Narrative Report Writing 2 - Boilerplate

There are portions of most narrative appraisal reports that don't change often, or that could be considered standard in almost every report, and those sections of a real estate appraisal are at times called its "boilerplate."  Since narrative reports are not entirely standardized from one appraiser to another, the sections and layout of each reports can differ. 

Many of the reports that I have read follow the steps laid out for the "valuation process" detailed in appraisal textbooks or they provide the steps in a slightly different order.  Personally I present a site value opinion as part of the Cost Appraoch and not before the the application of the three approaches to value as laid out in the process.  While an opinion of site value must be formed before you can complete the Cost Approach, you don't have to present it as a stand-alone section.

The sections that I consider to be "boilerplate" in my reports include; definitions, the certification, assumptions and limiting conditions, regional and city data (as part of the market area data), the approaches to value explanation and qualifications.  I'm sure there are other appraisers who standardize more or less. 

Since these sections of my reports rarely change, I have set them up as images that can quickly be pasted into the report that I am writing.  What has worked best for me is writing boilerplate sections in Microsoft Word, so that they can be edited when the need arises, then I save them again as .PDF files.  Rather than play a game resetting margins, which creates a formatting problem, I simply convert my .PDF boilerplate files to .jpg files in Photoshop and then crop the edges.  Its seems like extra effort and I'm not going to suggest that it is the most efficient way of dealing with the boilerplate pages, but it works for me.
 
I have attached a sample .jpg boilerplate page from my assumptions and limiting conditions section that you can view as an attachment (at the bottom of this article).  However you decide to deal with the boilerplate pages, by just leaving them in your report without special handling, by inserting .PDF created files or by going the whole MS Word -> .PDF -> .jpg route, it all has to do with personal preferences.  The important part is that you want to be able to cut and past your latest boilerplate into your current report without a great deal of effort.

I develop my boilerplate pages over time based on; a review of other appraisal reports (remember appraisal content isn't copyrighted), by reading suggested E & O insurance company articles, by attending report writing and risk avoidance courses and by reviewing "review appraisal" documents and finally by going through the latest version of USPAP step by step.

If you have any comments or suggestions that can help me or other real property appraisers with boilerplate feel free to contact me with them as noted below. 

For more appraisal information contact Glenn Rigdon MA, MRICS, ASA is a Las Vegas / Henderson Nevada appraiser who can be contacted via email or via his business website Appraiser Las Vegas  (http://www.appraiserlasvegas.com), or you can also click on “Contact Us” on the home page of this website or visit my public profile at LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/glenn-rigdon-ma-mrics-asa/1a/30b/879/.  

Article source: http://www.appraisalarticles.com/Narrative-Report-Writing/4309-Narrative-Report-Writing-2-Boilerplate.html