eBook - Real Estate Appraisal from A to Z

I've done a lot of foreclosure appraisals for lenders. After the bank takes the property back, they have it reappraised to decide what price to list it at for a quick sale. They do this to sell the property quickly and get as much of their money back as possible. By doing foreclosure appraisals, I've seen some very interesting properties and situations. I'm referring to aspects other than the sad fact that someone has lost their home due to a distressed situation. You might want to consider getting an account to do some foreclosure appraisals because it's great experience and you may find it to be very interesting work.

I've seen everything from very low valued Condos and Co-Ops, multi‑million dollar single family houses, a State Supreme Court Judge's house, and even funeral homes that have been foreclosed on that I had to appraise. Some houses are in great condition after a foreclosure. I have seen cases of people that have put a lot of money into a house and then some bad luck hit them. They ended up losing their jobs or another unfortunate circumstance happened to them. Since they couldn't make the loan payments, the bank took the house back. I've also seen some houses that were totally destroyed after a foreclosure. I've seen cases of people who would destroy a house out of anger and revenge due to the bank foreclosing on them. I've also seen some dishonest builders and investors scam the banks out of millions of dollars. What they did was borrow the money and then just walk away from the house and kept the funds from the loan without even making one loan payment to the bank or mortgage lender.

• 4. Tax Appraisals - This type of appraisal account will generally be busier during times when the property taxes are raised. Many homeowners will dispute an increase in their property taxes, or the current amount of their taxes. They may feel that their property has been "over assessed" and that their property taxes should be reduced. To dispute your property taxes, you need to have an appraisal done to estimate the market value of your property. Also, when someone dies and leaves real estate to their heirs, an estate tax has to be paid and appraisals are needed for that.

• 5. Commercial Appraisals - This type of appraisal account will generally be busier in a good economy when businesses are doing well. A commercial real estate appraisal refers to the appraisal of a building and/or site that deals with a non-residential property. This would generally be any building larger than a legal four family dwelling or a site that is commercially zoned by town hall. Commercial appraising is very involved and takes a lot more training, experience and classes than just doing residential appraisals. If you ever have the opportunity to work with a commercial appraiser you'll see what I mean. The fees charged for commercial appraisals are much higher than those charged for residential appraisals. However, along with the higher fees there is a much higher liability that's assumed by the appraiser if a mistake is made in the report. As with anything else in life: The greater the rewards, the higher the risk and sacrifice to obtain those rewards.

• 6. Relocation Appraisals - This type of appraisal account will generally be busier during times when theeconomy is doing well. During good economic times, companies are hiring and expanding their businesses. As a result, they have to transfer new and existing employees to different locations. Relocation firms always need real estate appraisals during the process of employees being transferred to a new location by their employers.

• 7. Insurance Appraisals - This type of appraisal account will generally be busier during a strong economy and real estate market. Insurance companies sometimes hire appraisers to do appraisal reports on properties before they give an insurance policy. This will enable the insurance company to know the correct value to insure the property for in case of fire or damage.

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