The Birmingham Alabama MLS (Multiple Listing Service) has recently added an option for Realtors to list GLA (gross living area) for their listings. The new feature will go live on August 2, 2010. Realtors are given an option of entering GLA data obtained from an appraiser, building plans, or tax records.
The first two sources are reliable, however tax records can be tricky in our area. I have found that tax records are most accurate with one level homes that are either on a slab, crawlspace, or that may have some unfinished basement. It is less accurate with homes that have a second story and/or finished area in the basement. These areas are difficult to determine without going into the home. To complicate matters, the county is not notified of some improvements, making their records potentially inaccurate.
If a previous appraisal or plans are not available I suggest the realtor obtain the services of a qualified appraiser to measure their listing so they can present the most accurate information possible. There are standards for measuring homes that have guidelines for what is counted as livable space and what is not. The appraiser you choose should be familiar with these. I offer this service to all Realtors in the Birmingham, Alabama area. The fee is based on the size of the home and in addition to getting the square footage information you also get a floor plan sketch with location of rooms. This sketch can be included in your listing. A more detailed drawing is available for a slightly higher fee if this is desired.
My question to all Realtors is this: would you be interested in getting accurate GLA of your home to provide to your buyers and make your listings stand out by having a sketch of the home? If you have any questions please give me a call at 205-243-9304 and I would be happy to answer them for you.
Tags:Appraiser·Birmingham Alabama MLS·Birmingham MLS·GLA·House Measuring·How to measure a house·Thomas Horn·Tom Horn
The short answer to this question is “no”. You may think this is an odd topic for a post but I get asked this question more than any other, and it is usually asked by the lady of the house. I normally take pictures of every room because it helps me to remember things about the house (in addition to my written notes), and more and more banks are requiring us to include interior photos in our reports.
I like to inform the homeowner that I will be taking pictures during the inspection so they can straighten up if they 
want to. That is when I get asked this question. I explain to them that the photos help readers of the report to know exactly what condition the home was in at the time of the inspection. The lenders are more concerned with the physical condition of the home such as holes in the walls or ceilings, etc. as opposed to whether a bed is made. This usually results in a sigh of relief. So don’t sweat it if an appraiser is coming to your home. If you don’t have time to make that bed or pick up the laundry it won’t hurt your appraisal value.
Tags:alabama appraisals·appraisal requirements·Property condition·property damage
July 18th, 2010 by Tom Horn · Property Taxes
If you live in Jefferson County, Alabama please don’t forget about your property tax assessments, which came out at the beginning of July. It is a good idea to check the value that the county has your house assessed at. If you believe it is too high it is possible to contest the value, but you have to do it by July 3o, 2010.
Knowing what homes in your neighborhood sold for can help you make an educated guess as to whether you may want to contest its value. It is also possible that the county has the heated and cooled living area of your home listed incorrectly which can result in an inaccurate assessment value. Please give me a call if you have any questions about your assessment.
Tags:2010 Property Taxes·Birmingham Property Taxes·Birmingham Tax Appeals·Contest Property Taxes·Dispute Property Taxes·How to appeal property taxes in Jefferson County·Jefferson County Assessor Office·Property Tax Assessments in Jefferson County·property tax reduction in Jefferson County
I got the chance to head down to Clanton, Alabama recently. I have had a lot of work lately in quite a few different places and last week I had an assignment in Clanton. In case you don’t know, Clanton produces some of the best tasting peaches around. You can buy these peaches from any farmers market or roadside stand, and I highly recommend them. They make great peach ice cream or even peach cobbler.
Peaches are so important to this areas economy that they built a water tower to celebrate it. The tower is 120 feet tall and holds 500,000 gallons of water. It is a site to behold.
In addition to the peach industry this area has a lot of farm land. It was nice to check out the countryside, and a lot less hectic than the city! Check out some of the sights!
Tags:Alabama·Appraisal·barn·Clanton·farm land·peaches
Well, once again the most expensive home sale for June is from the Mountain Brook area. As I have noted in previous posts this area is one of the most exclusive and expensive in the state of Alabama. Overall, homes sales over $500,000 have suffered in the Birmingham, Alabama market, however these luxury homes always seem to have adequate buyers. This months home is located at 3214 Pine Ridge Road and it sold for $2,550,000. It features a pool and a home theater among other things. The home was designed by renowned architect Ed Bailey. You can see and aerial view of it here.
Tags:Birmingham Alabama·Birmingham Alabama Market trends·Birmingham Alabama Property Values·High Dollar home sales·Luxury Homes·Mountain Brook Alabama
Have you heard that saying? I have been fortunate lately to be very busy at work , which is a blessing in today’s economy. I recently had an assignment at Lay Lake, in Shelby County, Alabama. I do a fair amount of work in this area but none recently. Contrary to the title of this post I was able to have a good day at the lake and work. For those not familiar with the lake it is located approximately thirty-five minutes south of Birmingham, Alabama in Shelby County. It is a 12,000 acre reservoir that was created for hydroelectric generation and recreation. The Bass Masters Classic was held here this year.
