Real Estate APPRAISALS

Appraisal education in the United States may be often provided by professional organizations. At present time it is not necessary to have a college degree in order to become an appraiser.

A real estate appraisal a service performed by a licensed or certified appraiser, who develops an opinion of value based upon the highest and best use of real property for a specific point in time.

For mortgage valuations of improved residential property, this value is often reported on a standardized form, the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report, Fannie Mae Form 1004. Download Uniform Residential Appraisal Report here. Do NOT forget to read the FAQ related to this Uniform Residential Appraisal Report. This type of appraisal is the most complete and more costly. Less complete appraisal forms are available from the Fannie Mae site and these have their own utility.

An appraisal is performed for a specific client, to whom the appraiser has a fiduciary responsibility, regardless of what party ultimately pays for the appraisal, whether anyone actually pays for the appraisal, or when the appraisal is paid for.

Some additional terms that related to value and may be of interest are:

• Broker Price Opinion (BPO): Estimate done by a real estate agent.
• Value of home determined by the County Auditor for tax purposes.
  

Typically residential appraisers agree to accept orders from lending institutions with the understanding that payment will be made following settlement, or closing of the loan. In most cases, the homeowner or buyer ultimately pays for a residential appraisal, either directly or rolled into settlement fees. The paying party may also be entitled to a copy of the appraisal report, so make a written request for ALL pages and contents of the appraisal report.

Some Exhibits

• A street map that shows the location of the subject property and of all comparables that the appraiser used;
  
  
• An exterior building sketch of the improvements that indicates the dimensions. The appraiser must also include calculations to show how he or she arrived at the estimate for gross living area. A floor plan sketch that indicates the dimensions is required instead of the exterior building or unit sketch if the floor plan is atypical or functionally obsolete, thus limiting the market appeal for the property in comparison to competitive properties in the neighborhood;
  
  
• Clear, descriptive photographs (either in black and white or color) that show the front, back, and a street scene of the subject property, and that are appropriately identified. (Photographs must be originals that are produced either by photography or electronic imaging.);
  
  
• Clear, descriptive photographs (either in black and white or color) that show the front of each comparable sale and that are appropriately identified. Generally, photographs should be originals that are produced by photography or electronic imaging; however, copies of photographs from a multiple listing service or from the appraiser's files are acceptable if they are clear and descriptive;
  
  
• Any other data--as an attachment or addendum to the appraisal report form--that are necessary to provide an adequately supported opinion of market value.

Be Aware Of Arbitration Clauses

When buying your next automobile read your paperwork carefully. Some car dealers and financiers are inserting an “arbitration clause” in the fine print to take away legal rights if case they do something wrong to you. Currently, some Ford credit, Chrysler credit and other bank finance contracts include an arbitration clause. Likewise, many car dealers are doing it, too. US Bank has an arbitration clause in the account agreement related to their checking account.

An arbitration clause does not have to be in your contract, and an arbitration clause can take away your right to go to court without you even knowing it! Some arbitration clauses are written so “tight” that you could get mugged, robbed and beaten up on the car dealer’s lot, by their employee, and you couldn’t do much of anything about it at all!

If you already signed an arbitration agreement, don’t give up because you may still be able to get around it, but the best thing is never to sign one in the first place.

Female Feticide

Feticide is described as the intentional destruction of a human fetus.

There are have been reports in the media in February 2007 of findings of bones of newly born babies in India. It is common knowledge are some families choose to have female fetuses aborted. I personally know a family who have been reported to have chosen this path. I also have family members who work in the field of obstetrics and gynecology in India and sometimes one hears things.

It is unlawful in India to use technology to determine the sex of unborn children and the termination of pregnancies on the basis of gender.

This female foeticide practice is related to the belief that the males are the carriers of the family genes; isn't this something you would probably hear on National Geographic or Discovery Channel?.

Can there be a worse level of cowardice? I am ashamed that something like this occurs in India. Things are changing but its too late for some...many.

Reality from Realty One's Cleveland Real Estate Agent

So I ask this real estate agent from Realty One to send me a form for review at my convenience, prior to a meeting. No, I am not going to list the name of the real estate agent. I ain't trying to disparage her.

The Analogy: The real estate agent says that a doctor's office does not send forms to a potential patient but presents the forms when the patient arrives at the clinic to see the doctor.

The implication was, using the same logic, why should a real estate agent send the the forms to the prospective client? Hmmmm?

I suppose that is one viewpoint. Is this viewpoint valid? One similarity that I note between real estate agency and doctor patient agency is the fiduciary relationship. One dissimilarity is that real estate services is a human want whereas medical services is a human need.

As an update I must note that the realtor did send the requested forms. And I am rather certain that a doctor's office would also send forms if the patient made a request, perhaps, without offering an analogy.

Question: How do you decide that you have found the right real estate agent?
Answer: When you hear the right answers from your real estate agent.

Median Home Price in Cleveland, Akron

In the Cleveland metropolitan area, which includes outlying suburbs, the median home price was $131,000. In Akron, $110,000 - - February 2007

Cleveland Real Estate: 10 Mortage Mistakes

1. Not knowing which mortgage fees you can - and cannot - negotiate. Or how the lender actually makes money on you.

2. Choosing and trusting the first loan officer you interview.

3. Using an interest-only or adjustable rate loan primarily to qualify for a more expensive house. (You could be paying forever, eventually getting in debt over your head or, at the very least, you will pay more interest for a longer period of time.)

4. Thinking the interest rate is always the main thing. (Most "astute" mortgage shoppers think they should call around to "shop" rates. And "rate envy" is common, especially among male borrowers. But what closing costs will you need to pay to get that fabulous advertised rate?

5. Not comparing the final fees listed on the closing documents to the up-front estimates (to avoid the lender "packing" the loan with added-on fees without your knowledge)

6. Not knowing if your mortgage has a pre-payment penalty - until it's too late.

7. Thinking that renting is always "just throwing money away." (At least in the short run, it can cost you thousands less to rent. For instance, don't buy a starter house.)

8. Not knowing if you are paying a back-end yield spread or Service Release Premium (if so, the lender has upsold you the rate).

9. Paying for mortgage life insurance, credit insurance or other expensive lender add-ons (like the just-mentioned SRP, this sale can increase the "kickbacks" the lender will receive from various vendors).

10. Paying hundreds of dollars to have a company set up a biweekly mortgage payment plan for you, something you can generally do yourself - for free.

She's Italian but is blonde

So this guy T says with some pride in his voice that his wife is an Italian, from Sicily. He met her at a restaurant and she's a cosmetologist. He says that his wife's grandmother had migrated from Sicily. He quickly adds that his wife is blonde and does not have black hair like other Italians do. It appeared that he was implying that blonde is better than black and therefore he was providing the clarification.

Everyone's a "Honey" here

It was a surprise to hear staff at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles addressing customers/citizens as "honey". I ain't complaining but using this term of endearment for hundreds of customers decreases its value. And...I am beginning to sound like Andy Rooney of the fantastic CBS show, 60 minutes.

I saw the staff doing a good job providing services that mainly involve repetitive tasks quite well. One gets to see a variety of people at this type of governmental office.