Appraisers' Free Forum

I generally only include three graphs on one page. Typically I will include one that has the listing and sales price of comparable properties for the past 12 months, one for the DOM, and one for the total sales in the market.

I only do simple residential work and only want to include the information I used to justify my time adjustments and market conditions.

It depends upon the client and their requests and/or requirements. For a Relo analysis they have been for some time requesting quarterly data on high, avg, medium & low list/sale prices, list/sale price ratios and AVG DOM. For others that don't specify I include one of (or both) the attached stuff that is provided via our MLS provider, which many others also have access to because they use the same server. One of which is not a graphics presentation.

Too cool Otis!

I wish my MLS provided graph and print out capabilities.

They make it as difficult as possible and do not even provide DOM with a download.

I think O implies a perspective that may need exploration. I admire Christine for wanting to improve her practice and I encourage her to do so, but the challenge remaining after mastery of the technology is finding mortgage bound clients that care. As has been pointed out these clients are suing appraisals bcasue they must and they are shopping for them as if they were a commodity. For the most part the SFR mortgage appraisers are considered interchangeable. An appraisal is an appraisal.

I never include graphical information in reports. I played around with it some about 10 years ago... not too hard to do and impressive looking. However, the problem with graphs is the same as the problem with statistics... they can easily be misleading. Because of the graphs pictorial nature, a small lie can easily be very distorted and become a really big lie. I am reminded of someone who posted a graph on AF that was created by some government think tank... someone, I believe it was Santora, pointed out that the two lines in the graph were not on the same scale.

I do include a lot of tables of information in my reports. I believe that my interpretation of this and other information is primarily what I am being paid for... I put that in black and white, not in a picture. Just MHO.

Steve Owen wrote:I never include graphical information in reports.

Neither did I.

I use graphical information for my business (i.e., marketing, etc.).

Mako wrote:Neither did I.

Just curious, Mike. Does that mean that you do (or would) now?

I will probably reconsider the issue this January when I buy new hardware and software. While I discussed the 'misleading' issue, that is something that I believe can be overcome if dealt with carefully. I still haven't decided whether to include these kinds of pictorials in the future... the world is a constantly changing place.

BTW, I completely agree with using these tools in marketing efforts. While my area real estate trends studies, sent to local real estate agents, will have only tables at the present time, graphs could be a very useful way of making the e-mail piece instantly decipherable.

Steve Owen wrote:Just curious, Mike. Does that mean that you do (or would) now?

Depends For mortgage lending appraising or foreclosure work...NO! I use to put together a very detailed report (12-15 pages). But with no increase in fees since '92 (AMC work can be 25-60% less than I was getting in '92)...I'd be looking to streamline my reports as much as possible.

However, I do use spreadsheets-charts-graphs a lot more than I did in appraising. The majority of my business is now marketing & these tools are invaluable in that endeavor.

In one sense, when you prepare an appraisal report, you're selling your opinions: Your opinion of the neighborhood, the market area, and general and segment-specific RE markets.

Question: Would I rather deal with an UW callback, or would I mind taking the time to include a simple graph of, say, 90 and 180-day moving averages of sales and inventory? I've done them anyway as part of my research. All that's needed is to copy/paste into the report, and apply a style that sizes the graph correctly and wraps the text around it.

I use graphs in a residential report when it's going out of state, and the graph will be useful in explaining the market to someone not familiar with it. For a local or private client, I don't include them unless (as in the case of a private client) he's clueless.

Jim Plante wrote:Question: Would I rather deal with an UW callback, or would I mind taking the time to include a simple graph of, say, 90 and 180-day moving averages of sales and inventory?

I have heard that explanation offered as justification for including more work than is required. Frankly I hear more UW callbacks in SFR mortgage work result from not following the Fannie guides, whether the departure is explained in the report and justified by the market or not.

Good communication skills are definitely a part of what appraisers do, but pleasing mortgage UWs with lock-step Fannie compliance is at most a marginal part of that. If a chart or table explains your analysis and reasoning it is OK, but to hell with avoiding UW inquiries as a good reason for spending extra effort and time, unless it explains the Fannie departures.

Maybe Jim knows more skilled and conscientious UWs than the average.

I will agree with Jim 100% if this extra work causes clients to hire better appraisers and give them the time and fee to produce really good appraisals. As Jim just expereinced with his Victorian office complex, clients are really tuned into getting cheaper and I know they want them faster.

I suppose, in a way, keeping UWs at bay by doing more work really fast for low fees can be justified by not having to spend unnecessary time with a UW, but I think it needs tweaking.

Jim Plante wrote: <snip> Question: Would I rather deal with an UW callback, or would I mind taking the time to include a simple graph of, say, 90 and 180-day moving averages of sales and inventory? I've done them anyway as part of my research. All that's needed is to copy/paste into the report, and apply a style that sizes the graph correctly and wraps the text around it. <snip>

Actually, I think the bulk of his comments rests upon those words I emboldened, as in, if anyone has not figured this out, Jim is quite proficient at the mastery of graphing, and such... And would even venture to say, that the increase in time devoted to the production of the graph would be only a few minutes for him, which is not like me at all.... But i can aspire to such a goal as that.

Christine Marie wrote:

Jim Plante wrote: <snip> Question: Would I rather deal with an UW callback, or would I mind taking the time to include a simple graph of, say, 90 and 180-day moving averages of sales and inventory? I've done them anyway as part of my research. All that's needed is to copy/paste into the report, and apply a style that sizes the graph correctly and wraps the text around it. <snip>

Actually, I think the bulk of his comments rests upon those words I emboldened, as in, if anyone has not figured this out, Jim is quite proficient at the mastery of graphing, and such... And would even venture to say, that the increase in time devoted to the production of the graph would be only a few minutes for him, which is not like me at all.... But i can aspire to such a goal as that.

I am an admirer of Jim's talents and his attitudes as well. In my area the time would have to do with the accumulation of the data to put inot the chart. How to analyze the data if I could get it may also require some time in thought. And to the extent it makes you a better appraiser, which will also improve the profession, bravo.