Narrative Report Writing 6 - Useful Content / Provisions

Let me begin this article by saying that I am not an attorney and I am not offering readers any type of legal advice.  What I will try to do is provide appraiser / readers with some potential narrative appraisal content that may help them better describe their appraisal process.  I am hoping that visiting appraisers can take away one or more of these appraisal comments, or portions of them, and actually use them to enhance their work or better protect themselves.  None of the comments are totally original but none are copyright protected either. 

Some of the comments and definitions that follow were developed by me as needed so you may want to modify them for your own use.  If you have others that you would like to share, please send them to me and I will include them as additions to this article.

Here are some comments / definitions that I have found useful, they are not in any specific order:1.  The appraiser viewed and considered; the type of use, the codes and regulations affecting the use, building size, construction quality, building condition (exterior and interior), and all building details including equipment and mechanical systems.  

2.   Equipment and mechanical systems included plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) and electrical systems that were found to be specifically designed for each building segment and each building improvement.  The systems were observed, considered in the valuation and assumed to be in operating condition.  Unless otherwise noted in this report equipment was not inspected.  Trade fixtures and atypical equipment, if any, has been addressed separately.

3.  The appraiser is not an architect and the linear distances and square footages reported in this appraisal for each building / building segment has been determined based on appraiser measurements, Assessor's data and from a photometic overlay attached to this report.  The appraiser used a system of measurement that is commonly employed by appraisers in the market area that determines gross building area (GBA) from linear exterior building wall measurements.  Since the angular direction of wall corners is not always 90 degrees, the photometric overlay has been used as an enhancement.

4.  Gross Acre means an area of 43,560 square feet that includes the total area with its property lines before consideration or reduction for public streets, flood channels, roadway dedications or other public use reservations.  

5.  Net Acre means a "gross acre" that excludes public streets, alleys, flood control channels, dedicated roadways / rights-of-way or other public user reservations.  A net acre or net acreage can only be known when a property is in its finished or completed state when all dedications have been made just prior to its development.

6.  Modified Gross Acre means a "gross acre" less roadway dedications, utitlity easements, flood control channels or other areas dedicated to or reserved for a public use prior to a site reaching its finished or completed state.  Many sites are not in a gross or a net state but are in a modified gross state.       

7.  Net Rentable Area (NRA) is the floor area of a building that remains after the square footage represented by verticle penetrations, such as elevator shafts and stairwells, have been deducted.  Common areas and mechanical rooms are included in NRA and there are no deductions made for columns and projections.

8.  The appraiser is not a construction expert and a structural, roof and equipment inspection is suggested.

9.   The appraiser has reasonably relied upon information supplied by others.  The appraiser did not investigate the validity of leases, attempt to confirm the vacancy rate over time or confirm through independent research income and expense statements represent to be true and accurate.  Thus this report while reviewed for reasonableness relies on information that could have been misrepresented and the appraiser is not liable for the false information of others.

10.  Neither all nor any part of the contents of this appraisal report (especially any conclusion as to value, the identity of the appraiser, or the fir which the appraiser is connected) shall be disseminated to the public through advertising, public relations, news sales, or other media without the written consent and approval of the appraiser.  Portions of this report contain original, properietary information developed by the appraiser that are copyright protected.

11.  When data was found to be available the appraiser conducted research into and analyzed the typical operating expenses of comparable properties to estimate the operating expenses of the subject property. 

12.  Evidence of exposure time was provided via direct conversation with brokers and market participants and via data available from a number of data sources as discussed and displayed in this report.

13.  Thus, an investigation of the physical, social and economic characteristics of the subject neighborhood and the subject property have led the appraiser to conclude . . .

14.  The following description of the subject improvements is meant to be a summary description for appraisal purposes.  Thus, a detailed discussion of each and every improvment has not been supplied.  (Summary Reports)

15.  The appraiser has provided appropriate research and reporting detail in this appraisal report to provide the intended user with a credible opinion of value for its intneded purpose.  The appraiser considered; the degree to which the property would be inspected / identified, the extent of research into phyiscal or economic factors that could afect the prperty, the extent of data research and the type and extent of analysis applied to arrive at a credible opinion or conclusion.

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/4365-Narrative-Report-Writing-6-Useful-Content-Provisions.html