To give comps or not give comps? That is the question. I met up with Realtor Steve Ostrom last week and we talked about whether a real estate agent should give an appraiser “comps” or not when meeting the appraiser at the inspection. Steve talked about why he always meets the appraiser at the property and I gave some tips for interacting with appraisers around this issue. Due to HVCC, there is still some confusion over whether agents can even talk to appraisers, but they definitely can (just don’t try to pressure for a certain value). Check out the video below (or here). Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from other agents and appraisers especially. Any questions?

NOTE: In quite a few cases the “comps” provided by real estate agents are really not all that “comparable” to the subject property. It can be valuable when agents share their market insight with appraisers, but my advice to agents is to make sure the sales really are comparable and located in the same market area. This comes back to the difference between a property that is truly competitive / comparable (“comp”) to the subject and a sale that meets a certain price level.

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.