Birmingham Appraisal Blog

Birmingham Alabama Appraiser : Alabaster, Alabama-Weatherly Market Trends

Tom Horn — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:27:29 +0000

Weatherly subdivision is located in Alabaster, Alabama and includes over 600 home sites. It offers a clubhouse, swimming pool, three lakes and tennis courts. It is located in Alabaster and Pelham, however the market statistics included here only include those homes in Alabaster, Alabama. The time period includes May to August of 2010. As you can see the numbers are fairly similar between 2009 and 2010. What this means is that Weatherly subdivision is not seeing drastic changes in values from this time period in 2009 and 2010, which is encouraging considering foreclosure activity prevalent in most areas. The number of sales has decreased slightly and the days on market has increased. This type of market behavior has been occurring in a lot of areas and is typical and expected in this economic market.

Weatherly Subdivision Sales Statistics
	2009 (May-August)	2010 (May to August)
Average Sales Price	$171,173	$171,743
Median Sales Price	$162,900	$160,900
Average Days on Market	66	85
Number of sales	11	7

Birmingham, Alabama: Does Urban Revitalization Help Property Values?

Tom Horn — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:38:14 +0000

I was in downtown Birmingham, Alabama yesterday for an appraisal inspection and ran across the West End Urban Garden. It is a project between Urban Ministry and Community Church Without Walls. This was the first time I have seen this so I did some research on the internet and found some information on their website. According to the website their goal is this:

We want to educate youth about gardening, provide better food security by encouraging gardening in the neighborhood, encourage healthy eating practices, teach organic gardening and hopefully have some extra vegetables for the children to sell. A long-term goal is to build a community cannery where community gardeners will have the equipment and facilities to preserve the vegetables they have grown.

We will make garden beds available to neighborhood residents for growing vegetables. We will also have a common garden area where we grow vegetables that are not well suited to raised bed gardening.

I thought this was an awesome idea. I have seen things like this on the news but did not know they were doing it around here. This is a depressed area as you can see from the picture of a nearby property.

I hope this project builds momentum and result in other revitalization efforts in the area. I started wondering if this could somehow help property values in the area. By building more community awareness and pride will this change peoples outlook on their neighborhoods? Do you have this type of activity in your area, and if so what has been the impact on the areas property values. I would be interested in finding out how these types of projects have affected values in other communities.

Dressing For Your Appraisal Success

Tom Horn — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:29:50 +0000

I ran across a funny video today that made me think about a simple but well known phrase, “Dress For Success”. We’ve all heard this phrase but as appraisers have we really thought about it and how we apply it to our own business practices.

As you can see from the video it is important to dress appropriately for our job because it reflects on us as individuals as well as the companies we represent. We are the public’s perception of the companies we are doing appraisals for. When we arrive at the house we are going to appraise and speak and interact with the homeowner, in their mind we are ABC Bank or Mortgage Company. They may not know that we are independent appraisers hired by the bank to provide appraisal services to them. If we look bad, the bank looks bad, and that can affect our business. It can also provide a negative image of the appraiser to the homeowner. If they are not happy with the appraisal on their home that negative experience, as well as the bad first impression, can breed feelings of incompetence on our part. What do you think about this subject? Have you had any bad experiences? I would be interested in hearing from appraisers on both sides of this topic.

Jefferson County-Birmingham, Alabama: Are You Happy With Your Property Taxes?

Tom Horn — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:48:30 +0000

Well, by now Jefferson County residents in Birmingham, Alabama have received their real property tax notices. Are you happy with the recent reassessments the county has made?

In a recent article on Al.com, they reported that approximately 80% of property owners WILL NOT see a change in their property taxes. They have stated that they cannot use foreclosure sales to calculate a homes market value. They have to use “market driven” sales to arrive at the value of your home. In today’s market, in certain areas, foreclosures do drive the market. If “normal sales” have to compete with foreclosure homes, and their sales price is a result of this competition, then foreclosure properties are driving the market. Have you seen the price of homes fall in your neighborhood? Was your assessment lower this year than in the past? It may be worth looking into. Please give me a call at 205-243-9304 if I can help.

Birmingham Alabama MLS Adds Square Foot Option to Listings

Tom Horn — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:48:56 +0000

The Birmingham Alabama MLS (Multiple Listing Service) has recently added an option for Realtors to list GLA (gross living area) for their listings. The new feature will go live on August 2, 2010. Realtors are given an option of entering GLA data obtained from an appraiser, building plans, or tax records.

The first two sources are reliable, however tax records can be tricky in our area. I have found that tax records are most accurate with one level homes that are either on a slab, crawlspace, or that may have some unfinished basement. It is less accurate with homes that have a second story and/or finished area in the basement. These areas are difficult to determine without going into the home. To complicate matters, the county is not notified of some improvements, making their records potentially inaccurate.

