A drive by

Driving home from the grocery store last week, I noticed a car slowly driving around my neighborhood, with a sign on the door that clearly read "real estate appraiser." I knew these people existed, and one had certainly signed off on the price of my house when I bought it, but I'd never actually seen one in person. I felt like I had spotted a unicorn.

After introducing myself to the nattily dressed, Cadillac-driving appraiser, I began by asking what method he used when determining the value of residential real estate. Not at all surprisingly, he replied that it was based on comparable home sales in the area -- "comps," in appraiser and realtor speak. I asked if he was appraising for a current purchase, refi, etc. and he answered "no, he was appraising for the local appraisal district." I then asked if he ever actually left his car to pull a tape measure in order to check the measurements on the house. He replied "there was no need since the appraisal district already had that information on file." I asked if he brought his gun along with him when doing these appraisals and he gave me a perplexed look and said "no". He then replied "why do you ask such a question". I stated that a drive-by appraisal was similar to a drive-by shooting in that one is taking a shot gun approach to completing the task of one's profession. A 'hit and miss' so to speak. He did not seem real happy with my analogy.

I asked if he felt there was a better way to assess the value of a house like applying the income method. He stated that would not work. I asked why and he replied "Because people just don't buy houses that way." Funny how assessed values have continued to go up with everything else going on in the housing market. I asked him if he had every been trained in how people buy a house, and he replied that he did not see the relevance. Then how does he arrive at an assessment via a drive-by when he does not know how people come to conclusions when purchasing a house. Funny.............................................