During a conversation with a real estate agent, I was asked how we support time adjustments when a market is hot and prices are increasing.  I started to explain how we use InfoSparks how it is a valuable tool for me as an appraiser. It allows me to look at different segments of the market very quickly and then use that information in my reports by depicting the trends graphically with charts.  While there are many different ways we can use this tool as an appraiser, there are four main ways I use it on every appraisal we do.  I go into more detail in the video above. Median s ..read more

I wanted to share a quick insight into what I see in the northwest suburbs as a bifurcated housing market.  The upper end of the market* appears to be oversupplied while the lower end** is in balance and getting close to being undersupplied or having a shortage of inventory. The following charts illustrate this point.  I looked at 3 northwest Chicago suburbs (Park Ridge, Glenview, and Northbrook).  In this first chart, you can see the lower end of the market has supply of inventory of around 3-4 months.  This is why it is not uncommon to see multiple offer situa ..read more

Glenview homeowner sues Zillow over ‘sloppy’ estimate In 2014, I wrote a blog post about Zillow and I decided it’s time to turn my attention back to this again. Today, Zillow is still very much in the news and a big player in the world of home values.  ​What caught my eye in 2014 was a blog post written by another appraiser in Philadelphia (Michael Coyle of The Coyle Group) who had compared 20 of his company’s appraisal values to Zillow’s value estimate (with similar results to mine). This inspired me to do my own study and the results were pretty surprising (cl ..read more

I recently came across this great graphic by Title Source that goes through the home appraisal process and the appraisal basics. It briefly discusses what an appraisal is, why it is necessary, what appraisals are based on, what homebuyers need to know, appraisal myths and truths, etc. In the coming months, I will be unpacking each of these topics and going into more detail about each of the items shown in the “flowchart” to “pull back the curtain” in an effort to educate the consumer on the appraisal process and what they need to be aware of. “An unbiased, professional opinion of ..read more

Ryan Lundquist of Sacramento Appraisal Group wrote a great post explaining economies of scale and how we run into instances all the time in our lives of something small costing more than a larger amount of the same thing. The Starbucks coffee analogy he employs is such a great illustration and I highly recommend checking his article out here (http://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2016/04/18/starbucks-cups-and-price-per-sq-ft/) The surprising thing Ryan pointed out, though, is that we often ignore these economies of scale when we make assumptions about the price per square foot of residential pr ..read more

This blog post goes out to all the Realtors who have had a deal fall through because the appraised value was below the contract price.  Some of you may even had multiple offers with most of them were even above the appraised value.  If this has happened to you, first and foremost: I feel your pain!  You are thinking to yourself, “If I have 4 different buyers willing to pay $400,000, how could the appraiser say that it is only worth $390,000?”   Well, there is nothing wrong with that logic.  But keep in mind that as appraisers we are tasked with giving our ..read more

Often before a property is purchased using a loan from a mortgage company, it must be appraised and inspected. Many homeowners confuse the appraisal inspection and the home inspection and ask me what the difference is. Here are some of the main ways that appraisals and home inspections are different and also overlap. Different End Goals: Value vs. Condition The main thing to know is a real estate appraiser’s focus is on determining the value of the home and those factors that will influence that value. A Home Inspector’s main objective is determining the condition. The Home ..read more

A couple of days ago I was sitting down to start writing a blog post on how to streamline the initial appraisal process, specifically gathering information on the subject property prior to doing the inspection. Over the weekend I listened to an episode of the podcast “Voice of Appraisal” where Phil Crawford mentioned an improvement worksheet that the Ohio Coalition of Appraisal Professionals (OCAP) has distributed to local area realtors. I recently contacted him and Steve Papin, the president of OCAP, who was kind enough to send me a copy. Here is the PDF (Property Questionnaire ..read more

This blog post goes out to all the Realtors who have had a deal fall through because the appraised value was below the contract price.  Some of you may even had multiple offers with most of them were even above the appraised value.  If this has happened to you, first and foremost: I feel your pain!  You are thinking to yourself, “If I have 4 different buyers willing to pay $400,000, how could the appraiser say that it is only worth $390,000?”   Well, there is nothing wrong with that logic.  But keep in mind that as appraisers we are tasked with giving our ..read more

I love when I have the opportunity to meet the listing agent at the property, but as you know, that’s not always possible. This fillable/interactive form allows you to make sure the appraiser has all of the information they need to complete a thorough appraisal of your listing. I’ve broken this form up into two sections with the first covering the recent updates to the property and the second related more to the market area and ways in which your listing shines. Each section/question is designed to help you communicate pertinent information to the appraiser that will be helpful is the apprai ..read more