Why driving comps should be sunset by the GSE's

[Lakefront boater]

The sheer amount of data that is now available to appraisers on comparable properties combined with what is
now an ever present and ever growing danger in my opinion brings to light that driving comps and taking the photos really needs to be sunset.

Here's some reasons why I think this issue should be addressed
With the advent of lockdowns and the exponential growth in home delivers (look at Amazon stock) there is an increased amount of traffic during
the day the real and present danger of taking these photos is worse than ever (especially in suburban America).

With the increase of home deliveries such as Amazon, Door Dash, UPS and all the other delivery services there is a demand put on these drivers
to reach their daily quotas, they are driving into neighborhoods they are not familiar with thus running stop signs, traffic lights etc.
This is a present danger to pedestrians and children outside playing then add to this an appraiser stopping his/her car to take a photo.

About a month ago I had a very close call with an Amazon van that just flat out ran a stop a sign and even though I had the right of way driving the speed limit and very familiar with the neighborhood if it wasn't for my quick reflexes and the grace of God I would of been hit on the the driver's side of my car and literally crunched.

It is past time for the GSE's to address the issue, maybe AI or the NAR could get involved as I see this future trend continuing.
I'm really surprised more appraisers aren't addressing this issue in 2020 with the sheer amount of property data we can access.

I recently read in an appraisal magazine about crazy stories appraiser's told some of these stories had a situation where someone
chased them in their car after taking a comp photo and they put this in a humorous light. There's nothing humorous to me about a hostile homeowner/neighbor chasing
an appraiser in their car after the appraiser took a photo comp. No appraiser should have this type of occupational hazard.

It's time the GSE's sunset this rule. My 2 cents on the topic it might not be popular yet I really think it is time.

 

[Overimprovement]

A lot of appraisers would agree driving comps is unnecessary (I am not one of them), but the argument you present seems porous. For every driver delivering something ordered online, there is one LESS car on the road from having gone to the store to pick it up in person. If anything, online shopping creates far less traffic on the roads.

As far as encounters with homeowners, children in yards, etc, there is very inexpensive tech available now which can take car-mounted pictures without an appraiser having to hold up a camera or roll down the window. No future encounters are necessary if one is concerned about that.

From a purely theoretical viewpoint, if sufficient recent pictures of a comp are available (google maps, MLS, etc) I am opposed to requiring live comp pics, but I do feel an appraiser must have recently driven the street/neighborhood to view externalities which may affect that comp. This is even more of any issue the farther away from subdivisions one gets. Now how to prove this has been done without a live comp pic is frankly difficult. But there are many other statements an appraiser makes in a report which are taken at face value as being true. If a client feels they can trust some statements, and not others, that is a problem.

 

[Mark K]

How do you insert the 'watching and eating popcorn' emoji?

FWIW, I agree but I'm in the minority.

 

[Overimprovement]

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Speak for yourself. Many of the counties I work have no working MLS. Half the brokers will be unaffiliated with an MLS or belong to a distant one. Further, if it so be, then I think the appraiser should still be responsible to DRIVING BY THE COMP and seeing the neighborhood. So how do you offer any prove that without a picture, video, etc? And, if such rules as you propose are adopted, I think you should still be responsible for discovering whether it is a tear down etc. And the mandate should include a mandatory suspension of you licenses for six months should you so badly botch the comp that it impacts the value of the subject. This small house sold for $70,000 on a land tract. $70,000 houses are not uncommon here. Failing to drive by and learning that it was being torn down? Does that impact your value when you realize the sale is basically a land sale and not a residence on an small acreage tract?

What you propose is simply to eliminate the appraiser. I mean if the computer is doing all the work in the first place, who needs you? AVMs all the way. As for taking pix, below is the GoPro I use in an urban situation. set on 1 sec intervals, continuous pix, I can drive down a pretty busy road and get a picture of every house there. In traffic, I may circle the block a couple of times to get a better look. It's a no-brainer. That suction cup thing is about $10 and comes with a variety of attachments, a clone GoPro is maybe $30 at most.

I had a very close call with an Amazon van

I had a guy run a stop sign in front of me near by house. So I guess I will stop driving.....oh, yeah. I have a car cam in my vehicles, too.

 

[Tru Red]

I'm going to agree to disagree. Appraisers need to see the influences in the comparable's neighborhood. Sure.....we might already know a lot about (some/most) of those neighborhoods. Sure technology can provide some photographic evidence of what is in those neighborhoods. But this is a slippery slope into allowing "big data" to push us even further into the abyss of obsolescence's. We need to remain their eyes and/or boots on the ground.

 

[Tru Red]

What you propose is simply to eliminate the appraiser. I mean if the computer is doing all the work in the first place, who needs you?

E.X.A.C.T.L.Y.

 

[Lakefront boater]

Rural, complex properties and commercial properties etc. I do tend to agree yet for suburban areas where there is a good amount of data (current and prior MLS listing data), public record data, GIS, satellite images, street views etc. plus the expertise of the local appraiser I really do think this should at least be examined and brought to light for open debate.

I know this is not a popular opinion yet it is interesting reading these responses and all the points given are valid.
Overall, I would like to see this issue addressed. A few bad experiences or life threatening experiences driving suburban comps really brought this topic to mind for me.
I know I'm in the minority on this and obviously it won't work in every situation. I tried to word this thread to avoid the outlier situations I really would like to have this topic looked at from an unbiased viewpoint as I do think it is worthy of consideration.

 

[Overimprovement]

Rural, complex properties and commercial properties etc. I do tend to agree yet for suburban areas where this is a good deal amount of data (current and prior MLS listing data), public record data, GIS, satellite images, street views etc. plus the qualifications of the expertise of the local appraiser I really do think this should at least be examined and brought to light or open debate.

I know this is not a popular opinion yet it is interesting reading these responses and all the points given are valid.
Overall, I would like to see this issue addressed.

Do you honestly feel looking at MLS pictures that only highlight the GOOD points of a property will fully disclose all externalities affecting a comp? How old are the google map images one is looking at?

 

[Tru Red]

Look....I don't want to create more work for myself than is needed. With that being said before I was an appraiser........I was a lender for many years. I relied on the appraiser to actually look/touch/feel/see the subject and the comparable's. I needed to have all the data available before I would sign off on a $500,000 + loan. And.........like many others I am ALSO a real estate broker. Only the good photos get placed into the MLS. I am not going to show you the neighbors 20 broken cars and unkept yard with barking Pit Bulls in my photos. You have to actually drive by to see those issues.