What Has Made You Go Wow!

[Willie]

This didn't happen to me, but a story like this has got to be true.

Back in the middle 50's-80's there was a Nashville Tn appraiser, who was legendary in the appraisal community. He had many stories and everyone like him.

He was dead and gone, by the time I got into this biz, over a decade ago, but his stories live on.

It was reported that he went to a house to do an inspection. Right before knocking, he happened to look inside, and see a woman who was, let just say, getting to know herself.

At this point he realized he had a delima. Do I knock and risk embarassing her? Or do I knock and see if she needs help?

I never found out what he did. LOL

 

[TC]

Appraised a house with a 50 yo woman left over from the hippie era. Told me all her children were upstairs, turned out it was 2 bedrooms with over 500 Barbie dolls.

Greg--never figured you for sci-fi.


TC

 

[Tom McDowell]

Well, I didn't see anything unusual on bobby's site. I have appraised everyone of those trailers. By the way which is correct trailer or trailor. hum

Oh well this past 2 year I have had the windshield shot out of a Toyota and a bullet hole in the door of the F-150 while taking pictures, got snake bit, dog bit and almost got alligator bit, fallen through the floor of a repo and fell into a septic tank that was covered with dirt and a sheet of plywood so the owner could "empty it out myself." It seems his drain field had failed and he would use buckets and haul off the sewage and use it for fertilizer. Oh the pleasures of doing mobile homes in SE NC.

I can't take it any more and have taken a job as a staff reviewer. I hope I don't get bored.

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

I would risk boring all of the old timers with mine.....

Miniature donkeys chasing me across a field, my hoisting myself up on top a wood fence and being surrounded by them (they bite)...

Topping a hill and staring a large bull in the face (I ran)....

The monkey who had a cage (door open)in the formal dining room (wood floors no less) and ran up to me, climbed up my body and stared me in the face (he had a little bitty diaper on - thank goodness)...

The lady who answered the door in her nightgown when my mentor was with me and said "I didn't know you was gonna bring your "man" with you!" It was not a pretty sight, either.....

 

[Paul Ness MAI]

Some of the most unique properties I’ve appraised include a dome home located in a community with a private airstrip that backed all the homes. Another was an early 60’s era luxury home (flat roof, lots of stucco, mosaic tile and glass walls) located on the intracoastal waterway. The pool area had a 6’ high retaining wall completely covered with 1” square mosaic tiles with inlaid images of the old Flintstones characters. The original builder was in the tile business and had kids who loves the cartoon. I appraised an ocean-front home in Boca Raton that was 100 years old and designed by Addison Misner, and looked like a miniature “Breakers” but was in awful condition. I appraised a home that had a huge front screened porch that you had to walk through to get to the front door, and it was essentially a big bird cage full of tree limbs and tropical birds.

I appraised a small home in an immigrant neighborhood where the front door was open, there was food cooking on the stove and nobody was home. The bedroom floors were covered with mattresses. At the other end of the spectrum, I once inspected a mansion in Palm Beach and the maid answered the door and took me around the house. There was nobody else home but the 21 yr-old son who was dressed in a bath robe, had frazzled hair and had just sat down to eat his breakfast…at 1:00 pm.

Some of the more unique commercial assignments include a portion of a world-famous fly fishing stream that ostensibly had business value from the stock of trout and its location down stream from a large hatchery. Fortunately, that job was withdrawn before we completed it. I also appraised the loss in value to a residential property (located off the end of an airport runway) created by a shift in an avigation easement caused by the extension of the runway. It involved graphing invisible sloped planes (flat geometrical objects not airplanes) and was a very interesting assignment.

 

[yvonne dill]

Don't worry Tom McDowell you won't. Depending on what type of Reviews you're doing, you won't miss a thing. And you'll just love corporate management.

 

[yvonne dill]

Paul Ness's story about the mansion and the maid reminds of an amusng story. Amusing in that it didn't happen to me. My coworker went to an old mansion in Tulsa. The lady of the house was not home. There was only the Honduran house keeper who spoke and understood dang little English. Well she finally let my male coworker in the house and would go from room to room locking herself in as he went about the inspection. The upstairs master bedroom had a balcony over the attached carport. You guess it, he went outside and she locked him out of the house on the balcony! He said" I looked over the railing and considered jumping but was afraid of the dog below." He pounded on the door for 15 minutes before she mustered the courage to let him in. He wrapped it up fairly quickly.

 

[Monica Otto]

Like the rest of you, I've got a million of 'em.
Came across a 7' alligator on a vacant lot when I went to get a closer look at the water. I ran, He ran, all was well.

I provided entertainment for golfers one day when a wasp got up my pant leg and stung me on the you know what. They got quite a show with me dancing around trying to get it out.

I guess we all have the naked lady story. Mine came out of a bedroom in a supposidly vacant house on valentines day in a red neglige, not in there alone

I've seen all kinds of weird properties including a single wide mobile home on stilts, an imitation castle built of coquina shells to a mansion with two bedrooms.

The scariest one was one where I realized as soon as I walked in the front door that all the windows were boarded up and I was alone in the house with a very strange little man with an aray of knives on the kitchen counter. I bolted and never looked back.
Ye Ha.

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

I had the naked man stories--twice. I had a 9AM appointment, wife answered door, spent more than twenty minutes outside measuring, walked around the first floor another 15 minutes, talked to wife and kids eating breakfast, announced I was going upstairs, walk into master bedroom with wide open door and husband stark naked on the bed. Never did figure out why the wife hadn't gone ahead of me and at threw a blanket across the husband. Another house, the rock stars business manager said the rock star was swimming in back, goes back to filing and typing away in the living room, open the back door walk out into the yard--and he was lying on a raft floating across the pool without a stitch of clothes on. Had to get a check from him for the appraisal fee, so he finally wraps a towel around himself and walks into the house to write the check--business manager still typing and filing wildly away.

 

[aprazer]

This is a little different from the rest of the stories, but it made me say "wow". Appraising an ocean front condo-today. Was converted from a 300+room hotel, which the borrower owned. kept 3 units, one of which she lives in and was refinancing. I go to talk to building manager-employed by the board. I ask her no more than 5-6 questions, all of which she knew the answer to without looking anything up. Apparently I asked her one question too many.

She changes her look and tone and says"We charge for info. If you have any other questions, go tell the owner she needs to write a check for $150 before I answer any more questions".

Wow.

I also found out that if you want to buy one of these units, you have to pay a $500 fee to be "interviewed" by the board. If they accept you, you get it back.

The borrower was about 4 feet tall and had the disposition of a pit bull. An angry pit bull. I really wanted to go get her, because there was no doubt in my mind who would have won the argument, but had to move on to the next one.