Your name saw this post on The ActiveRain Real Estate Network and thought it might be of interest to you. Please see the link below to review the post.

Baton Rouge Appraiser Responds: Subjective Views can kill a deal
Recently, the Washington Post and Ken Harney published, "Appraiser's subjective view can kill a deal despite accord by buyer and seller", see link at bottom.  In this article, it talks about recent studies of adjustments to comparable sales used in appraisals and categorizes adjustments into two camps: objective and subjective. Dictionary definitions tend to lump objective into "the facts" versus subjective more into an Appraiser's opinion or personal bias.  

Image Source: Washington Post

OBJECTIVE ADJUSTMENTS are outlined in pink highlight: living area size, lot size, # of baths and bedrooms, etc.  In truth, some objective characteristics (the facts) can be adjusted on an Appraiser's opinion or interpretation of the market.  Please note that I'm color blind and highlight could be pink or green or some other color. 
SUBJECTIVE ADJUSTMENTS can be these in yellow highlight: location, quality, condition and perhaps age.

My comments below don't excuse Appraisers. We do need to be better, take time to analyze more thoroughly and know how to do so whether using pivot tables, regression, etc..  The "Public Trust" rests upon our valuations as Phil Crawford speaks of on the Voice of Appraisal podcast.  However, I hope it exposes some of the challenges Appraisers face in a low inventory ... more

__________________________________________________
Are you on The Rain? Grow Your Network!