Why do appraisers sometimes give such little value to something as important as square footage? It’s crazy that an appraiser gave $10,000 in value for 300 square feet, right? Maybe you’ve felt this way about an appraisal on your home or for one of your listings. Give me a minute to help clear up some of the confusion by explaining how appraisers are supposed to come up with value adjustments for house size.

Example 1: A Typical Size Scenario

Real estate appraisers should be giving value to square footage according to how the market sees the square footage. What does that mean? While it may cost $40,000 for a 400 square foot addition, based on an analysis of comps in a neighborhood, the appraiser might determine properties with an extra 400 square feet sell for $20,000 more than houses without that space. This means the market in this particular neighborhood really only rewards $20,000 in value for the size difference. This example of course assumes there are no other factors to consider such as lot size, location, upgrades, room count, financing etc….

Example 2:  The McMansion Mega House

Imagine your house is 6,000 square feet in a neighborhood where the largest model is 4,000 square feet. Do you think the market is willing to pay 50% more for you house because it is 50% larger than the 4,000 square foot model? Probably not. There are situations where the market is actually willing to pay very little or nothing for the extra square footage because it’s considered an overimprovement (or “superadequacy” for the fancy term). This can be very upsetting for home owners and agents, but the appraiser is not being mean or ruthless, but only interpreting the market properly (hopefully).

This is important to understand for the following reasons:

1. Cost vs. Value:  Appraisers do not give value to square footage based on construction costs, but rather the reaction in the marketplace to extra size. Think of it in terms of a kitchen remodel or pool. Just because a kitchen costs $75,000 to remodel does not automatically mean you’ll see $75,000 in value in the resale market. Or while a pool may cost $35,000, resale value will very unlikely include the total cost of the pool. Cost does not always equal value.
2. Additions & Conversions:  An addition or garage conversion may not always put your house on par with other larger houses. There are many factors to consider when it comes to valuing an addition. It’s important also to know the neighborhood before planning a huge addition because you don’t want to overbuild for the neighborhood.
3. The Largest House:  Larger houses tend to have an overall lower price per square foot than medium-sized houses, so applying a straight cost-per-sqare-foot for the neighborhood may not yield credible results for the largest house.
4. Big New Construction Premiums:  If you buy a newly constructed mega-house like in Example 2, you will likely pay a big premium for the extra square footage during the sale, but you may not see this premium again when reselling.
5. Real Estate Agents:  Agents who know the local market and how appraisers should look at square footage will be able to coach and resource home owners about the process and what to generally expect.
6. Unique Neighborhoods:  Each market is different. There is no standard price adjustment for appraisers to make because buyers in one area may be willing to pay more or less for size compared to another neighborhood.

All things considered, it’s not always easy to swallow that a big difference in square footage does not always translate into big value. Let me make it clear too that just because I explained how an appraiser is supposed to give value for square footage does not mean that the appraiser actually did that.

Any insight, questions or commentary? In appraisal reports you’ve read, how much value do you see appraisers give for square footage? I’d love to hear your comments.

If you have any questions, or real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact Lundquist Appraisal by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook or subscribe to posts by email.

Is there a price difference between bank-owned sales, short sales and regular sales in the Sacramento area? Usually there is, but the level of difference really depends on the neighborhood. The following two graphs are taken from pages 10-11 of The Wright Report and they show average sales price by type of sale.

Based on these graphs for the Sacramento area, there is an obvious difference between conventional sales and REO & short sales, don’t you think? Of course we need to consider that there could be condition issues that warrant a price variance too since many bank-owned sales are not in pristine “move-in” shape. But overall the difference is fairly obvious.

Neighborhood Mini-Case Study: Let’s look at a particular neighborhood to get a closer view of distressed vs traditional sales. The data below represents the “Bridgegate” model in Sun City Lincoln Hills. Less than 30% of all sales in Sun City Lincoln Hills last year were distressed, which is a low percentage for the Sacramento area. However, even with a lower distressed percentage, if appraisers and agents do not consider all the data points, it can be easy to get the value or marketing price wrong.

• REO sale on 02/28/2011 – $212,000 (cash)
• Traditional sale on 05/13/2011 – $248,000 (conv/20% down)
• Traditional sale on 06/17/2011 – $230,000 (FHA/ 2 days on market)
• Active traditional sale: $239,000
• Pending traditional sale: $359,900 (outlier: massive upgrades w/ a view)

It looks like the bank-owned sale sold at the lowest end of the market because it is not consistent with the rest of the sales or listings. At the same time, the latest traditional sale sold in only two days and that also might not represent the market, right? There was no short sale, but it would not be surprising to have seen a short sale sell anywhere from $220,000-$230,000. There are a whole host of value issues to consider for the properties above, and one of them looks to be the nature of the sale – whether distressed or typical (and even how long the property was marketed). A market may be driven by foreclosures, but if we assume that across the board, we could really get an off-base picture of the market.

