did the requirements indeed change?

Yes about 10 years ago