Sometimes you can’t help but gloat a little.
Yesterday I was talking about appraisers.
I may have made it sound like they intentionally undervalue properties just to torpedo deals.
That’s not really what I meant. They aren’t doing that. They’re just not as experienced with land, which can lead to some… wildly different results. I’ve even seen plenty come in higher than what I’d call realistic.
Appraisers are generally good folks just trying to do their jobs like the rest of us. They just get thrown into situations they probably wish they wouldn’t sometimes. Like the rest of us.
Most of them, anyway.
If you’ve ever been through a eminent domain or right-of-way (ROW) proceeding — where the state acquires land to widen roads or build new ones — you deal with appraisers there too.
My experience with those folks?
Let’s just say they’re the kind of people you might call something implying their parents weren’t married when they were conceived.
I’m not saying ROW appraisers intentionally understate values (and if any attorneys are reading, please note this is all opinion and conjecture on my part).
But here’s what I’ve noticed: banks don’t always control who they hire, but the state tends to use the same appraisers over and over. And those appraisers make a very high percentage of their income from ROW work.
Incentives for more business. Expectations about what the client wants to see. All that. Make of it what you will.
They’ll tell you it’s all above board, and I’m not going to contend otherwise.
Anyway.
Last year, an attorney friend of mine had some land taken for ROW. Not surprisingly, he and the state couldn’t agree on a value. We went to a commissioners hearing, and he asked me to help.
Since I’m not a licensed appraiser, I wasn’t allowed to comment on values directly — though I did manage to slide in the fact that my clients trust my numbers enough to keep coming back.
We fought through a highly adversarial process stacked against the landowner and did the best we could.
The commission awarded him about four times what the state originally offered. The state, being the state, appealed and dragged it into court.
That tied it up for over a year, but it was finally settled this week — and let’s just say he’s very happy with the outcome.
Sometimes, the little guy does win!
The part I played was very minor, so I’m not taking the credit. If anything, my value was in knowing what not to say. The state’s rep kept trying to goad me into veering into licensed appraiser territory so he could disqualify me, but I didn’t take the bait.
A lot of the time, silence is a superpower.
Is it ever really the wrong time to discuss your property with a real professional?
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