It can be very challenging to see any differences between distressed and regular sales in a neighborhood where the market is far more saturated with REOs and short sales (say 95% of all sales were distressed), but ultimately appraisers and agents still need to do their homework and use the right data in a neighborhood to correctly interpret the market because there is usually a difference. Typically in the Sacramento area we see traditional sales on top, then bank-owned sales and then short sales. Agree? Disagree?

Implications for the Difference between REO and Traditional Sales:

1. Avoid REOs in appraisal reports: REO sales should be avoided in appraisal reports where possible. However, many areas in Sacramento have a percentage of distressed sales (bank-owned + short sales) near 70%, so it’s not always possible to use only traditional sales. I just appraised a condo recently and 35 of 36 sales over the past year were distressed.
2. Note the difference: If REO sales are used in an appraisal report and there is a difference noted in the market between distressed and traditional sales, an upward adjustment should be made (or at least less weight given to the distressed sale). The same principle applies to selling a property. A property is not worth less because it is a short sale. It is worth what it is worth, but it may need to be marketed more aggressively to offset any stigma in the market and avoid foreclosure. If the short sale was not a short sale, would it sell for more? That is the critical question to ask and leads us to a better picture of what market value is.
3. Marketing Strategy: Sometimes a property does not generate interest as a short sale, but that does not mean it is not worth the listing price or more. Short sales tend to have a stigma among buyers, so they often need to be priced more aggressively to generate interest. Moreover, it is very common to see short sales generate very little interest at a certain price, but the same property will sell quickly as an REO at that same price. The listing agent and/or home owner need to understand the market in order to set the right price for the property, whether a short sale, REO or traditional sale.
4. Quick Value vs. Market Value (tax appeals / FSBO): Avoid using only distressed sales when appealing your property taxes or listing your home as a FSBO. These sales may not represent the market. If they don’t represent the market, then you’re probably focusing on a ”quick sale” value instead of “market value”

How have you seen foreclosure sales impact pricing in a neighborhood? What other implications do you see when we misinterpret the market?

If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our appraiser website or via Facebook. 

I’ve spent a good deal of time appraising in the Arden Manor neighborhood through the years, but recently while I was doing some research, I thought it might be interesting to put together a visual demonstration of sales to see if a graph might show what I see regularly in the trenches of appraisal work. Is there a value difference between 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom homes in the Arden Manor neighborhood of Sacramento?

Generally speaking, 2-bedroom units usually sell less than 3-bedroom units, but one thing we should be careful of in real estate is making absolute statements such as “2-bedrooms ALWAYS sell less than 3-bedrooms.” It’s just not true across the board, and in the case of Arden Manor, though I’d say it’s generally true that 2-bedroom units sell toward the lower end of the market range, there are some very clear examples above of two-bedroom houses competing at similar or higher levels to 3-bedroom houses. This makes sense of course because there are so many factors beyond just bedroom count to consider in real estate (location, condition, upgrades, layout, design, quality of construction…).

If you live in the Arden Manor Neighborhood, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts about the area. What do you like about Arden Manor and/or Arden-Arcade? Have you seen any change over the past ten years from real estate boom to bust?

Keep me posted if you have questions, insight, or a need for my appraisal services. Call 916.595.3735, comment below or contact me via email (ryan@LundquistCompany.com).

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): 

Has a low appraisal destroyed one of your deals this year? We’ve been hearing so much about how real estate appraisers are “killing escrows” ever since the Home Valuation Code of Conduct came into effect last year. I’ve read and listened to countless horror stories from brokers, real estate agents, loan officers, and publications.

I’m not saying there aren’t legitimate complaints to be had about HVCC or certain appraisals. I simply want to provide a helpful resource to maybe clear things up a bit about what type of value appraisers are looking for in the market. My hope is that this article (linked below) will shed light on the appraisal process and give insight into the appraiser’s mind. It’s a good thing when appraisers and local agents can understand each other’s roles and mutually benefit one another.

PDF file: “Closing the Gap Between Sales Price and Appraised Value”

This article was published with permission and comes from Patrick Egger, a Certified General appraiser in Nevada with 35 years of experience in valuation, consulting and real estate studies. Comments are welcome below.

Yesterday I posted a graph showing the difference between assessed value and market value. Today I have one more real-life example of this phenomenon. The property below was assessed at $210,000, and after my tax appeal process I determined the home to be worth $130,000. That’s quite a difference and represents roughly $800 in taxes. Ouch.

The subject property is around 1400 square feet and all blue dots above represent the past 2.5 years of neighborhood sales between 1200-1700 square feet. This range of square-footage is meant to show comparable properties to the subject since a typical buyer would likely look in this range when house hunting. The vertical line represents January 1, 2009, which is the date of assessment.

