St. Cloud FL Real Estate Appraiser Robert Bass Is Our Business Spotlight
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St. Cloud FL Real Estate Appraiser Robert Bass Is OurBusiness Spotlight This Month
Robert Bass was interviewed by Jeanine Corcoran brokerof Corcoran Connect in this month’s episode of DiscoverSt. Cloud Florida the 36th episode. Jeanine started theinterview by asking Robert to tell the audience about himself andhow long he has been a St. Cloud FL real estate appraiser.
Robert thanked Jeanine for having him on as a guest. He said hewas born and raised here in Saint Cloud and has seen quite a bit of changethroughout his career. Robert said he received his real estatelicense back in 1988.
He said that is when real estate agents were just glorifiedtaxis driving people around. Back then it pre-dated the internet.Robert decided that he wanted to get into the appraisal componentside of the real estate industry and has been doing so for about 28years now.
Robert owns Main Street Appraisal Service right here in SaintCloud FL. He runs the residential side of his appraisal businessand has a resource for the commercial side, so he covers it allwhen it comes to appraising homes and businesses.
Jeanine then started with questions for RobertBass that came from the viewing audience of the Discover St.Cloud Florida podcast. The first two questions were from EricD.
Video Podcast OfJeanine's Interview With Robert Bass A Saint Cloud FloridaAppraiser
What Things Sway An Appraiser’sEvaluation?
The first question is what typical things do you look for thatcould impact a sale dramatically? The second question was what arethe little items that can sway your evaluation one way or another?Jeanine added that Eric, in reference to the little items, waspainting, lighting, etc., and do they add value?
Robert responded that these items do add value but wanted toaddress the first question before getting into detail on the secondone. He said the first three words that we learn in this industryare location, location, location. So, when we do the initialinspection of a home, we look for things that could influence thehome’s value.
We look for things such as does it back up to a busy road,does it back up to a school, or some kind of nuance that maybe acomparable home does not have. He added that we may have to adjustfor those types of differences if they exist. Robert said that asfar as the home's interior they look for overall maintenance,condition, and quality.
Robert stated that first impressions mean a lot to him. When hepulls up to a home he can tell if someone has been taking care ofthe home or not. He looks at the landscaping although hedoesn’t give value to it, however, it does give anoverall impression of how the homeowner has maintained thehome.
The 5 Categories That An Appraiser Uses And What TheyMean
Jeanine asked if that falls into the categories relating to thecondition of a home. Robert answered that it does. He said we have5 categories, C1 – C5. C1 relates to new construction. C2relates to a newer home that maybe had been purchased a year agoand now the owners are flipping it. C3 and C4 are where most homeswill fall into, and C5 relates to homes that need a lot of repairand maintenance.
Jeanine then asked Robert about older homes that have beencompletely renovated. Robert said that is happening a lot lately inSaint Cloud. Robert stated that you could have a 1920’s homethat could be in C3 condition and a home built in 2010 that is inC3 condition. He said it is all relative to the homes you arecomparing it to.
Jeanine then asked Robert the next two questions which came fromTom H. The first question is when an appraiser does an actualappraisal is it based on both the interior and the exterior or isit a drive by or is it by recently sold comps in theneighborhood?
What Are The Different Types OfAppraisals?
Robert said there are different types of appraisals. We can do afull inspection of the interior and exterior. We can also do adrive-by inspection. A drive-by inspection would be appropriate forexample if someone is doing a refinance and pulling $50K out oftheir home where the home is valued at $300K. Then a drive-byinspection is all that is needed because the equity is there.
Jeanine asked Robert on the majority of homes that are doing 20%down and financing 80% that they would need a full appraisal fortheir home, correct? Robert said yes, absolutely. He said theyusually catch a lot of mistakes that maybe a realtor wouldn’tcatch.
Jeanine asked the next question which came from Kim K. who askedRobert if he walked inside the home to take upgrades into account.Robert answered that he leans heavily on the realtor’s inputas they have a relationship with the homeowner.
He likes to spend a little time with the homeowner himself. Heasks them after he has measured their home and taken his notes ifthey could give him a list of improvements, they have done to theirhome in the last 5 years. He does this because sometimes they havea new roof or water heater or A/C unit. He likes to do this, so thehomeowner feels he is listening to them. This list from thehomeowners helps Robert as he is comparing similar homes which havethose types of upgrades as well.
