Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Cohousing Appraisals

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 1/10/2003 4:58 PM, "Mac & Sandy Thomson" <ganesh [at] rmi.net> wrote:

> IMHO, appraisals are kind of a 'make believe' phenomenon anyway to make
> bankers feel good.  A home is really only worth what someone is willing to
> pay for it.

Do interview appraisers.

I had one last spring who had never heard of geothermal heat pumps, DSL
lines, Ethernet connections, high speed wiring, or gas-filled double paned
patio doors. Since he had never heard of them he said buyers wouldn't have
either so they wouldn't value them AND since no one else had them there were
no comparables so they weren't worth anything. He said the same about all
the amenities in the commonhouse, particularly guest rooms. He did say that
he understood why no one was moving out but that was unfortunate because we
would never have comparables.

But these issues have nothing to do with cohousing -- any "strange" real
estate will be difficult to appraise because appraisals are based on the
past, not the future, and on the average, not the unusual. Banks only deal
in sure things.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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