Property values in this area are holding steady compared to other locations, however there appears to be an oversupply of inventory which could cause values to start to drop. Property types range from small fish camps with manufactored homes to large water front acreage. This is a beautiful area that you should try to visit if you ever get the chance.
On my way home from the inspection I saw this guy trying to cross the road. My trip to Lay Lake was a refreshing break from the typical inspections I have in town. You can learn more about Lay Lake here.
Tags:Alabama·Alabama fishing lakes·fishing·lake real estate·lake values·Lay Lake·Shelby County Alabama
June 12th, 2010 by Tom Horn · Appraisal
This post was prompted by a survey I saw on the AppraisalPort website. The survey question asked appraisers if they worked at a second job to supplement their regular appraisal income. It seems with the slow real estate market and the implementation of the HVCC last year, business has slowed down for a lot of folks or income has dwindled as a larger share goes to the Appraisal Management Companies (AMC’s) . The survey showed that of approximately 5,000 voters, 30% felt like they would have to supplement their current income with another job in the near future. Almost 18% currently have another job, and 8% take on another job when work slows down. If you add these figures up, you have almost 56% of appraisers who are currently working a 2nd job or will have to soon.
I have noticed a slow down in the appraisal work I do for mortgage lending and income as well, so I am attempting to take a proactive role and diversify my client base. In addition to mortgage lending there are other “non traditional” appraisal services that I offer. These include marketing appraisals (for FSBO sellers as well as Realtors), tax appeal appraisals, appraisals for bankruptcy, estate planning, foreclosure appraisals, and PMI reductions (although this has slowed down recently due to falling property values).
How about you? Have you taken on a second job or plan to? Have you diversified your appraisal services? If you have diversified what type of appraisal work are you doing? I would be interested in hearing from you.
Tags:appraisal diversification·bankruptcy appraisals·estate planning·foreclosure appraisals·hvcc·marketing appraisals·PMI reduction·tax appeal appraisals
I’ve talked about foreclosure properties in previous posts and how they are providing competition to non foreclosure properties. It really is something you have to consider when pricing your home. As appraisers we look at past sales and current active inventory. If there are other properties for sale that are similar to yours and in good shape, typical buyers will consider them when looking at available homes, even though they are foreclosure properties. The only saving grace for those selling non foreclosure homes is that banks are dragging their feet in the sales process and it takes forever for the transaction to occur. Some people want to be in a home quicker.
I looked at a home recently that falls into this category, and I thought I would post some pictures to compare what it looks like compared to another “traditional” foreclosure which is in a run down condition that we are more accustomed to seeing.
Below, I have also included another foreclosure, which we are more accustomed to seeing. This home is actually better than some I have seen. As I have said before, properties similar to the one above are starting to be more predominant than the one below.
What do you think about foreclosure homes competing with “normal” home sales. Have you seen this in your market? Are you seeing nicer foreclosures these days?
Tags:Alabama Market trends·Alabama Real Estate Market Trends·Foreclosures·Market Trends
June 1st, 2010 by Tom Horn · Market Trends
This months most expensive home sale reported by the Birmingham Multiple Listing Service is located on Red Mountain in the Redmont area of Birmingham, Alabama. The home sold for $2,700,000. It was built in 1922 and is situated on six acres. This area has a lot of historical homes with beautiful architecture. It has a great view of the Birmingham, AL skyline. It seems like as the year moves along the highest priced home sale keeps going up. This may be a good sign. Here is a view from the Bing website. What do you think, pretty nice huh?
Tags:Birmingham Alabama·Birmingham Alabama Market trends·Birmingham Alabama Property Values·High Dollar home sales·Luxury Homes·Redmont Birmingham
June 1st, 2010 by Tom Horn · Market Trends
There is good news for the Birmingham, AL real estate market. Home sales showed a positive trend in April 2010, over 2009. The Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACRE) reported that April sales were at 1,061, compared to 887 for last year. The first time home-buyer tax credit most likely had a lot to do with the increase in numbers. In addition, both building permits and housing starts were up 11.4% and 27.4% respectively. The average and medium sales price were down however. As noted in previous posts, this decrease in average and medium sales price could be due to the amount of foreclosure and short sales that have continued to enter the market.
In light of the lower prices, the Birmingham, AL area is experiencing positive trends in the number of both new and existing sales as well as new construction. Hopefully this will continue into the 2nd quarter and the rest of the year. Have you seen positive trends as well? I’d like to hear from you about what you have seen.
Tags:Alabama Market trends·Birmingham AL price trends·home prices·home sales trends·Home Values·homesales·sales trends
