article thumbnail

Loosening The Knot

Appraisal Buzz

Striving to look through the microscope of empirical thought, we must not forget that our subject is more than real property, it is real people. Imperfect though our efforts may be, we must work to untie the knot of each transaction and of the real estate market as a whole.

Sellers 379
article thumbnail

Is Your “Crazy” Neighbor Lowering Your Home’s Value?

Cleveland Appraisal Blog

Could being located next to a property that is an eye-sore cause a loss in market value to your home? Part of our work as appraisers is to consider whether situations like this are influencing the market value of the home we are appraising. Of course, that’s not the same as market value.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Understanding Zillow’s Square Footage is Important!

Cleveland Appraisal Blog

FINISHED SQUARE FOOTAGE On more than one occasion some who have read my appraisal reports felt that my opinion of value was too high. They felt that way because of sales they saw on Zillow that appeared to be comparable and sold for less than my opinion of the market value of the property I appraised.

Appraisal 406
article thumbnail

3 Things An Appraisal Should Tell You That You May Not Know

Cleveland Appraisal Blog

With the massive amount of technology available to anyone who can access the internet, you might wonder why bother getting a real property appraisal? Slap a few sales in a report, and make a few guesstimate adjustments to come up with their opinion of a property’s value? That can have a big impact on market value.

Appraisal 354
article thumbnail

The Difference Between Pricing a Property and Appraising It

Cleveland Appraisal Blog

The Sales Comparison Approach uses competing homes to develop an opinion of the market value of the property being appraised. The Income Approach uses potential income to develop an opinion of the market value of a property, when applicable. All three are market-based approaches.

Appraisal 302
article thumbnail

Arm’s Length or Another Type of Sale? The 7 Sale Types Explained

McKissock

As a real estate appraiser, whether you’re considering the current terms of sale or analyzing previous sales of the subject property or comparable sales, it is imperative to know whether a sale is an arms-length transaction or a different type of sale. Non-arm’s length sale. Arm’s length sale.

article thumbnail

What’s in a Sales Contract? Insights from a Seasoned Appraiser

McKissock

For a typical “as-is” Market Value assignment with a straightforward contract with no contingencies or conditions, there is probably nothing that an appraiser actually needs to see. If a property appraises for $200,000 for a refinance, then it is still a $200,000 property for a sale transaction.