Posts by : Alan Donald

With home values fluctuating the way they have in the last three years, appraisers are under increasing scrutiny from government agencies, lenders and mortgage insurance companies. Three years ago it was relatively easy to conduct an appraisal based of recent comparables and escalating property values. Today, the market is very inconsistent, partially because distressed (such as short sales, foreclosures and lender-owned) properties skew the "normal" market and makes value prediction more of an art than a precise science.

What are appraisers looking for in this market? Here are some of the things they are looking for (I have received many calls from appraisers to find out information abo...

It is another sunny day in Charleston! And, contrary to the doom and gloom that we read in the papers every day, our residential real estate market seems to be "moving along" towards a recovery.

INVENTORY - is still coming down slowly. We peaked at 2025 units in July 0f 2007, currently at 1623 units.We are already seeing some For-Sale-By-Owner signs around, so inventory will probably grow in the next two months as sellers try to catch the Spring/Summer buying wave, and decrease during the summer months when those sales close.

UNITS SOLD PER MONTH - we bottomed at 46 units in November last year, and we are back to 93 units for March 2009.

ABSORPTION - Although absorption went up in the ...