The 'craziest time' for home valuation
Letter to the Editor
By Inman News, Wednesday, July 15, 2009.Re: 'Can online home pricing tools get it right?' (July 14)
Dear Editor:
There is no substitute for a well-seasoned, knowledgeable and experienced agent.
I have been in the business for 23 years and it's hard for me to get it right -- and I do it both ways. The manual way usually is the better way to go with for accuracy.
As a matter of fact, if anyone says with 90-100 percent certainty that you can get "X" amount of dollars for your place, they are lying to you. This is the craziest time in history to determine home values.
You will be far better off to find an honest Realtor who does this process manually. We depend too much on computers, and there are many loopholes to tell you about other than what this article stated.
Donald Yosef Marcus
Century 21 MB
Northbrook, Ill.
***
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Submitted by Baron Kahle on July 16, 2009 - 10:58am.
Do you want a real estate appraiser to close your transaction? Of course not. Though appraisers are knowledgable about real estate they are not trained sales experts. That is best accomplished by a skilled agent.
For the same reason mentioned, if you want an accurate, professional property evaluation you hire a specialist in this matter. A certified appraiser who is expressly trained for this function.
Submitted by Mike McCutcheon on July 16, 2009 - 12:32pm.
Mike McCutcheon
As Professor Harold Hill stated: 'You got to know the territore" This applies as much, if not more today, as it did in 'The Music Man"
We are seeing some appraisers who possibly have never even driven a neighborhood and they are expected to do an accurate, fair appraisal. That's as scary as the Smoke and Mirrors valuations that got us into this mess in the first place
Submitted by Barry Noble on July 16, 2009 - 2:00pm.
As a Certified Residential Appraiser AND a Broker - I found it frightening that I looked out of my home office window yesterday and saw an (obvious) drive by appraisal being conducted on the neighbor's house across the street. I popped out and introduced myself. The Appraiser said she was from Los Angeles (+-100 miles away) and it was fun to come down to do a Palm Springs appraisal, as she'd never been to Palm Springs before. "What an interesting place." she commented, "But it's hard to find any comps around here."
I mentioned this was a special tract as it is the second most famous of the Mid Century Modern homes tracts, and most of the homes are architecturally significant, for which Palm Springs is famous. "Famous?" she asked. I just thought they were old houses."
I pity the neighbor - who'se house has been so modernized and upgraded inside as to nearly triple its value three years ago, let alone the inflationary Market increase thereafter - Incidentally, I had done three appraisal on that very residence, for previous owners, over 5 years.
Did they use a local appraiser who knows the areas, the cities, all the desert resort cities for that matter? No, they paid an immature appraiser from "way out west" and they'll get what they paid for. I doubt the neighbor will get a refinance. He bought the house less than a year ago, and the market has dropped since then. www.MyPropertyIsWorth.com
Submitted by Sid Kirkland on July 19, 2009 - 8:22am.
I agree that it is usually best to hire a seasoned professional to get the most accurate results, but when appraisers are taking jobs for communities that they are not familiar with, despite USPAP guidelines, then they do their industry and their client a disservice. This practice is rampant right now and it is sad to watch as the profession is destroyed by it.