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Archive for June, 2009

June 30, 2009 Things That Appraise in the Night

This story is completely true. It was related to me by the man who lived it, and was first hinted at in the blog “What Exactly Are You Doing, Appraiser?” Back in March of 2009, a real estate appraiser named Jason received a normal appraisal request. A two-family house, owner unoccupied, get to it when [...]

June 25, 2009 Insurable Value

For any business, it is important to carry various forms of insurance for things like property and equipment. Although an insurance company will establish its own value in order to determine the amount of coverage that is necessary to obtain on their assets, it is also important the business owner knows the insurable value of [...]

June 23, 2009 Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)

An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is an employee benefit plan that gives employees ownership of shares in the company for which they work. When an employee leaves the company, the company must buy the shares back at their full market value. To determine the market value of the stock, companies that offer ESOPs must [...]

June 19, 2009 What Exactly Are You Doing, Appraiser?

We’ve delved into quite a few topics with regard to real estate appraisal on this blog, so it’s remarkable we’ve never touched on one specific subject – what does a real estate appraiser actually do? Now the obvious answer is that he or she appraises real estate. But what’s the process? What criteria do they [...]

June 16, 2009 The Appraisal Foundation Announces 2010-2011 Edition of USPAP

On June 9, 2009, The Appraisal Foundation, a congressionally authorized nonprofit organization that fosters professionalism among appraisers by setting qualifications and standards, announced that its Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) adopted revisions for the 2010-2011 edition of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). USPAP are the generally accepted performance and ethical standards for the [...]

June 11, 2009 The Appraiser’s Role

The Boston Globe published an article this week on the way the housing slump is affecting the job of an appraiser. When conducting a real estate appraisal, one of the tools an appraiser uses to determine a home’s value is sale prices of comparable homes in the area. But the large number of foreclosed properties [...]

June 9, 2009 AVMs

In real estate appraisal parlance, the acronym AVM stands for Automated Valuation Model. An AVM is a computer-generated report that uses complex mathematical equations to determine the most logical value of a home based on public records and other relevant data. There is no involvement of an appraiser or person during the compilation of the [...]

June 4, 2009 Common Types of Appraisal Reports

There various types of real estate and equipment appraisals that an appraiser can conduct on behalf of a client. It is important to know the nuances of each type of appraisal so that you know what you are getting at the outset. Here are some examples of common types of appraisals. Full appraisal or self-contained [...]

June 2, 2009 Real Estate Owned (REO) Property

A real estate owned (REO) property is one that is owned by a mortgage lender – typically a bank. Banks aren’t in the business of owning homes, nor do they want to be, so a property only becomes an REO property after all other options are exhausted. As soon as a lender determines that a [...]