Appraisal Stuff

How does a reduced agent commission impact the appraisal?

May 11, 2017 By Ryan Lundquist 25 Comments

How does a reduced commission from a real estate agent end up impacting the appraised value? Does it matter? Let’s talk about that.

1) Comps vs contract: We have to remember value is found in the comps rather than the contract price. Thus imagine if both agents gave up their commission because they were feeling generous (and wanted to work for free). Does this mean the subject is now worth 6% less? Not at all because we find value from the comps rather than what the subject property is in contract for.

2) Add back in the reduction: When choosing comps and I read in MLS, “Buyer’s agent reduced commission”, it’s a tell I need to call for more information and find out what went on. In the case to the right the buyer’s agent was the buyer and waived the commission. Being that this $850,000 home sold about 3% lower than other sales, it was prudent for me to give an upward 3% adjustment to account for the commission that normally would’ve been padded into the contract price. Otherwise if I blindly used this comp without accounting for the reality that it closed lower for a reason, I could have undervalued the subject property.

UPDATE: I’ve received some grief from a few appraisers over point #2. Fannie Mae does not allow positive adjustments for concessions (though are my examples financing or sales concessions since the seller really didn’t give anything to the buyer?). Here’s the thing. If a sale legitimately sold too low because the agent waived a commission, appraisers have to consider if there was any impact to the price. Bottom line. I find many agents waive their commissions when they are buyers, so these “comps” may need to be given less weight in the overall value (or maybe adjusted up somehow). Ultimately we have to know the story of the comps so we can tell the story of value for the subject property. Don’t lose sight of that in the midst of my example – even if you disagree with the methodology.

3) No impact: There are times when I read in MLS that one of the agents waived or reduced a commission, but the property really closed right where it should have. In a case like this it can be frustrating that an appraiser doesn’t give an upward adjustment, but there’s not really one to give if the property sold on par with everything else. The truth is some agents who are buyers waive a commission without really getting a price discount. It happens.

4) Rubber stamping: Appraisers have to be cautious to not “rubber stamp” a lower contract price when there is a waived commission on the subject property. For instance, a property was listed around $950,000 and had multiple offers at that level. A cash buyer ended up getting into contract at $900,000. However, the real price would have been $960,000, but the buyer paid $60,000 of commissions and fees outside of escrow so the sales price would be lower (smart move to get a lower tax base). Anyway, as an appraiser I have to be careful to be objective and weigh the market in the comps rather than “rubber stamp” a property like this at the contract price at $900,000.

Advice to real estate agents:

1) Make it clear in MLS: Be clear in MLS when a commission has been waived or reduced. This helps appraisers when they are choosing comps.

2) Tell the story: When you’re talking with appraisers about critical neighborhood sales during a listing, I would definitely recommend pointing out any commission reductions in important comps because at times it’s easy to miss the fine print in MLS about waived commissions. In point #2 above I was appraising something for a cash buyer and I was told, “The buyer’s agent was actually the buyer on the house a few doors down and she waived the commission. You can definitely call to verify.” I appreciated the heads-up – especially since this detail was not in MLS.

I hope that was helpful.

How to Think Like an Appraiser: I’m teaching a class at SAR on May 18th from 9-12pm called How to Think Like an Appraiser. Click here for details.

Questions: What point above stands out to you most? Anything else to add? I’d love to hear your take.

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Cherry-picking comps & being connected to the neighborhood

May 3, 2017 By Ryan Lundquist 14 Comments

On paper it looked like value was going to be so much higher. Why? Because comps to the north were easily 10-20% higher, and even Zillow came in $100,000 above the appraisal (ahem). The big cause of such a legitimately lower appraisal boiled down to one thing. Location. Today I want to show a situation where a small section of the neighborhood was blocked off from the rest, and it was a big deal for value. Have a look below and let me know what you think. Anything to add?

land park neighborhood sacramento

The value issue: As you can see, this pocket of housing in the Land Park neighborhood isn’t accessible from the rest of the neighborhood besides a frontage road next to I-5. In other words, this section is disconnected. What sort of impact is there (if any) for being cut off from the rest of the neighborhood?

land park neighborhood sacramento 3

Methodology when only 5 sales in 5 years: When appraising something in this section, there were zero sales over the past 2 years and otherwise only 5 sales in the previous 5 years. This means I had to really study older sales to understand how value works. Here are the five sales:

land park neighborhood sacramento 4

What I ended up doing was comparing sales in this small pocket with similar sales at the same time in other areas of Land Park. Also, my goal was to find other patches of housing in the expanded neighborhood that seemed to sell at the same level. If I could find other areas selling at similar price points through the years, then current sales in those areas are probably my best comps for today.

land park neighborhood sacramento 5

land park neighborhood sacramento 6

Conclusions: After looking through all five sales I observed the following:

1) Some of the lowest prices: This small housing patch has some of the lowest prices in the neighborhood as shown with the yellow dots in the graph below.

