Appraisers' Free Forum

The following was emailed to me by Jo Ann Meyer Stratton - for your benefit and educational purposes.

HOUSING MARKET ANALYSIS September 25, 2008
PROVING TRENDS & ADJUSTMENTS THROUGH GRAPHS September 26, 2008

Instructors: Patrick Egger, Certified General Appraiser and Anthony Young, Certified Residential Appraiser

Location: La Quinta Airport North, 4727 E Thomas Road, Phoenix, AZ 85018

Email form to graphthetrend@yahoo.com or lvreqa@cox.net or fax form to 877-886-9329
or mail form to Anthony Young, PO Box 202, San Ramon, CA 94583

Here is a link to the website, class information, etc. that they can be downloaded:

http://www.graphthetrend.net/Upcoming_Live_Classes.html

This is a direct link to the online brochure that is attached:

http://www.graphthetrend.net/uploads/HM ... hoenix.pdf

Any questions please contact either Patrick Egger or Anthony Young at email addresses noted above

Interesting you should mention this...I just tonight bought the excel market graphing seminar he advertises on his site. I'll let you know if it turns out to be any good. I did listen to an excerpt of one of his seminars....it seemed like it had potential, but it was INCREDIBLY boring as he wastes too much time making sure every slow learner follows along on every brainless step. Don't know if he does that to stretch the length of his class and hide the fact that he really doesn't have that much to teach or whether he is really concened that every last dummie "gets it"....or both...in any case, it is extremely annoying if you dont hapen to be one of the people that benefit from this. If what I ordered turns out to be similar it will be a waste of a good couple of steak dinners that I didn't eat.

Patience, Santa.

I shouldn't have to remind you that this profession is rife with people who don't know a cell formula from nothin'. There are quite a few on this board who have learned from the little spreadsheet blurbs I've posted in the Trainees section. Doing even small tutorials like those I've posted is a giant PITA. I'm glad Pat developed this course; it has been needed for a long time, and should be in the fundamentals qualifying ed material. If he goes slow, and makes sure the slow-learners get it, think of how many fewer deficient reports you'll have to review.

The fact that the slow learners want to learn to use these tools gives hope for the profession. This is one area in which, if you don't get the basics, you won't master the material. One must learn to use the tools before one can become a good analyst.

" think of how many fewer deficient reports you'll have to review."

Or how many crappy appraisals will now have pretty graphs.

Jim...you dont realize how INCREDIBLY boring it was to slow the class down that much....and how little ground was covered by doing so. If this is typical of his classes he needs to weed out and develop basic vs. advanced classes. Notice I say IF....I don't know what his actual classes are like other than the partial seminar I listened to. I'd be interested in hearing any feedback on this.Anyway...I'm interested to see if I just wasted 55 bucks or not....it may be up for sale in the for sale forum shortly....hope not....hope there's some good ideas in there.

I wanna see it...first dibbs!

TB

OK...I just got the CD tonight. I've been skipping through it to see what it's all about. The first thing I'll say is that, rather than being one continuous viewing experience, it is broken up into 16 modules and you have to load and watch each one individually and manually. Pain in the ass. Also, it doesn't just play "out of the box"...you have to install a special codec....not a big deal, but another pain in the ass. The big question is, is all this pain in the ass worth it?

The first module is useless unless you really give a shit about this guy's personal history. Watching it, I was about 2 minutes away from sticking it up for sale for some other sucker to waste his money on. The next 4 modules didn't do anything to change that opinion- they are all really basic spreadsheet stuff. Then I skipped to the graphing module #8, hmmmm....good stuff....am picking up some tips. Module #9 discusses using graphs to separate out one feature and develop and illustrate (in a manner that any 8th grader...or reviewer... can understand) an adjustment based on market reaction as evidenced by your data ...using pool vs. no pool as an example. OK, good. He not only explains it well, but there are usable insights into the methodology which, if you are not a statistician, is useful. Modules 10 &11 are on pivot tables, and 13 is on how to chart from public records and automate your spreadsheets. Modules 14,15,16 are (for me anyway) useless crap....14 is on using Excel 2007, 15 is how to download an alternate open source (free) spreadsheet called Gnumeric, and 16 is how to use Gnumeric.

So, is it worth $55. Hmmmm.....yeah, I think I'll get my moneys worth on this (I have always been light on graphs and especially pivot tables). I dont need the basic spreadsheet stuff and dont care about Gnumeric, so basically, about 25% is usable for me. And, remarkably, I think that 25% is going to be worth the price of admission.

It would be even more valuable (on a % of content basis) for someone that didn't know squat about spreadsheets or how to download and manipulate data from MLS....so...yes...all you beginners....this is definitly worth the price....if for no other reason than to get you up and running on this stuff (and lighten Jim's load in trying to explain it all).

Santora and Plante dont need to waste their money. But then again, you may get one new insight out of the whole freaking thing that's worth the cost...you never can tell.

I'd give up a couple of good steak dinners for this. (Errrrr....maybe not if they were Kobe......) If I change my mind as I look at those other modules, I'll post again.

Glad to hear that Pat's got some info about pivot tables in there. Those things are mighty useful, even to the limited degree that I use them. I get a lot of good tips from subscribing to and watching the free podcasts on Mr. Excel (http://www.mrexcel.com). They don't always apply to NeoOffice (my spreadsheet of choice) but there's usually a way to do the same thing, maybe by adding a couple of intermediate steps. A lot of times, it's a matter of not even knowing that an action can be done in a SS.

I'm waiting for someone to develop a good tutorial case study on that Solver module. Looks like it might have good potential for analyzing property in a mixed-use environment. But I don't know enough about it to make that determination right now.