Birmingham Appraisal Blog

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Entries Tagged as 'Appraisal'

What’s the value of a pool in my neighborhood?

April 4th, 2012 by Tom Horn · No Comments · Appraisal, Appraisal Tips, FAQ's, Home Improvement

This is a question you may have asked yourself at some point.  Have you ever dreamed of having one built but don’t know it’s value in your area?  Every neighborhood is different, and some areas will give you a bigger return on your investment than others.  Swimming pools are always used by appraisers as examples [...]

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An interesting trend in the Birmingham, Alabama real estate market

February 13th, 2012 by Tom Horn · No Comments · Appraisal, Market Trends

I have noticed an interesting trend in the Birmingham, Alabama real estate market.  The trend involves the segmentation of the market in various areas, but mainly where foreclosure activity is prevalent.  I noticed it most recently in the Centerpoint area of Birmingham.  The segments include the following: foreclosures “normal sales” and flip properties The “normal” [...]

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10 reasons NOT to get a pre-listing appraisal

February 8th, 2012 by Tom Horn · 10 Comments · Appraisal, Appraisal Tips, FSBO Tips, Realtor Tips

1. It costs too much money- Really? If you think about the fact that by pricing the home correctly you could cut the marketing time down and reduce marketing costs, this becomes a no brainer.  In addition, the modest cost would probably not exceed future price reductions that you may need because it was priced [...]

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How Shelby County, AL homeowners can find useful property information online

February 6th, 2012 by Tom Horn · 2 Comments · Appraisal

I would like to share with homeowners in Shelby County, Alabama how they can find useful property information online.  Have you ever wanted to find out exactly how big your lot is?  Ever wondered where your house sits on your lot?  How about finding out what school system the house you want to buy is [...]

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Can I use the tax assessment on my house to set a list price?

February 2nd, 2012 by Tom Horn · 2 Comments · Appraisal

I was asked this question the other day by a reader of my blog and I thought I would share it with you in case you had the same question.  This person was going to list their home for sale and they wanted to know if they could use their tax assessment to come up [...]

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Appraising In The Aftermath Of A Tornado-Birmingham, Alabama

January 30th, 2012 by Tom Horn · 4 Comments · Appraisal, Appraisal Tips, FAQ's

How do you appraise a home that has been destroyed in a tornado?  That is the question I got from a friend recently after I told him I had gotten some assignments in the storm devastated areas of Birmingham, Alabama.  I thought that since he was curious about this that others may be also.  I [...]

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Six years of sales activity in the Brook Highland subdivision, Shelby County, Alabama

January 23rd, 2012 by Tom Horn · 2 Comments · Appraisal, Market Trends

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 [...]

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Are these FHA required repairs?

January 20th, 2012 by Tom Horn · No Comments · Appraisal, Appraisal Tips, Education, FAQ's, FSBO Tips, Home Improvement, Realtor Tips

I was doing some work recently for a novice property investor and he was asking me some questions about FHA required repairs.  He wanted to prepare the house he just purchased so that if the buyers were going to use FHA financing there wouldn’t be any issues at the last minute to hold up the [...]

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Birmingham, Alabama Cash Buyers: Don’t Make This Mistake

January 11th, 2012 by Tom Horn · 6 Comments · Appraisal, Appraisal Tips

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 [...]

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I Can Help Birmingham, AL Realtors With Their Sales Meetings

January 9th, 2012 by Tom Horn · No Comments · Appraisal, Appraisal Tips, Education, FAQ's

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 [...]

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