Most of my career was spent on the other side of the desk, reading other appraisers' reports and deciding whether they were defensible. Thousands of them. That is the experience counsel is buying here, applied either to developing an opinion that will be attacked or to taking apart one that should be.
What this assignment is scoped to do, stated before you engage.
I cannot accept an assignment where the fee or the engagement depends on reaching a particular number, and I will not take direction on a conclusion. This is stated first because it is the question opposing counsel will ask first.
That restriction is what makes the work worth retaining. A number that can be influenced is a number the other side can dismiss without ever reaching the evidence.
When a report gets challenged, it is almost never the number that fails. It is the support behind the number. The comparable that was not really comparable. The adjustment with no stated basis. The effective date that quietly drifted. The scope of work that was never defined, so it can be characterized however the questioner likes.
I know where reports come apart because taking them apart was my job for years, across six states and thousands of files. I write mine so those questions have answers already on the page, which is a different exercise from writing one that merely reaches a defensible number.
If you have an opinion of value you believe is wrong, a review examines whether the work was properly developed and adequately supported. It is a different assignment from a new appraisal and it answers a different question.
A review will not simply produce a number you prefer. It will tell you whether the report in front of you holds together, which is frequently more useful, and occasionally the answer is that it does.
Depositions, hearings, and trial testimony are separate assignments from the appraisal. They are billed at an hourly rate with a minimum, arranged in advance, and governed by their own agreement.
Billing starts when I leave my door. A day in court is a day whether it is spent testifying or waiting to testify, and scheduling one means declining other work for that date.
The workfile is retained for at least five years, and longer where a matter is pending. Assume it is discoverable and assume it will be read.
That expectation shapes how the file is built from the first day of the assignment rather than being addressed once a subpoena arrives. It is a good deal cheaper to build a clean file than to explain a messy one.
A lender form report runs about 20 pages, with 2 to 6 pages of grids depending on the property, then photographs and maps. In a narrative report the written analysis alone commonly runs 40 pages or more.
In a contested matter that written analysis is the exhibit. A grid without stated reasoning gives a cross-examiner room to characterize the work however suits the question, and the written support is what closes that room. It is a general comparison rather than a promise about any one assignment.
Intended use, intended users, and effective date are defined when the assignment is defined. Those three things are what make a report usable, and they cannot be retrofitted.
If a report may need to serve two purposes, or if someone additional will need to rely on it, say so at the start. It is often easy to accommodate up front and impossible to fix afterward.
Who does the work. I have been in the business since 1997 and licensed as an appraiser since 2000. I have been a field appraiser and Chief Review Appraiser at two national appraisal management companies, I ran an appraisal desk reviewing other appraisers' work, and I have done litigation work. That is what I bring to your house and to the report.
The walk-through. Most appraisers photograph a house and leave without speaking to anyone. I walk it with you, tell you what I am looking at and why it moves the number, and answer your questions on the spot.
I measure the house myself, to the ANSI standard, and never use the county's square footage. From those measurements I draw a professional floor plan sketch, and it is yours to keep and use at no extra charge. Most owners have never been given one.
Your privacy. The report goes only to you and anyone you name. It is not submitted to any data portal, it is not reported to the county, it does not affect your tax assessment, and it never appears in MLS or the public record.
No need to clean. Whether the dishes are done does not touch the value. I am appraising the structure and the quality of its finishes. Interior photographs are taken in every room because a credible report requires them, and personal photographs, religious items and anything personal are blurred or cropped out.
A narrative, not a form. Most people get a six to ten page checkbox form. The numbers are there but the reasoning is not: you cannot tell why a comparable was chosen or where an adjustment came from. Mine covers the same nuts and bolts with the reasoning written out, held to the standard that another appraiser could follow the work and arrive where I did.
Yes. Depositions, hearings, and trial testimony are separate assignments from the appraisal, billed at an hourly rate with a minimum and arranged in advance under their own agreement.
Billing starts when I leave my door. A day in court is a day, whether it's spent testifying or waiting to.
Yes. If you have an appraisal you believe is wrong, a review examines whether the work was properly developed and adequately supported.
A review is a different assignment than a new appraisal, and it answers a different question.
You will reach Scott directly. Expect questions about intended use and effective date before a fee is quoted.
Discuss a litigation matter