I like to see landmarks. They help me locate places that I’m going to and help me know that I’m on the right track in getting to my destination. I was in the Chelsea Park neighborhood recently on an appraisal inspection and thought I would snap a picture of the clock tower that sits at the subdivision entrance.
If you think about it, landmarks like the clock tower can add character to a neighborhood and create a sense of cohesiveness within a subdivision, neighborhood, or community. Nice landmarks can make you proud to live in an area while landmarks that are run down or not well taken care of might produce a negative connotation, which could also effect property values in a harmful way. There really is no “adjustment” that an appraiser would make on their appraisal for such a thing, but I think that having something like this can bolster an areas desirability which could help increase property values. How do you feel about landmarks? Do you have any in your area? Do they create a positive or negative influence? Leave me a comment below and tell me your thoughts.
If you have any real estate appraisal related questions you can call me at 205.243.9304, email me, or connect with me on Facebook., Twitter, or Youtube.
I like to share market data I get when I do appraisals in different areas. I’ve included sales from the Brook Highland subdivision in the Inverness area of north Shelby County. The sales are from January 2005 to December 2011. The graph charts the median sales price for each quarter for all seven years. The first graph shows a scatter diagram of all sales in this time period.
that he was confused because these are two issues that HUD changed several years back. Vapor barrier, or the black plastic sheets that you sometimes see in the crawlspace of homes, was once an FHA requirement. The vapor barrier provides protection against ground moisture and the possible build up of mildew in the house. It is now not necessary to have this. Some people still use it, but they don’t have to, and it will not be a repair requirement in the appraisal.
and compared it to the requirements of other forms of financing and decided to ease the requirements a little. They are still concerned about the three S’s: Safety, Soundness, and Security but have backed off of their very strict repair requirements. If you’re not sure what these are and how they relate to MPR’s you can read another blog post I wrote 
Do you consider yourself a socially savvy agent? Do you tweet, blog, or post videos on Youtube? Are you on LinkedIn, Facebook, or some other social network? If you are not you may want to think about it. In our ever changing business environment being knowledgeable and participating in the online social scene is becoming a necessity instead of an option.
I was in Montevallo, Alabama last week on an appraisal assignment and thought I would share with you the sales data I came up with. Montevallo is in southern Shelby County and is the home of the University Of Montevallo, The American Village, and the new Alabama National Cemetery for Veterans.
After seeing an article about how cash buyers have made a strong showing in residential real estate transactions I started wondering how many of them got appraisals on their purchases. Most of the time people think the only reason to get an appraisal is so you can borrow money from the bank. This is only part of the story though. The other reason is that you want to make sure that the property you are buying is truly worth what you are paying, and that it is a good investment. You may be paying less because of the market we are currently in, but you still need to make sure that it is worth what you are paying. You want to increase the chances that if you had to sell later that you could get your money back.
If you are a Realtor in the Birmingham, AL area I would like to help you with your sales meetings by providing appraisal education to your agents. I have spoken in the past at local real estate offices about how to read an appraisal, how we come up with comparables, why we sometimes must use foreclosures as comparables and various other issues. These topics are good for new agents to know as well as those that have been in the business a long time but may still have questions. Contrary to what some believe, agents and appraisers can speak together about certain things.
