Back when we used to receive appraisal requests over the fax machine, I received an order one day to appraise a property for the US Marshals who had seized property on the Haw River. After first seein
Back in early 2013 while working with Coldwell Banker HPW in Mebane, I listed and sold a foreclosure home for a large regional bank. As part of the process of getting ready to list the property, I did
Summer of 2019 someone I know told me that an appraisal came in well below the contract price on the sale of their home. They said that they were planning on challenging the appraisal and asked
The Appraisal Institute’s dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal defines a Manufactured Home as “a factory-built house manufactured under the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards A
A CMA is a Comparable Market Analysis and is also known as a Broker’s Price Opinion (BPO). A CMA is performed by a licensed real estate broker (or an appraiser) who analyzes similar/comparable recentl
Here’s another interesting story about a request I received to appraise a home in Greenway Park in Graham, the neighborhood behind the Graham High School Football Stadium. Great I thought, this neighb
In the Spring of 2017, I helped a nice young lady sell her home in Mebane. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend, had taken out a restraining order against him, and decided to sell her home an
According to dictionary.law.com, Lis Pendens is a Latin word that means "a suit pending, a written notice that a lawsuit has been filed which concerns the title to real property or some interest in th
I don’t believe that life’s journey is meant to be a solitary endeavor in whatever one’s chosen line of work is. Mentors serve as great role models by helping us grow and making life more meaningful.
If you are thinking about selling your home by owner there are some things you should know before putting your home on the market. Most For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) are unaware that there are two mandat
A number of years ago I arranged a golf game at Alamance Country Club with my appraiser training supervisor, and the owner of a leading mortgage brokerage company here in Burlington at the time. The m
The three most important factors that determine a home’s value are; location, square footage, and amenities (number of bedrooms, bathrooms, garages, porches, decks, patios, finishes, etc.). Of the thr
I wanted to share a funny story that happened to me when I was first getting started in the appraisal business. On this particular day, I received an order to appraise a double wide home located in El
De-Clutter your homeThe first and most important task when staging a house will be getting rid of clutter. A clean and almost empty house will always make it look bigger. Remove personal items, photos
Here’s another funny story going back to my days at Mill Creek. One of the little things I enjoyed was driving across town through Burlington and Haw River on Church St./HWY 70 to work in Mebane.
Most anyone who owns a rental house (and there are a lot of people out there who do – more than you would probably think), knows that obtaining insurance coverage at a reasonable price can be challeng
A trend you may have noticed over the past couple of years that is becoming more common is the “Coming Soon” home. Generally speaking, the concept behind this marketing strategy is to build up t
If there is only one thing I recommend anyone do in preparing their home to sell, it would be getting their home inspected and making as many repairs as reasonably possible prior to putting their home
Going the extra mile has to an extent become a common cliché that some people may say and know they should do but seldom put into practice. Napoleon Hill defined Going the Extra Mile as “the habit of
Being in real estate sales you often never know who your next buyer is going to be or where they are going to come from. As fate would have it, a Chapel Hill Realtor who sold one of my listings
Due Diligence is a negotiated period of time in exchange for a negotiated amount of monetary consideration (if any), between buyer and seller. The due diligence clause of the Residential Offer t
This past spring my wife, Mary Staton, and I showed a condo in Burlington that was listed for sale as having two bedrooms. In preparation for the showing we pulled the original MLS listing when the co
The primary reasons why a home doesn’t sell are location, condition, financing, marketing, and price. Location is the only factor in which no one has any control over since it cannot be ch
A hypothetical condition is an assumption made contrary to fact, but which is assumed for the purpose of forming an opinion of value. The most common example of a hypothetical assumpti
Before I entered the appraisal profession I was a new home sales agent for Coldwell Banker HPW, Better Homes & Garden, representing John Wieland Homes, First Oakland Properties, and C. Richard Dob
Ever wonder how most real estate investors determine how much to pay for an investment property? The most common method used is called the Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM). To determine the GRM
When looking to buy or sell a home an issue that can come into play is a home’s functional utility. The functional utility is an appraisal term that refers to a home’s ability to adequately prov
Functional obsolescence is an adverse functional issue of a property according to current market housing trends and buyer needs, wants, or desires. It is the result of defects within a property.
My wife and I were representing a buyer to purchase a remodeled home in the county on well and septic. After our buyer entered into a contract to buy their home, we discovered through a septic i
An extraordinary assumption is an assumption which if found to be false could alter the opinion or conclusion of an appraiser’s opinion of value. An example of an extraordinary assumption is tha
A common dilemma many buyers face is whether to buy their new home first or sell their existing home first. If you don’t need to sell your home in order to buy your next home, then buying first is the
This day started off like most any day when I was appraising full time. I jumped into my Yukon XL with my clipboard, file folder, Sony Mavica disk camera, pencil, trusty 100’ tape measure,
One morning when I was first getting started in real estate sales, I received a call from an older retired man looking to get his home appraised. I asked what the purpose of the appraisal was fo
How does one decide what name to choose when going out on their own to start a new business? After all, it may be the easiest yet one of the most difficult decisions to make when starting a comp
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