Questions for Appraiser
Background/Credentials
Name, Address, Business address?
Age and Occupation?
Do you have a real estate appraiser’s license?
In which states are you licensed in?
What is your license #?
When did you become licensed?
How long have you been appraising properties?
How many appraisals have you performed in your career?
How many appraisals do you perform per month/per year?
In what geographic areas do you perform appraisals?
What is your educational background?
What type of training did you undergo to obtain your appraiser’s license?
Do you have any additional training or background in the field of real estate or real estate appraising?
How much experience do you have performing appraisals in the real estate market in which debtor’s property is located?
Have you testified before in court as an expert on the value of real estate?
How many times?
Do you have an agreement to be paid for your services in appearing here to give your testimony?
Is your fee contingent upon the amount of recovery in this case?
Property Inspection
Did you personally inspect the subject property?
When did you inspect the subject property?
How long did your inspection take?
Did you inspect the neighborhood? How?
What was the purpose of the appraisal?
What physical deficiencies, if any, did you identify that could affect the livability, soundness, or structural integrity of the property?
Did you adjust for e.g.-the mold in the basement?
-broken and leaking windows?
-leaky plumbing?
-non-functioning airconditioning?
-non-working dishwasher?
-lack of hot water to all rooms of the house?
-sagging kitchen counters?
-cracks in kitchen floor?
-large crack in the wall at the front of the house?
How many bedrooms and bathrooms did you indicate this property has?
Did you eliminate any rooms (ie bathrooms) due unavailability of use?
How did you determine GLA?
-was it ______?
-Is that the same amount reflected by the County?
-what does above-grade property have to do with GLA?
-Is there any part of the subject house that is not above grade?
What type of structures were behind the house?
-Do they have a positive or negative influence on the value of the property?
What type of traffic or street type did you observe at the front of the house?
-Would that have a positive or negative influence on the value of the property?
Basis for opinion
What do you understand the term “market value” to mean?
-Is this definition used in the appraisal industry?
How do you determine market value?
What sort of information do you collect in determining the value of real estate?
After you have collected and analyzed all the data, how do you proceed to estimate value?
-Market data/sales comparison
-Cost of reproducing property
-Income based
Did you utilize the sales comparison approach?
Were all the comparable properties in the same neighborhood?
Where did you obtain this information?
How many comparable sales did you obtain?
What were the positive and negative differences between the comparables and the subject property?
How did you adjust for these differences?
Review the comparables:
Comparable 1: e.g. needed work?
Comparable 2 : e.g. used to bracket living area of home?
Comparable 3 : e.g. used as it has a similar basement?
Were all comparables used to determine the fair market value?
Where were the comparables located in proximity to the subject property?
(What is the distance between these houses and the subject property?)
Did you physically inspect each of the comparable sales?
Were the comparable sales similar in location to the subject property?
Were the comparable sales physically similar to the subject property?
Were the comparable sales functionally similar to the subject property?
Did you use any comparables that were the result of combining a land sale with the contract purchase price of a home that has been built or will be built on the land?
Did you use any comparable sales in the subject neighborhood within the past 12 months?
What were the ranges in price between the comparables?
Did you consult the multiple listing service (MLS) in your appraisal?
Did you consult tax assessment records in your appraisal?
Did you consult public land records in your appraisal?
Did you consult any other data sources in your appraisal?
What adjustment factors did you consider in your computation?
How did you calculate the gross living area adjustments?
How did you adjust the bedroom count?
How did you adjust the bathroom count?
How did you adjust the lot size per square foot?
How did you adjust the age per year?
How did you adjust each upgrade?
Opinion of Value of Property
Based on all these factors that you have described, what is your considered opinion as to the value of this property as indicated by market sales of similar properties?
Introduction of appraisal as evidence:
I’m handing you a document named as Exhibit ____. Are you familiar with it?
Can you identify this document?
Is it the regular practice of your business to create and maintain documents of this type?
Are these documents created routinely by persons with knowledge of the recorded event at or near the time the event occurs?
Another way to ask this question: Are appraisals created routinely by you, with knowledge from the appraisal inspection and your research, at or near the time the appraisal inspection and research occurs?
What is the purpose of this document?
Does your company rely on this type of document during its day to day operations?
Where was this document stored after being created by your business?
Was this document under your custody and control until the time it was retrieved?
Was it found at the location where such documents are stored by your business when you went to find it for this hearing?
Questions about opposing appraisal:
Were there any errors or omissions in the opposing appraisal?
Did it correctly state the GLA?
Did it adjust for the condition (repairs etc.) of the property?
Were the comparables appropriate?
GLA similar?
Based on sales or asking price?
Location?