Land Park trends by Sac Appraisal Blog

2) 10-20%+ easily: If I were to cherry pick “comps” directly to the north, there is easily a 10-20%+ price difference for otherwise similar houses. The truth? Location matters. So does being connected to the rest of the neighborhood. In some cases a few streets that are disconnected might not sell differently than the rest of the market, but it could also be a big deal like the example above. The truth is if we cherry-picked nearby higher sales, the value would’ve been inflated by $60-80K+.

3) Limited by 90 days: It’s tempting to only look at the past 90 days of sales, but that can be far too limiting – especially in a situation like this. Also, a 5-minute comp check isn’t realistic. At times we might spend hours researching before beginning to understand how the immediate neighborhood compares to the rest of the market. We might even call colleagues and seek out other opinions too.

4) True comps: Other patches of housing in Land Park that tended to command similar prices were very busy streets or homes having a huge influence from nearby commercial properties (or heavy fixers that would have otherwise sold at much higher levels in average condition). I don’t say this to be negative about any of Land Park, but only to be objective as an appraiser trying to explain how value works in some areas compared to others.

I hope that was helpful.

Two classes I’m teaching in May: By the way, I’m teaching a class at SAR in a few weeks called How to Think Like an Appraiser. I’m also doing a blogging class. Click here for details.

Presentations - sm

Questions: What point above stands out to you most? Anything else to add? I’d love to hear your take.

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Is it okay to share a previous appraisal with the appraiser?

April 5, 2017 By Ryan Lundquist 14 Comments

I was asked a great question recently. Is it okay to share a previous appraisal with the appraiser? I would say YES and NO. Here are a few thoughts. Anything to add?

Sacramento Appraisal Blog- sharing a previous appraisal

1) Data: It can be valuable at times for an appraiser to see what a previous appraiser did, especially if the property is complex. After looking at a colleague’s work, an appraiser might pick up on some insight or glean ideas for how to approach valuing the property. This happened to me a few years ago as I found out about an important easement and an illegal structure after an attorney gave me a copy of a previous appraisal. I still had to make sure the appraiser was correct, but it was nice to get a heads-up by someone who did a great job a couple of years prior.

2) The only appraisal that matters: We have to realize the only appraisal that really matters is the one the current client is going to rely on. A previous appraisal might not cut the mustard so to speak, so sharing something that isn’t any good doesn’t mean much for the current appraiser. For example, I was asked to appraise something for a private loan and the owner shared a previous appraisal with me at $1.2M. Yet this appraisal done during a conventional refinance was definitely inflated by a good 20% unfortunately. Keep in mind a previous appraiser might have included a detached structure’s square footage within the square footage of the main house, but just because it played out that way before does not mean it should happen now (I have a blog post on that here). Also, just because it appraised at a certain level before does not mean a new appraiser is going to think that is anywhere near acceptable.

3) Sharing a specific number: I was recently hired to appraise a property for a cash buyer and there was an appraisal done already from a prior buyer’s loan. The Listing Agent told me, “We had an appraisal done at $425,000 two weeks ago”, though I was not provided the appraisal. This to me seemed like more than anything the agent was trying to influence my value. I’m not saying the agent was slimy or unethical at all. I’m just saying had the agent said, “We had a previous appraisal done. You are welcome to see it if you want,” it would have felt much more like the agent was making data available rather than subtly suggesting the contract price was a reachable target for value. This might sound like I’m playing semantics or being anal about words, but the words we choose matter, and how we say things can be interpreted as influencing an appraiser or not.

4) Difference among appraisers: Some appraisers will not accept a previous appraisal because they feel like it might impact their objectivity, but others will. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here as everyone needs to walk out their own sense of morality. Personally I tend to accept previous appraisals in most cases because I like to see how a colleague handled a valuation and I like to double-check my sketch measurements. Moreover, sometimes it helps me prepare my report because the client might be expecting a wildly different value than what is able to be supported. Yet if an appraisal was presented to me in such a way as to influence my value or pressure me to “hit the number”, I would definitely decline and simply say “No thanks. I don’t want to see it.”