The Recent Real Estate Market Saw A Number OfAppraisals Coming In Below The Contract Amount
Jeanine then started talking about all the homes that were builtin 2005 or 2006 whereby insurance standards all need new roofs now.If you are comparing 3 comparable sales to the subject property andthe subject property has a new roof and the 3 comparable homes donot have a new roof and are within a year of age, then does thatfall into the C1 – C5 category evaluation? Robert answeredthat yes, it does.
He continued that it falls back into your condition and qualityof the homes. So, if a home has a new roof when you’relooking at your comparable sales that is when I do my best tocontact the listing and the selling agents of those comparablehomes and ask them, is it the original roof, has it been replaced?A lot of the time the realtor will do a good job of putting thosetypes of things in the MLS comments. If the roof on this comparablehome is at the end of its useful life, then you can make acondition adjustment.
The next question came from Denise C. who is actuallyJeanine’s sister. She asked how does the appraisal affect theselling price of my house? Robert answered that question with aquestion and said how does the selling price affect the appraisal.Robert said that in the current market he has been dealing with anumber of his appraisals coming in below the amount of thecontract.
The Bank Will Loan On The Contract Price Or TheAppraisal Whichever Is Less
Robert’s advice was before submitting the appraisal if itis coming in below the contract value is we stop what we are doingand invoke “tidewater” contact the lender and thelender then reaches out to the realtors and the realtors come backand give me additional information, if they have any, to helpsupport the value. This process allows us all to communicate alittle bit better before the appraisal submission.
Robert said this happens frequently when the appraisal comes inbelow the contract price and the bank is going to loan on thecontract price or the appraisal whichever is less.
Jeanine asked the last question from the public which is fromDeborah. She asked how seller concessions affect the appraisal.Jeanine gave an example i.e., the buyer asks the seller for $5K forclosing costs. If the seller agrees, that is a concession. Robertanswered that going back just two years ago seller concessions werea lot heavier than they have been recently. The reason for that issellers have not had to give any concessions because of the hotmarket.
Robert continued that prior to this hot market there were quitea bit of seller concessions and he had to adjust for that. Whathappens often is for example if a home is listed for $200K and youhave a buyer for wants $10K in concessions, they will bump theprice to $210K. That $210K is not really the true value of thehome, the true value is $200K. Robert would then make an adjustmentdownward for those concessions.
The Purpose Of An Appraiser Is To Report To The LenderWhat The Market Is Doing
Jeanine then moved on to the questions from realtors for Robertto answer. The first question is from Jennifer G. Whywouldn’t the appraiser use a cost approach in a newsubdivision over a sales comparison? Robert answered that cost andvalue are not necessarily synonymous. He is seeing a lot of uptickin cost with new construction and what happens is, especially withour current supply and demand issues, the costs of the upgradeshomeowners choose increase the cost of the home exponentially.
Robert said the entire purpose of an appraiser’s existenceis to report to the lender what the market is doing. If thatparticular buyer is to default or can’t make the payment andthe bank has to take it back, they need to make sure they can sellit and recoup their money. They don’t want to lose money.
The next realtor question came from Kris V. She asked how manytimes have you been asked to re-evaluate an appraisal because thelisting agent didn’t agree with your value. Robert answeredthat it is not as often as you would think but it does happen.Sometimes it is very legitimate because we miss things. He saidthat’s why he likes to lean on the realtors.
Does A New Pool Increase The Value Of TheHome?
Robert stated that there are some appraisers out there that oncethey submit their appraisal that is it, and they are not going tochange their mind. He is not of that opinion because we are allhuman. If you can convince Robert that a certain feature of thehome has a certain market demand that is not represented, then hewould be willing to look at it.
The next realtor question comes from Cindy F. who asked Robertwhen an owner decides to sell their home after recently installinga $35K pool, does the newer pool hold more value than an olderpool? Robert answered that you can do the same thing in a $35Kswimming pool as you can in an $80K pool. He said at the end of theday, the utility is the same, it’s a swimming pool. So, toanswer Cindy’s question, if there is any adjustment at all,it wouldn’t be much.
We hope you enjoyed Jeanine interviewing St. Cloud FL appraiserRobert Bass of Main Street Appraisal Service as our featured St.Cloud FL business spotlight. This will continue to be a monthlyfocus for the Discover St. Cloud Florida podcast.