Mike Lay's (mikelay) Blog

I've received a lot of calls and emails from my last post, so I want to thank all of those appraisers out there who (a) still believe our industry shouldn't be given away to the management companies, and (b) think that the current HVCC is a bad thing for our industry and needs to be revised or ki...

(borrowed from www.thejokeshop.org) APPRAISER  (Ap*prais"er), noun:  One who compiles and analyzes voluminous data of problematical accuracy from sources of dubious veracity and derives therefrom a numerical quantification of unquestionable necessity, analogous to a nebulous and euphemistic conce...

I'm annoyed today.  I received two conflicting pieces of information on what has been going on with the HVCC.  The first came from an appraiser friend in Maryland, who received an email from their state board representative who was at a national meeting of the appraisal foundation.  That email sa...

I was appraising a house a few days ago that was on several acres.  A very nice house in a suburban area, with all the requisite toys - 5,000+sf, great pool with water slide, a separate pool house with wet bar, firepit/conversation area, large playscape, detached studio, etc.  I noticed that ther...

I recently had a question come up regarding an appraisal assignment that I was unsure about, and in trying to find the correct answer I got some insight into why Fannie Mae has some of the problems it does.  I got a request from a client to appraise a house on 5 acres of land.  However, the actua...

I've been reading the articles in the paper and watching the news for the past few days, and I just can't seem to come to terms with this.  My inner conspiracy theorist doesn't have a lot of faith that Hank Paulson is working in the best interests of the common man vs. his Wall Street friends.  T...

First of all, understand that our job is to determine what the value of the house is "as empty", meaning that we don't particularly care how your furniture is arranged, or the quality of your artwork.  However, that being said, we are human and likely prone to making some subconscious interpretat...

Well, we are coming up on the end of another summer of record high temperatures here in Austin, TX - I think a total of 44 days over 100?  I just don't know how appraisers in Phoenix do it (besides very early and very late in the day!)  September will probably add another 2-3 days of 100+ as well...

I've been getting email advertisements lately for a website that "allows" you to register as a "Reverse Mortgage Appraiser".  While I applaud the guy for creating a business, I cannot for the life of me figure out why anyone would pay $150 to "register" (for one county, $50 for additional countie...

Well I've had a fun morning!  I did an appraisal on a fairly complex waterfront property here in Austin last week, which in and of itself was no big deal.  I am familiar with the area and have a good understanding of the complexity.  However, the property was owned by a realtor who was refinancin...