When you don't think the valuation that you paid for is accurate you can spend some time and effort yourself to validate the results.

NAR's decsion to attack the HVCC via the NY Attorney General's Office and FHFA to bring appraisals more in line with sales contracts is not beneficial to the appraisal industry.

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:

After the Savings and Loan crash in the late 1980's, appraiser licensing was put into place in 1991 by the federal government in an attempt to avert another banking disaster.  Here we are, however, in 2009 with a much larger banking disaster to deal with.  So clearly the original plan for appraiser licensing has ended in failure.

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, frought with a number of potential problems.

Most appraisal assignments direct the appraiser to form an opinion of the market value of a specific property. If you are familiar with appraisal definitions you know that most market value definitions indicate that market value is the “most probable price” that a market participant will pay for a property. So in most instances appraisers have to consider value as an anticipation of future benefits.

As employment decreases, and the demand for office space and retail space also decreases, the number of defaulted commercial mortgages will likely increase. If large scale casino layoffs accelerate, per predictions, the impact to the commercial real estate market in Las Vegas could be significant. Office vacancy rates are already increasing toward 20% in Las Vegas, and the vacancy rate for retail properties is increasing toward 11%.

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:

In 2009 residential appraisers are facing a number of challenges.  There are new FHA requirements and residential appraisers will have to comply with the Home Value Code of Conduct (HVCC).  They will, however, be provided with new opportunities that may carry them through the next decade. 

Depositions reveal just how strong an appraiser is as a potential expert witness.  How well the appraiser presents his arguments will let the opposing attorney know what to expect at trial and give them a sense for how well the appraiser will be received by a jury.