If a previous appraisal or plans are not available I suggest the realtor obtain the services of a qualified appraiser to measure their listing so they can present the most accurate information possible. There are standards for measuring homes that have guidelines for what is counted as livable space and what is not. The appraiser you choose should be familiar with these. I offer this service to all Realtors in the Birmingham, Alabama area. The fee is based on the size of the home and in addition to getting the square footage information you also get a floor plan sketch with location of rooms. This sketch can be included in your listing. A more detailed drawing is available for a slightly higher fee if this is desired.

My question to all Realtors is this: would you be interested in getting accurate GLA of your home to provide to your buyers and make your listings stand out by having a sketch of the home? If you have any questions please give me a call at 205-243-9304 and I would be happy to answer them for you.

Can a “Messy House” Make My House Appraise For a Lower Amount?

Tom Horn — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:02:08 +0000

The short answer to this question is “no”. You may think this is an odd topic for a post but I get asked this question more than any other, and it is usually asked by the lady of the house. I normally take pictures of every room because it helps me to remember things about the house (in addition to my written notes), and more and more banks are requiring us to include interior photos in our reports.

I like to inform the homeowner that I will be taking pictures during the inspection so they can straighten up if they want to. That is when I get asked this question. I explain to them that the photos help readers of the report to know exactly what condition the home was in at the time of the inspection. The lenders are more concerned with the physical condition of the home such as holes in the walls or ceilings, etc. as opposed to whether a bed is made. This usually results in a sigh of relief. So don’t sweat it if an appraiser is coming to your home. If you don’t have time to make that bed or pick up the laundry it won’t hurt your appraisal value.

Helping Your Home Appraise For Top Dollar

Birmingham, Alabama Homeowners: New Property Tax Assessments are out

Tom Horn — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:59:53 +0000

If you live in Jefferson County, Alabama please don’t forget about your property tax assessments, which came out at the beginning of July. It is a good idea to check the value that the county has your house assessed at. If you believe it is too high it is possible to contest the value, but you have to do it by July 3o, 2010.

Knowing what homes in your neighborhood sold for can help you make an educated guess as to whether you may want to contest its value. It is also possible that the county has the heated and cooled living area of your home listed incorrectly which can result in an inaccurate assessment value. Please give me a call if you have any questions about your assessment.

The Big Peach Tower in Clanton, Alabama

Tom Horn — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:59:35 +0000

I got the chance to head down to Clanton, Alabama recently. I have had a lot of work lately in quite a few different places and last week I had an assignment in Clanton. In case you don’t know, Clanton produces some of the best tasting peaches around. You can buy these peaches from any farmers market or roadside stand, and I highly recommend them. They make great peach ice cream or even peach cobbler.

Peaches are so important to this areas economy that they built a water tower to celebrate it. The tower is 120 feet tall and holds 500,000 gallons of water. It is a site to behold.

In addition to the peach industry this area has a lot of farm land. It was nice to check out the countryside, and a lot less hectic than the city! Check out some of the sights!

FHA Tip: Turn The Water On To Save Your Borrower Money

Birmingham, Alabama Home Sales-Most Expensive Home Sale in June-2010

Tom Horn — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:59:05 +0000

Well, once again the most expensive home sale for June is from the Mountain Brook area. As I have noted in previous posts this area is one of the most exclusive and expensive in the state of Alabama. Overall, homes sales over $500,000 have suffered in the Birmingham, Alabama market, however these luxury homes always seem to have adequate buyers. This months home is located at 3214 Pine Ridge Road and it sold for $2,550,000. It features a pool and a home theater among other things. The home was designed by renowned architect Ed Bailey. You can see and aerial view of it here.

A Bad Day at the Lake is Better Than a Good Day at Work

Tom Horn — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 11:30:00 +0000

Have you heard that saying? I have been fortunate lately to be very busy at work , which is a blessing in today’s economy. I recently had an assignment at Lay Lake, in Shelby County, Alabama. I do a fair amount of work in this area but none recently. Contrary to the title of this post I was able to have a good day at the lake and work. For those not familiar with the lake it is located approximately thirty-five minutes south of Birmingham, Alabama in Shelby County. It is a 12,000 acre reservoir that was created for hydroelectric generation and recreation. The Bass Masters Classic was held here this year.

Property values in this area are holding steady compared to other locations, however there appears to be an oversupply of inventory which could cause values to start to drop. Property types range from small fish camps with manufactored homes to large water front acreage. This is a beautiful area that you should try to visit if you ever get the chance.

On my way home from the inspection I saw this guy trying to cross the road. My trip to Lay Lake was a refreshing break from the typical inspections I have in town. You can learn more about Lay Lake here.