Appraisers' Free Forum

**Alisa** · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:21 pm Post subject: Regarding comparable selection

Okay, I'll post one I use. I hope each and everyone of you will post something for
an unusual situation or whatever. I can't take credit as the author of this statement. I believe it cam from the "other" forum but I can't remember for sure or who is responsible for it. After I include this statement I usually add a comment or two about the comparables which do not fit those expected guidelines. If any of you are the author of this comment, thank you so much for sharing.

Per FNMA Underwriting Guidelines, Section 408.02, "Occasionally, there may be no similar or truly comparable sales for a particular property-because of the uniqueness of the property or other conditions." Per FNMA's recommendation, the appraiser has used his "...knowledge and judgement to select comparable sales that make the best indicators of value for the subject property, and to make adjustments to reflect the actions of typical purchasers in that market." The sales presented were judged by the appraiser to be the most comparable found. The appraiser has expanded the comparable search parameters, and has exceeded standard FNMA guidelines, and adjusted for significant differences, per FNMA's recommendation.

**Jim Plante** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:39 am Post subject:

Thanks for posting that Alisa. If you don't mind, I want to demonstrate another use of this section of the forum.

Report writing, as it is currently taught by Appraisal Institute, calls for use of the first person, active voice. The snippet posted above is in third person, passive voice. Here's the difference:

Fannie Mae Underwriting Guidelines, Section 408.02, states: "Occasionally, there may be no similar or truly comparable sales for a particular property-because of the uniqueness of the property or other conditions." As Fannie Mae recommends, I have used my "...knowledge and judgement to select comparable sales that make the best indicators of value for the subject property, and to make adjustments to reflect the actions of typical purchasers in that market." I judged the sales presented to be the most comparable found. I have expanded the comparable search parameters, and have exceeded standard Fannie Mae guidelines, and adjusted for significant differences, as Fannie Mae recommends.

Take ownership and pride in your work. Use "I did this," and let "the appraiser" take a break.

Oh, and it's no longer FNMA. They want to be called "Fannie Mae" now.
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Jim Plante

**Annemieke Roell** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:39 am Post subject:

When using comparables from MLS, we add the broker notes/descriptions to our report. It paints a picture and described the ammenities of the comparables which shows the comparables are a good match for the subject.

Provided they RTFR, of course. :)
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**Alisa** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:00 am Post subject:

**Alisa** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:03 am Post subject:

[quote="Jim Plante"][size=14]Thanks for posting that Alisa. If you don't mind, I want to demonstrate another use of this section of the forum.

Jim, I don't mind AT ALL. In fact I appreciate it a ton...Anything that I can do to make my reports better is fine by me. I never did like the 3rd person but that
was how I was taught. It has taken me quite some time to move away from
wording as my mentor did. He was a stickler about how he wanted things said
and it always came out foreign to me.

I took a report writing class but this was not mentioned so I appreciate your
input.

Alisa

**Pina Colada** · Certified General Joined: 13 Aug 2007 Posts: 565

[quote="Jim Plante"]Report writing, as it is currently taught by Appraisal Institute, calls for use of the first person, active voice. [quote]

Imagine that! After all these years, I am finally in vogue.

However, I hardly see we the presented example or the first-person-correct sample are any better than any other "best-available" boilerplaque. If you are not going to disclose the process by which the three sales that get 100% of the weight of reliance were selected from 6 or 20 or 100 candidate sales, why clog the report's arteries at all? The 1004 pre-printed cert 7 already contains a vague best-comps statement.

**Jim Plante** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:52 am Post subject:

Good point, Pina. Can you post an example of that? I think a lot of folks would benefit from it.
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Jim Plante

**Pina Colada** · Certified General Joined: 13 Aug 2007 Posts: 565

An example of what? Repetitive boilerplate?

**Jim Plante** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject:

An example of the correct way to present the data would be nice. How did you obtain the first 100 sales? What made you eliminate 75 of them? Why did you choose the six that you used in the report? Why are only three shown in the grid?

People can't quit using boilerplate until they know how.
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Jim Plante

Mako · Member Joined: 11 Aug 2007 Posts: 849

Due to the atypical features of the subject property search parameters were expanded in both time and distance to include those comparable sales located in nearby competing neighborhoods offering similar locational influences and amenities. While some of these comparables sold outside the 6 month reporting guidelines they were still considered to be the most valid indicators of market value as of the date of this report (see Fannie Mae Reporting Guidelines 408.02).

At least that's the way we did it in the old days.

I had to edit it several times...I'm rusty.
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**Pina Colada** · Certified General Joined: 13 Aug 2007 Posts: 565

**Jim Plante** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:35 pm Post subject:

I think most appraisers who frequent boards like this want to learn how to do it better. Boilerplate, especially the restatement of the preprinted certs, is certainly not high on my list of things to develop. Better writing, whether boilerplate or not, does fall into that category.
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Jim Plante

**Goodpasture** · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject:

**Mr. Knowitall** · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:13 am Post subject:

What? You don't like the relitter's comments about the beautiful flower pot's and how the wonderful green shag carpeting blends with the kitchen appliances?

**Blue1** · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:22 pm Post subject:

Here's another possibility....

Fannie Mae Underwriting Guidelines, Section 408.02, states: "Occasionally, there may be no similar or truly comparable sales for a particular property-because of the uniqueness of the property or other conditions." As Fannie Mae recommends, knowledge and judgement were used to select comparable sales that make the best indicators of value for the subject property, and to make adjustments to reflect the actions of typical purchasers in that market." The sales presented were judged to be the most comparable found. The comparable search parameters were expanded, and have exceeded standard Fannie Mae guidelines, and adjusted for significant differences, as Fannie Mae recommends.
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