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

[Westley Annis]

John,

Did you also do my mom's appraisal as a form 2055?  (House on Meadowlark
drive)  I ask because on the appraisal documents you sent us, I saw you
measured the room dimensions.  

Her Road Home appraisal is more than the 20% off, however, we are NOT going
to "settle" with them on this.  I will hold out and if necessary get another
appraisal post-storm besides theirs.  They are close to 10k off what you
appraised for and it will take that money for what we need for repairs.

Jim York





	-----------------------------------------------------
	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