RECENT BLOG POSTS
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Well, I won! A no-show by the defendant, but I'll take it. So I filed my lien, and now own $590 of their house, accruing 5% interest. I will contact them again and see if they want to work it out, because I don't really want to own my little portion of their land (puts me in a bad tax bracket)...
06/11/2008
I have been getting more and more email about the HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) agreement, and the more I read it, the more I hate it. Once again (similar to prior attempts to curb lender pressure), it is a poorly worded document that only truly hurts the appraisers, while giving the equ...
06/11/2008
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Well, I have a court date in the morning - small claims court to collect an appraisal fee. This is such a major hassle, and it could have been easily avoided. The client I did the work for has a deal with me. I don't come after them for unpaid invoices, but they have a paper that each borrower...
06/03/2008
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I received an email today (in my junk folder, where it belongs at least) from a guy selling "credit repair" services. Now, I understand that occasionally things show up on your credit report that shouldn't be there, and it is important to contest them with the credit bureaus to have them removed...
05/21/2008
Appraisers and mortgage brokers have an interesting dynamic between them. And the recently proposed HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) proposed by the New York Attorney General and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, does not really help any.The vast majority of appraisers -- those that primarily do ...
05/04/2008
A lot of people have the mistaken impression that if you spend $20,000 redoing your kitchen, you have just increased the value of your house by the same amount. Unfortunately, that is not the case. While there are some rough standard percentages (inground pool = 50%, bathroom remodel = 70%), it...
04/25/2008
I get calls regularly from unhappy realtors telling me that I must be wrong on my value, because 5 other homes sold in this neighborhood that were $125 per/sf. This always cracks me up, because why even pay for an appraisal if it were that simple? "Okay, I've pulled up all of the sales in my ne...
04/23/2008
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I often get told by homeowners, "I looked at Zillow (or Housevalues.com, or similar) and it said my house is worth (x)". While I will admit that the values have improved over the past few years (I've been monitoring my own house since Zillow came online), they are still typically only good to may...
04/23/2008
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When setting up an appointment, I always try to talk to the homeowner (or listing agent, borrower, or whomever) to get a better understanding about the house. One of the comments I usually get is about all of the "updates" they have done. However, what people don't understand is that there is a...
04/23/2008