What do I say regarding little paths through the house?

[Charlotte Dixon]

I read a post here a few months ago, and now can't find it for the life of me. It is regarding verbage I'll need for this next report.

Appraisal Inspection: Walked in front door and there is a recliner and t.v. That's all I saw. There is a little path running through the living room (like a tunnel). Both sides of the path were stacked to the ceiling with boxes, clothes, furniture and who knows what. All rooms were the same, except the kitchen, which had the iguana and dogs. Could not step off the bottom basement step for the same reason...clothes, mattress, dampness, etc. How do I paint the picture without getting in trouble?

 

[Farm Gal]

8O Been there done that!! 8O

Many in our area like this have no specific damages (I think) and are fairly clean!

You may qoute or re-word to best suit your circumstances:

Subject to the extraordinary assumption that the subject structure and cosmetic finishes are of average or better condition. The appraiser was unable to fully view the entire residence due to the unusual quantity of personal property present. No specific deficits in maintaince or finish level was observed in the areas observed, however it was not possible to perform the normal level of visual inspection.

Don't forget to check 'subject to' at the bottom of page 2 also.
did that once and got called on it

Never had a LO question the actual statement, and as far as I know no loan flunked due to MY phraseology ( toher reasons yes, that phrase no)!

 

[Charlotte Dixon]

Leeann,

why is it extraordinary?

 

[Farm Gal]

Well mainly because it ain't a hypothetical condition and ya gotta do something to explain!

H.C. refers to situations in which conditions contrary to known facts about the physical, legal or economic charicteristics of the subject property or conditions external to the property such as market conditions or trends, potential land use changes.... Nope, that's not it!

E.O. is defined in USPAP as an assumption directly related to a specific assignment which if found to be false could alter the appraiser's opinions or conclusions.... If the appraiser cannot verify a certain condition that is critical to the valuation but which he or she believes is true and has no reason to doubt is true, then the condition is an Extraordinary Assumption.

While this is usually applied to more esoteric situations such as appraising proposed improvements as of a future date, appraising a property as if free of environmental hazard (when such is not known, but the appriaser kind of wonders...)... appraising a site as if a sewer were available when the fact is not known but there is no evidence that a sewer will NOT be available (ex pre-perk test on a vacant pice of rural land...), etc etc... (some of above is from memory, some paraphrased from the 1999 summer fall newsletter of the KS Real Estate Appriasal Board, and notes from my recent USPAP class...)

Seems to me that this 'out' is applicable to the situation you describe, IF and only if there is no signs that the house is adversely affected by all the personal property (like ruts through the carpeting along the goat paths, moldy personal property which might indicate moldy house underneath, animal or other odors which may have caused or indicate serious damage to the marketability of the premises... etc etc etc.

Now I got one for the forum:
Anyone out there ever wonder if a home owned by certain ethnic group(s) prone to very spicy and to the typical American/western nose slightly to terribly offensive odors and I mean PERMEATING the premises.... might sell for a different value than one owned by Joe Midwest?!?!? and how exactly to deal with THAT one? I just hit it at the lower end of the adjusted scale and didn't explain why beyond 'interior condition'

 

[Charlotte Dixon]

O.K. Thanks Lee Ann.

Now, regarding the odor of spicey food......We encounter this all the time here. I don't let that interfere with my opinion because it is SO typical here in this transient area near Dover Air Force Base. Sorry, that's the best I can do. My son loves to go in houses while they're cooking up "stuff"....Me? No thanks. I know what you mean though....you can smell it from the front door step. But, I think it's curable, with a little pine sol ! ..... I don't think I'd mess with that.

 

[Farm Gal]

C: hope that works for you... Hopefully anyone with other ideas on how to handle truely excessive persoanl property will post also!!!

-----
I have been a few houses where odors permeated the home several months and at least one professional cleaning after the home was vacated....

Scares me.

While not wanting to be politically incorrect, racist, or violate any fair houseing laws, due dilligence in maintaining that D3P status.... sometimes it seems like something HAS to be stated, but no WAY do I want to use the EO opition... so I wimp out.

I am only talking EXTREME cases here not just a 'little' ethnic food odor. One of my roomates in college was Vietnamese, and some of her stuff was, well uh... powerful?!?! I tried a bite of everything once but on some repeat nights, I just grinned and went out for a cheeseburger! She was considerate enough to air the place out before I returned when I would flee holding my nose - I teased her a lot and told her to cook whatever she wanted... We got along pretty well overall.

 

[Randy Beigh]

Charlotte

Hope you took photos, then it keeps the comments to a minimum as you can just say, "See attached photo".

I love the digital cameras. They make appraising much easier, faster, and cheaper than the old day.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

some things just paint us into a box. Know exactly what you mean. We have an influx of an ethnic group in the past 10 yr. and so I check the public records for same kinds of surnames. My comps are sellers likely to have the same cultural habits.

Ter

 

[Anonymous]

Charlotte,

Wouldnt that go under additional features? Somehting like: Home features a challenging obstacle course and nature path throughout the interior.

Seriously, it would be a extraordinary assumption, as stated above. I would also comment on any health and saftey realted issues. To the affect you assume there is no danger to live in the home.

 

[G-man]

Reading the comments on certain ethnic groups cooking habits. Would you apply this logic toward a home occupied by smokers. I'm not talking about four pack a day chain smokers with yellow nicotine stains on the wall. 8O Just your average American smoker. My nose knows immediatly if the home is occupied by a smoker, and I find it offensive. Could I make a deduction for this? I don't think so. Nor could I go through courthouse data/MLS to find people who smoke. So I don't think you can really penalize a property for certain oders regarding cooking and/or food preparation. Now if they have slaughtered sheep hanging from the kitchen ceiling, well, maybe. :wink: