I had a local Realtor interview me today on video about the real estate market in Sacramento, HVCC, tax appeals, and a ton of other stuff. His video will go live next week, and I’m excited for that. That’s not really the point of this post though. I mention this because on my drive home from my video conversation, I found myself thinking about market value, low appraisals and an essay written by Patrick Egger (HERE – pdf). Here is an off-the-cuff unscripted podcast (as you’ll notice I mix up 282 and 283):
Appraisal Stuff
Is your Condominium Approved by FHA/HUD?
I hit the jackpot yesterday when talking with a local realtor, and it ended up being a “two birds with one stone” situation. Here’s what happened.
Earlier in the day I emailed a Facebook Realtor friend and asked her if she ever sold a condo in a particular subdivision in the city of Folsom. There are ZERO recent condo sales in this subdivision in Empire Ranch, so I want to get as much firsthand information as possible. Well, my friend gave me a chunk of insight, but it turned out that she needed some help because she was having financing issues with one of her deals in the “Rivage” condo subdivision in Folsom.
Anyway, through the course of contacting listing agents for research for my appraisal, I talked with Realtor Ann Boswell of Insight Real Estate. I had never spoken with Ann before, but she ended up being a wealth of information for not only the subject subdivision, but for “Rivage” up the street. Ann spent a good 10-15 minutes on the phone with me (I love when Realtors take time like that. It’s good on so many levels).
It turns out that since Rivage has not yet completed construction, some of the buildings are FHA approved and others are not. That could be an issue, don’t you think? It’s funny to think that despite these buildings being next door to each other in the same new development, some of them don’t make the cut (yet) to be guaranteed by HUD. More specifically, per HUD’s website, only buildings 1 and 13-26 are currently approved by HUD/FHA.
Two birds with one stone? One, I got insight into the subject subdivision. And Two, thanks to Ann Boswell I was able to resource my Facebook friend with information on Rivage and why her deal was maybe having some issues. But most of all, I was able to give my Facebook friend the name of someone at Wells Fargo who could help her get her condo on the HUD approved list.
You can search HERE to see the HUD/FHA approved condominium list.
Would you buy Dorothea Puente’s House?
Last Friday the Sacramento Bee came out with a story that Dorthea Puente’s old house at 1426 F Street in Sacramento would be going up for sale. Who is Dorethea Puente, you ask? She is a woman who ran a “boarding house” in the 1980s out of her Sacramento Victorian duplex. Unfortunately though instead of finding respite her tenants were drugged and murdered so their social security checks could be cashed. Eventually seven bodies were found buried in Dorothea’s backyard.
This property sold for $560,000 on 08/31/2005, went into foreclosure last year, and is now listed on the market at $309,800 as of 02/26/2010. The current MLS listing states, “Property has notorious history that must be disclosed.”
Would you have any problems purchasing a property like this? Or would you consider renting this house? Would it bother you on any level or be no big deal? Creepy? Good investment? If you are a real estate agent, have you had experience selling a property with a stigma due to a murder, violent crime or some other heinous or notorious issue?
Original photos of 1426 F Street (it was a bit cloudy today unfortunately):
UPDATE IN 2022: This post is getting some traffic due to Dorothea Puente being profiled on the Netflix series, “Worst Roommate Ever.” Thanks for being here. Anyway, here is an image to show how this duplex sold over the years. The first sale was definitely at the bottom of the price market. This was the sale closest to the murders. Then the duplex sold in a really hot housing market toward the top end of the price range. This property then went into foreclosure and sold as a distressed sale again. Anyway, when it comes to value, one of the things we have to consider is whether a property has a stigma. Moreover, how long does this stigma last?
MARKET STATS: I’ll have lots of market stats out this week on my social channels, so watch Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Thanks for being here.
Questions: Would you ever buy a property like this? Big deal or no biggie?
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Regulate those Pesky Out-of-town Appraisers
Have you heard horror stories about out-of-area appraisers driving 200 miles to appraise properties in places they know nothing about? There is a new bill (AB 1796) to pay attention to as it relates to real estate appraisals and this very issue. You can read this very short one-page bill HERE. In essence, AB 1796 looks to require the Director of the Office of Real Estate Appraisers (OREA) to adopt regulations for Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs).
I understand the reasons behind this bill, but the part of the bill that actually really concerns me is the following:
The director shall adopt regulations governing appraisal management company activities, including, but not limited to, the following: (a) Use of out-of-area appraisers.
I understand the need to limit those pesky out-of-town appraisers who are “killing deals” because they are appraising in locations they know nothing about. I get that, but there are several good reasons why “regulation” language concerns me as it pertains to this point:
1) There are certain properties in my own county and city that I wouldn’t even think of appraising. Not all appraisers are qualified for all types of properties – even in the city they live in. I don’t know of an appraiser who would say it differently. So the issue is not about distance from the property per se, but does the appraiser have the experience to get the job done (or can he gain the experience)?
2) I’d hate to see the government impose some sort of a “two county” rule where AMCs could only send appraisers to properties within two counties or 50 miles of their location. Again, some appraisers have vast experience in multiple counties. This would probably hurt appraisers located in more rural areas too.
3) I’m not a big fan of the government imposing more rules and regulations on the appraisal industry. Appraisers are required already to be “geographically competent” by USPAP (our uniform standards) and if an appraiser is not, then the hammer needs to come down from the appropriate authorities already (OREA) instead of inventing new rules. This is a bit like parenthood. If you have rules in place, you need to enforce them. Don’t just go make new rules if you are not enforcing the old ones.
Isadore Hall of Compton, CA authored this bill.
Isadore Hall
Box 942849
Room 6025
Sacramento, CA 94249-0052
Phone: (916) 319-2052
I know I sound a bit ranty, but trust me, I’m concerned – not hostile. How this bill is ultimately handled can have big implications for the real estate industry. I am optimistic that OREA will not make some hard and fast “2 county” rule as I mentioned above, but my internal sensors are dinging and I’m aware of the importance for our legislators to understand how the appraisal industry works as it pertains to appraising in multiple counties.
I’d like to hear what you think. What is the solution to the problem? What implications do you see for the appraisal or real estate industry if this was handled poorly? Feel free to comment below.