I went searching the blogs for some second or third opinions as I was evaluating a Dade County Pine fully restored home (center picture) that I have listed in Okeechobee, Florida and found none...so can we talk???? As a Real Estate agent in this small town of 37,000, I have run into this problem before on a few different levels. It has to do with finding comparables, when there are really few or none....and when finding them... having them be palatible to the banks or buyers or even other realtors. This problem bares studying a bit and I could use some opinions from others that work with unique houses.
Take for example this 1940 Dade County Pine fully restored home (center picture) that I currently have listed in one of the better neighborhoods of Okeechobee. It was originally built by William Evans who owned most of the property on the East side of Taylor Creek. He was a developer and began breaking off chunks of land for development, generally in the 60's-70's. He kept doing that until all he had left was his 0.30 acres homestead on the edge of his developments. In the last few years, a developer bought on the back side of the house and put up $400-$500K houses. What does that leave???? A 1940 house sandwiched between 1970 block ranch style homes (left picture) and 2006 block modern new homes on the other side (right picture) . There is not another one like it.....except for say...on the other side of town in the old part of Okeechobee and many of those are not restored, like my subject.
I spoke with some appraisers and got different answers. One appraiser said he would strictly stay in the neighborhood and compare the house to the 70's block homes. He admitted that it would be tricky, giving a value to basically an irreplacible treasure. You can't find 2 x 6 construction these days!! The other appraiser who said he knew the house (it's unforgetable) said that he would look in the neighborhood, but would also go out of the neighborhood to try to find something comparable....but most likely that would lead to a review appraisal by the bank.
Problem 1. Banks don't like comparables too far away or a different house they can't wrap up and place in their portfolio of drones.
Problem 2. Appraisers are bound by their strict guidelines, and have to make the subject even though it's a round peg, fit in the square hole.
Problem 2. Realtors who havent run into this problem, like me up until now, need to study this a bit,...When I studied this house I was ... surprisingly the older homes with character and charm (not a drone) are really holding their value more than some other homes in this tumbling market.
I have a friend that has a 1915 house with all the same kind of charm as my listing. Her and I went driving around town, looking at all the older wood frame homes that have sold in the last year, most of which are Dade County Pine or they would not have made it this long. We were surprised at the sales prices.
-
One in particular was very close, it had the same lot size, and the same square footage, however it was not fully restored and had one bathroom and was slightly inferior location. It sold for $120,000.
-
Another was a nice location, small lot, tiny house (1/2 sq. ft.) and one bathroom, but fully restored, sold for $110,000.
- My listing (subject) is fully restored with three bathrooms and a terriific location, which I think makes my $159,000 sound pretty good, since I can definitely see $39,000 worth of improvements. I'd like to think the appraiser will see that too, but if he compares it to the dozens of 1970 unrestored houses next door I think weeez in trouble.
These are other shots of the subject. It is really unique.
If you have thoughts on the subject, I'd appreciate your comments......
Comments(0)