[StBernard] Appraisal Opinion of Value - can rarely be changed.

[Westley Annis]

Elaine,

You ask an excellent question.  As was explained, a Form 1004 appraisal in
short trade language is a "full or long appraisal."  I did your pre-Katrina
valuation on a Form 2055, commonly called a "drive by" or "exterior only" or
"short" appraisal.  I used a Form 2055 because that was the specific
instruction told to us appraisers by the LRA/Road Home people.

Now, does a Form 2055 take "everything" the property had into account for
valuation?  Well, I guess it depends of the given appraiser, but for me the
answer is "yes" - I considered everything....or at least everything the Road
Home said I could take into consiseration - and even then I ignored much of
what they said and still considered everything a homeowner told me about
their property prior to Katrina.

The Form 1004 is longer, so it breaks down and itemizes detailed features of
a property.  But that doesn't mean an appraiser still doesn't take
everything into consideration on the shorter Form 2055.  I do it by simply
"lumping" many features together.  An example of that is I might lump
together the "quality of construction" (which is only asked on the Form
1004) with the "condition" grade (which is asked on the short 2055).  So, if
your home and the sale I used to compare value to were in equal "condition"
prior to Katrina, but I thought your home was built of more expensive or
finer materials, then I likely gave your home a higher "condition" rating to
that of the comparable sale (to compensate for the difference in
construction quality) and made the appropriate dollar figure adjustment.
Did I break any rules of appraising by doing that?  Of course not.  As the
appraiser, it's acutally my responsibility to take everything a property has
into condsideration to give the most accurate opinion of value.

I guess what I'm saying here, is my value would not have been any different
had I used the longer Form 1004.  (More on this below).

However, I'm glad to hear the Road Home is finally starting to do second
reviews of property valuations that came in obviously low.  But, is there a
potential problem with now going to the 1004?

Well, looking back at a Road Home meeting we appraisers were asked to attend
last Spring, this issue was specifically discussed.  It was explained one of
the reasons why using a 1004 was useless (or overkill) was because they (the
Road Home) were to provide us with all the information/data needed to
perform the appraisal - and basically did not want us speaking with the
homeowner to gather additional information.

While on the surface this appears to be backwards thinking, their position
here is (was) based on common sense that if we appraisers have to rely on
the homeowner telling us what their home/property consisted of before the
storm, what's stopping the homeowner from lying to us saying they had
expensive wood flooring when the house only had vinyl...or the home had fine
crown molding when it didn't.  To an extent I understood their thinking
because believe or not - there are people who would lie.  After all, what
can you really tell about a house after it's been devasted or gutted out? -
unless you have to rely on the owner being honest with the appraiser.

So, my point here is....what makes the Road Home think anything's going to
be different now by going to the Form 1004?  If they're going to require
homeowners to produce documents, receipts, etc. of home
improvement/renovation projects prior to Katrina,  I can tell you right now
for most people those went out with the flood waters.  So, if you understand
my thinking here, we're really back to square one.

So, what's the solution?  I feel the short Form 2055 was and still is
sufficient if the appraiser is given more accurate information about the
property to be appraised.  I know for a fact that many appraisers were given
the wrong square footage (less than what was there) on many homes.  That
right there can explain many low valuations.  Or, to be given the correct
lot size can be a big help.  A 2055 can accurately valuate a property if the
appraiser is given the correct data.

Elaine, as to your question "who will the certified appraisers be" doing the
Form 1004 re-appraisals?  I'm sure they are likely to be some of the same
appraisers they've already been using for nearly the past year.  I know I
won't be one of them.

Don't misunderstand, I am fully state and FHA certified, but that's not the
reason why I won't be doing appraisal work for the Road Home.  I decided
long ago on this issue, I needed to pick which side of the table I was going
to sit on - and I figured I couldn't be both prosecutor and defense.  I had
already started doing many appraisals for homeowners in anticipation of low
valuations by the LRA.  It would seem strange - not to mention inappropriate
- for me to be working along side appraisers whose valuations I might be
working to appeal at a later date if hired by the given homeowner.  I stuck
to doing appeal appraisals and have never regretted it - unlike a few
appraisers I know who did go to work for Road Home and have personally told
me they regret it.

John Scurich