The Yolo Pro

09/20/2017

An extreme example, but nevertheless an example of the state of real estate in our state.

A property sitting on a large corner lot in San Francisco just hit the market at $1.4 million. That sort of price wouldn't cause anyone to gawk these days, except that this house is facing extensive repairs. In fact, as the listing states, it's "uninhabitable."

04/07/2017

People often want to know what they can do to their home that will net them value - in other words, what types of things can they do to their home that will add more value than their cost? This is a tough one. If I can buy a home and remodel the bath for less money than you're selling your home for with a remodeled bath, which one should I buy? Bankrate.com gives their top 5 list of remodels with a poor payback. (May differ in your market area.) Appraisers, this is also useful to you as it lists average remodel costs, and cost data is always handy to have.

A bathroom addition may seem like a good idea, but are you flushing your money?

11/12/2015

I like to take on complex assignments, but I think I'd pass if I was asked to appraise this one: Michelangelo's home for sale.

Michelangelo's Tuscan Home!

06/05/2015

I have no idea if these folk had a pest inspection and/or whole house inspection completed when they bought their house. But even if you don't need to have one done, perhaps you're paying in cash, you should ALWAYS get a home inspection, pest inspection, and title report, when buying a house. Why? Because there are a million things in a house that will cost you a ton more than an inspection. One of them is snakes. (Title report because you want to make sure that the snakes don't own it... Although I'm of the opinion that a house filled with snakes is owned by the snakes regardless of anyone's claims to title.)

A family in Maryland wants to get out of their snake-infested home.

05/07/2015

You are Not Valuing Property Posted by: Dustin Harris May 6, 2015 Everyone has had the experience of meeting new people who know nothing about you in the neighborhood or at a cocktail party. Inevitably conversation will turn to discussing each other’s jobs. How do most of you handle this? Here is ho…

02/13/2015

The benefit of an appraisal vs. Zillow, is that a good appraisal will spend some time telling you where the opinion of value came from. Zillow on the other hand, won't tell you how it arrives at its conclusion. It simply says, "Your house is worth $X.00. Just take my word for it."

When "CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell asked the chief executive of Zillow recently about the accuracy of the website's automated property value estimates — known as Zestimates — she touched on one of the most sensitive perception gaps in American real estate.

08/26/2014

The saddest part is that people are still fighting for $350 for an assignment. Customary in the '90's.

$200 Appraisals – Poor Business Decisions for the Appraiser AND Lender by Joanna Condé, President of the Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers A Bad Business Decision for Appraisers As many of us fight for customary and reasonable fees of $350 or more, some of our appraisal brothers and sist…

04/12/2014

Year-over-year foreclosure activity – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – in California continued a prolonged trend with another double-digit decline in March, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac. However, California was among 19 states that saw a year-over-year first-quart...

01/06/2014

Interesting.

Manhattan Real Estate Firm, Bond New York, is now accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment when buying a home. What is Bitcoin? Have you ever heard of

01/15/2013

I love a good train wreck... unless I have to appraise it.

"I'm guessing that a beer bottle is not an approved duct-support system. This may show my age, but it looks like (from the bottle) that this was done on a weekend—the old commercial did say, 'weekends are made for Michelob.'"Tim Hemm Tim Hemm Inspections Yucaipa, Calif.Courtesy of The ASHI Reporte...

09/07/2012

I couldn't disagree more with TBWS this morning. I'm really starting to believe that the only people who understand what appraisers do are appraisers. We don't create value. We report value. It is what it is, folks. We were blamed when the market crashed for "over appraising." Now we're being blamed for it not going up because we're "under appraising." It is not our job to "help out the housing market." It's our job to tell our client what is, so that our client can make a sound decision based on sound data. Cold, hard cash is the only thing that is going to boost the housing market, not appraisers.

Click the post title above to watch today’s show! Catch all your real estate and mortgage news and commentary with Frank Garay and Brian Stevens right

08/28/2012

Fortunately, I've avoided working for any AMC's. If you see that a huge chunk of your appraisal fee is going to the AMC, you should be asking 2 questions: 1.) Why does the management company need that much of the fee - I.E. exactly what service are they providing? 2.) If the appraiser is making that little, is he/she willing and able to do a competent job? If I was only making $250 per appraisal, I'd have to pump these things out in about a third to a half of the time I'm currently doing them, to survive. That would mean cutting serious corners in research, development, and reporting.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants you to see the full appraisal report on the house you're buying or refinancing as early in the mortgage process as possible, and without your having to ask the lender for it.