Cohousing-L Mailing List: Appraisals/Real estate : building relationships

[heidinys (heidinys]

Hi,

Another good point, Katie.

We live in a decidedly non-urban setting--then again, we are but 100 miles from 
NYC,   and that does make a difference.  We had an appraiser for a while who 
had known us ( ie various of us here at Cantines Island) as a close family 
friend for years.  that was great.  she went on to a different career-- but 
actually we should ask her for if she has an appraiser friend for the next time 
one is needed.
We have a similar person who is a Real Estate broker.  He loves the idea of 
CoHousing.   

It is probably wise--not that anyone can do One More Thing-- to have a 
connection w folks on Real Estate before needing then.  Perhaps invite one, or 
several to a potluck, or an Open House-- you get the idea.   They can fall in 
love w CoHousing---or, if they do not, you know ahead to do this w a different 
person.

the mortgage terrain is rough right now, and may remain so for a while.  Having 
relationships in place may help folks understand what CoHousing is,  and that 
cannpt hurt.

Ruth
Cantines Island
Saugerties, Ny
Where we love kids, and have one building lot available,  and one wonderful 
compact house, and one larger house.  



Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:47:40 -0800 From: Kathryn McCamant <kmccamant [at] 
cohousingpartners.com>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ appraisals

It is a lot easier to do a cohousing appraisal in a city where there have been 
other new condominiums built. It particularly challenging in more suburban and 
rural areas where there are no nice new condominiums, and anything attached was 
built cheap and is consider quite inferior. We rarely had issues with 
appraisals at Doyle Street Cohousing, but up here in the Sierra Foothills it 
can be a real challenge, and then there was the appraiser for the Senior 
Stillwater Oklahoma commmunity who really had to work hard to try to make any 
sense of it, since there  was nothing like it
in the State. It really helps if you can educate your local appraisers.

Katie 
Nevada City Cohousing
-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect CoHousing Partners, LLC 241 Commercial 
Street Nevada City, CA 95959 T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousingpartners.com

On Jan 31, 2014, at 4:23 PM, Kathryn McCamant wrote:


If it is the appraiser, or the banks underwriter that is giving extra
review to the appraisal, that is charging more that is probably justified.
Since 2009 residential appraisers are working under very strict guidelines
and relatively low fees. In most of the communities I am familiar with,
its hard to make sense of sales prices on the standard appraisal check
lists and costs per square foot pricing conventional homes are appraised
on. For example, the box they check for a "club house" is does not equate
to the 3000-4000+ square feet we have in our common houses--not unusual to
be more than 100 sf/unit . I would much rather pay a little more for a
better appraisal that justifies the price (and cohousing is more expensive
to create), than have to deal with the aftermath of a bad, low priced
appraisal. 

Katie 
Nevada City Cohousing
Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect CoHousing Partners, LLC
241 Commercial Street Nevada City, CA 95959 T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousingpartners.com