Are land foreclosures really pushing values back to the stone age in Las Vegas?  Do the Press "statistics" really match up the reality of the market?

Cell tower site valuation is complicated by a lack of market data, lease cancellation provisions and the selection of a reasonable capitalization rate.

The selection of a capitalization rate plays an important part in the commercial appraisal process.  How do appraisers select a capitalization rate?  How critical is the selection of a capitalization rate?

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.

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, fraught 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.