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Property Appraisal

Are You Shopping For a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) Or an Appraisal?

by Administrator on Nov 9, 2008 Property Appraisal 1933 Views

Some of the public have become confused by the recent offerings on the Internet of Broker Price Opinions (BPOs) as subtitutes for real property appraisals.  It is important to understand the difference.  BPOs are created by real estate agents to price listings for sale.  The opinions are based on a cursory review of sales, there are no standards established regarding BPO's and they should not be relied upon with regard to market value.

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Do Foreclosure Sales Negatively Influence Home Values?

by Administrator on Nov 10, 2008 Property Appraisal 1751 Views

Do foreclosure and auctions sales in close proximity negatively influence the value of your home?  While there are factors that must be considered regarding the sales, they cannot be ignored.  Some foreclosure and auction properties are in need of significant remediation, and that information must be considered by the appraiser.

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Have Real Estate Price Decreases Been the Same in All Areas?

by Administrator on Nov 10, 2008 Property Appraisal 1812 Views

Sales price decreases have not been uniform throughout the Las Vegas real estate market. Some zip cond areas have seen decreases of up to 65% while others have seen only relatively small decreases.

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The Las Vegas Apartment Market – A 2008 Appraiser Perspective

by Administrator on Dec 9, 2008 Property Appraisal 1794 Views

The market for apartment buildings in Las Vegas over the last two years has been considerably better than that noted for homes.  How will market fundamentals change with negative population growth and large housing inventories?

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Do Right-of-Way Grants Negatively Impact Real Property Value?

by Administrator on Feb 27, 2009 Property Appraisal 1866 Views

Individuals buy and sell real property in metropolitan Las Vegas and often they do not consider the potential impact of a right-of-way grant made several years earlier within a U.S. Patent that initially conveyed the property into private ownership. Since Patent conveyances can be recent or over 50 years old, a grant can often show up as a small blurb on the Exceptions page of a title insurance policy.

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Appraising Green (LEED Certified) Buildings

by Administrator on Mar 18, 2009 Property Appraisal 2179 Views

Standard appraisal methods are generally sufficient to appraise "green" buildings, and a short discussion of some notable differences between typical building appraisals and "green" building appraisals has been outlined in the following paragraphs: High performance sustainable "green" buildings are by definition buildings that conserve land, water, materials and energy. A national non-profit organization, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) System(TM) which has attempted to establish standards for "green" buildings. The System provides not only a guideline but a rating system for "green" buildings. Only a group of states have, however, adopted the LEED standards, so a "green" building in most areas may have adopted only some of the LEED standards. It is incumbent upon real property appraisers to identify how many "green" standards have been meet, and whether or not the building has been LEED certified.

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Using Historical Sales for Current Appraisals

by Administrator on Jun 6, 2009 Property Appraisal 1767 Views

As it becomes more and more difficult to find comparable vacant land sales in the Las Vegas market, due to decreasing sales volumes, some appraisers have turned to past sales.  The selection of past vacant land sales is, however, fraught with a number of potential problems.If you are a commercial appraiser in Nevada you have already been faced with the fact that there are very few land sales that have been transacted in 2008 and 2009.  A recent report by the Bently Group (www.thebentlygroup.com) indicated that "the vacant land market continued to report a slowdown in sales volumes and reduced pricing."  Based on their report there were only 77 vacant land transactions during the 1st Quarter of 2009.

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What's Really Happening in the Las Vegas Land Market?

by Administrator on Jun 24, 2009 Property Appraisal 1672 Views

If you have an interest, and you have been watching the reports and articles on the vacant land market in Las Vegas you likely have come away confused. Here are some interesting facts that you, as an appraiser, buyer or seller may want to consider the following. 1. Some published vacant land sales reports being circulated include trust deed sales or foreclosed properties that have gone back to the original owners for the mortgage amount owing. These sales are not market sales, they are not sales made between "willing buyers and willing sellers," they are simply properties lost due to too much debt and the sales do not reflect market activity. The inclusion of this information in a sales activity report artificially bolsters the number of sales and the price per acre reported. So if the sales report you are reading indicates that foreclosure information is included, take the information with a grain of salt.

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Trouble Ahead for BPOs

by Administrator on Apr 14, 2010 Property Appraisal 2003 Views

How BPO firms are using appraisers as a basis for bolstering broker price opinion (BPO) credibility, and how much liability there is for appraisers who become involved. I got an offer the other day to "review" broker price opnions (BPOs).  A firm told me that they had appraisers doing this work and that they were extremely busy.  The caller indicated that if I agreed they could provide me with about 75 BPO "reviews" per day and that at $ 5.00 each I could pocket $ 375 every single day and never even leave my desk.  They told me that they expected their "review" appraisers to complete at least 75 BPO reviews a day, but that if I was quick I could do even more. 

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Cell Tower Site Appraisals

by Administrator on May 11, 2010 Property Appraisal 10350 Views

Cell tower site valuation is complicated by a lack of market data, lease cancellation provisions and the selection of a reasonable capitalization rate.Real estate appraisers can find that their appraisal assignments have become significantly more complicated when a cell tower is located on the property to be appraised. In most instances the owners have leased the site for the cell tower use and they do not own the improvements. This article discusses cell tower site leases and not situations where both the site and the cell tower itself are owned.

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