As you can see, an assessed value at $210,000 looks higher than basically all sales in the neighborhood, and actually more consistent with a home value from previous months or years. It’s true that a property can sometimes sell at the highest level in the neighborhood, but the subject property does not warrant such a circumstance. When observing recent sales above $150,000 in the market, it’s clear that the vast majority of these sales come from superior tracts in the market area or are remodeled throughout (sold above all other sales because of upgrades). 

I am not saying the Assessor’s Office gets it wrong in every case. That’s not true, and I certainly do not wish to vilify the Assessor because that’s not the way I do things. I’m simply saying that in this case, and in others I have worked on lately, assessed value should have been much lower. I typically take on tax appeal situations where the home owner is clearly over-assessed, and so there is an obvious potential economic savings to be had. Most of the properties I did not take on this year were assessed fairly well or off by 5-10% (too high). 

If you have questions, give me a call at 916-595-3735.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com The Assessor says $210k, but Market Value is $130k: A Real Life Property Tax Appeal Situation

Somebody asked me the following question the other day and I figured I’d post a response here.

Q: Could a location near a water tower impact market value for a home?

A: Maybe. Sometimes water towers are quite large and the typical buyer may not want to live right next to the tower. Let’s face it, some buyers simply wouldn’t want to look at an enormous tower every day, so they’d steer clear of such a location. If this was the case and most buyers felt that way, then there could be an impact on market value. On the other hand, there may be other buyers who would be unaffected by a water tower, or evidence to suggest that such a location makes no difference at all.

There is not a hard-and-fast water tower rule for appraisers to follow. There is no specific “water tower adjustment” that appraisers make in reports. An adjustment in an appraisal report would really depend on what data in the specific market was saying. Any adjustment should be based on the reaction in the marketplace. Is there any evidence in the market that buyers are willing to pay less  or more based on the location of a water tower? How do the most recent sales surrounding the water tower compare with sales further away? Does data show that there is really little to no impact on value?

Market conditions certainly play into the equation here too. If there is a vast oversupply of properties listed in the market, chances are someone might look to other listings first that maybe had a more typical view. However, in a market with very limited available properties, buyers may feel less concerned about such an issue and not consider a view of a water tower as a negative. After all, in a hot market with few properties to choose from, buyers tend to more easily overlook locational challenges (busy street, backs to commercial, located next to major fixer…) and even condition issues.

I don’t mean to be frustrating, but there is not really a straightforward end-all answer to the question that was posed to me. The answer really depends on your specific real estate market and what data in your local market says. My knee-jerk reaction is that most buyers would probably prefer to not live next to a water tower, but then again, it really comes down to what the data says because sometimes a real estate market is surprising and things that we think would make a difference in value don’t carry as much weight as we think (or none).

If you have any firsthand experience with a property near or next to a water tower, I’d be curious to hear what you have to say. Have you ever intentionally purchased a property near a water tower or away from one? Did you purchase a property near a water tower only to regret it later on? Is it just not a big deal for you at all? Feel free to comment.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Question: Could a location near a water tower impact market value for a home?

I’ve never personally appraised a home for a higher amount because of the type of mailbox it had, and I’ve never heard of a mailbox actually increasing the market value of a property. Have you ever encountered buyers who purchased a home for more because it had a nice mailbox? Probably not. With that being said, I’ll say in principle that many times a good looking mailbox is often a byproduct of a house that has been well cared for. This isn’t always true, but generally speaking, when a home owner has taken the time to add attention to even the mailbox, usually effort has also been given to the actual house itself. Have you found this to be mostly true also?

While snapping comp photos today in Dixon, CA after inspecting a property I am appraising, I happened upon the mailbox below. I know, a mailbox can be sort of like piece of art, and either you’ll love it or hate it, but my eye caught a hold of this one because of the telephone-pole vibe as well as the metal craftsmanship that was probably custom-designed or maybe even welded by the owner. I thought this was a very creative example of a mailbox and it really fit well with the overall presentation of the home (and sure enough, the rest of this house looks very decent too, which supports my generalization above). 

There are certainly many more examples of mailboxes out there. We’ve all seen the chicken mailbox, the duck, the giant brick pillar, or the miniature mailbox that is designed and painted just like the actual house. Have a look at the links below to find out more about what is out there (and even the history behind mailboxes).

Mailbox Links:

• Ugly Mailbox
• “Letter Box” Article on Wikipedia (mailbox history)
• United States Postal Service
• Postal Regulatory Commission
• Free Plans for Building Your Own Wooden Mailbox
• Post Office in Dixon, CA

If you have an additional link suggestion, please comment above. Also, if you have a picture you took of a wild mailbox, email me at ryan@lundquistcompany.com and I’ll post it here so long as it is appropriate.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com A Mailbox in Dixon, CA: Photos from the Field