Recommendation: In short, in my opinion it’s okay to share a previous appraisal with an appraiser, but it really matters how it is done. If you have a previous appraisal, I might suggest you use my Appraiser Info Sheet to share information appraisers tend to ask about, and then say nothing more than, “I have a previous appraisal if you want to see it.” If the appraiser doesn’t want it, that’s fine. If the appraiser does, that’s fine too.

Questions: What is #5? Which point stands out to you most? Did I miss anything? I’d love to hear your take.

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5 things to remember about the value of landscaping

March 22, 2017 By Ryan Lundquist 14 Comments

How much value does landscaping really add? Nothing. A minor amount. A huge total. I’ve heard it all when it comes to what people think landscaping is worth. Today let’s kick around some ideas from an appraisal standpoint. Anything to add?

landscaping in appraisals - sacramento appraisal blog

5 things to remember about the value of landscaping

1) The myth of no value: I’ve heard the sentiment from some real estate professionals that landscaping does not count toward the value. My take? Landscaping is often very important to buyers – especially when it is extensive or highly expected in certain neighborhoods.

2) Front vs back: My sense is front yard landscaping does not sway buyers like the backyard does. I’m not saying it’s not important or curb appeal doesn’t matter (it does). I’m only saying the rear yard tends to make a much more significant impact on value since people spend more time there.

3) One size doesn’t fit all: The value of landscaping will vary significantly depending on the price range and neighborhood. For instance, a few years back during the height of home flipping activity, it was common to see flippers at the lower end of the market do very basic cosmetic landscaping in the front yard while doing almost nothing with the backyard (seriously, rear yards were at times just dirt or bordering on unkempt). In contrast, higher priced homes were getting full-service attention in both the front and backyard. Why? Because the market had different expectations by price range and the investors’ sense was spending the money was worth it in some neighborhoods and not others.

4) On par after huge money spent: Sometimes owners will spend good money to redo an unkempt yard only to expect a huge price premium. The problem is post-landscaping the owner is now basically on par with other homes in the neighborhood rather than in a position to command a premium. This is not easy to swallow, but it’s important to recognize in order to avoid overpricing.

5) Dollar for dollar: While we like to get a “dollar for dollar” return on our improvement projects (at the least), that’s not always possible in real estate. So when an owner says, “I spent $125,000 in my backyard” and otherwise similar homes are selling for $700,000, can we really expect this property to be worth $825,000? That’s probably not realistic, right? Most of all though, let’s find comps with incredible landscaping and let those properties tell the story of value. That way we are letting actual market data speak to us to set the tone for what buyers have been willing to pay for similar landscaping. Isn’t that better than shooting from the hip about what landscaping may or may not be worth?

Case-in-point for an incredible backyard: While appraising in the Natomas area of Sacramento I came across a house with an incredible backyard. I ended up NOT using it as a “comp” because this property sold about 10% higher than others because of the built-in pool, custom covered patio, built-in BBQ, outdoor fireplace, and everything else in the yard. I’m not calling all of these things landscaping of course, but at the same time let’s be realistic to think buyers may lump some of these items in the same category. Anyway, at times it’s tempting to give a token $10,000 upward value adjustment when we see a nice rear yard because that’s what a mentor taught us to do, but sometimes the market is willing to pay more like 10%. In this case otherwise similar homes seemed to come in around $450,000 and the subject sold for $495,000 (there were 7 offers). There was one other sale at $485,000 and it also had a sweet backyard. As you can see on the graph, the incredible backyard seemed to really matter.

incredible landscaping - sacramento appraisal blog

Here is what the rear yard looked like. I could live with that. You?

house with amazing rear yard - sacramento appraiser

Remember, let’s find a few examples of extensive rear landscaping (or an amazing backyard) if possible so we don’t base our perception of value on only one sale. After all, what is that one sale sold too high or too low?

The Washington Post: Two weeks ago I wrote a post about the ugly side of appraisal fees, and as a result Ken Harney of The Washington Post interviewed a handful of appraisers (including me) for a piece that went live today. Ken is a nationally syndicated columnist, so the conversation that took place here is going to be moving to a much bigger level. Thank you everyone. Here is Ken’s article.

Questions: What stands out to you most about what I mentioned above? What is #6? Did I miss something?

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