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ATTENTION AGENTS!!!

June 7, 2016 by 6 Comments

Attention Agents - The Coyle Group

Attention all Real Estate Agents!  Do you want to stand out from the crowd and really stay in the minds of your clients and prospects?

Well, you’re in luck…its tax appeal season!  For the next few of months homeowners across the Philadelphia region will have a chance to appeal their tax assessments.  This is a great opportunity for real estate agents to reconnect with current clients, old clients and prospects!  It’s also an opportunity to bring real value and show them that you’re not just any-old real estate agent but, a trusted partner who is looking out for their best interest.

Over the next few weeks, try reaching out to your old clients and prospects suggesting that they might want to consider appealing their taxes.  Show them that you’re looking out for them and want to help them save money.  Imagine how happy your client would be if you were able to help them save hundreds or thousands of dollars off their tax bills each year!

If you have any questions on how the assessment and appeal process works (in Philly, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Chester or Berks Counties) or how to figure out if your clients/prospects would be good candidates for an appeal, please feel free to contact our office.

The Coyle Group’s team of Philadelphia appraisers are a leading provider of appraisals for Estate/Probate, Divorce, Bankruptcy, Tax Appeal and Pre-Listing. If you need a guest speaker at your next sales meeting, please give us a call. We would welcome to opportunity to speak to your group and field any appraisal related questions you may have. For more information please visit our website at www.TheCoyleGroupLLC.com You can also contact The Coyle Group at 215-836-5500 or appraisals@coyleappraisals.com

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Ignore the Groundhog, Check this Out!

February 19, 2014 by 4 Comments

The Coyle Group Philadelphia Appraiser - GroundhogAfter what seems like an unrelenting barrage of snow storms, ice storm, polar vortexes, days off from school and the dreaded 2-hour delay, I have some hope to offer.  This is not hope derived from some rodent (yes, a groundhog is a rodent) in a town in the middle of Pennsylvania.  This is hope in form of a visual aide based on historical trends.  Sounds enticing, huh?

Just as we know Spring will come to Philadelphia, we also know that with the warmer weather comes The Spring Selling Season!  This is the annual phenomenon where Buyers and Sellers come out of their wintry hibernation and start moving real estate.  It’s a great time of year for agents and appraisers alike.

In an effort to provide all with hope, I’ve prepared this graph of the Average Sale Price in Philadelphia from January 2000 to January 2014.  The graph clearly shows a growth trend over the past 14 years.  You can see the build-up from 2000 through the peak in the summer of 2006.  You can follow the market downturn from 2006 through 2011.  In 2012, the market appears to begin a slow turn around and incremental movement in a positive direction.

The Coyle Group Philadelphia Appraiser - March Trends 2014

Click on the graph for a larger version.

I’ve highlighted the month of March for each year in yellow to help illustrate my point.  Nearly every year, March marks the beginning of an upward swing in the market.  The red line is a trend line that was added to provide even more hope and good vibes.  Almost every year, the red line shoots up dramatically after the yellow March column.

I’m sure the same will happen this year.  So be hopeful!  The Winter will end, Spring will arrive and the Philadelphia Spring Selling Season will start very soon!

The Coyle Group’s team of Philadelphia appraisers are a leading provider of appraisals for Estate/Probate, Divorce, Bankruptcy, Tax Appeal and Pre-Listing appraisals.  If you need a guest speaker at your next sales meeting, please give us a call.  We would welcome to opportunity to speak to your group and field any appraisal related questions you may have.  For more information please visit our website at www.TheCoyleGroupLLC.com  You can also contact The Coyle Group at 215-836-5500 or appraisals@coyleappraisals.com

 

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Got UAD?

August 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Got UAD?  If you don’t, you certainly will by September 1st, 2011. 

What is UAD you might ask?  Well, UAD stands for Uniform Appraisal Dataset.  It is the new format in which all appraisal reports will be completed if the loan is to be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  The UAD was developed in an effort to standardize appraisal reports and to aide the GSEs (Fannie and Freddie) in better manage their loans and risk.  Since, most loans are sold to Fannie or Freddie, and since the VA and HUD have already agreed to adopt the new UAD format, almost all mortgage appraisals completed on or after September 1st will have to comply. 

The UAD will change the way appraisals are written and make understanding the reports even more complicated for the average homeowner.  Some of the changes are fairly minor; however, 0thers are more significant.  The biggest changes are in how certain data fields are populated.  Fields like Condition, Quality of Construction, Bathroom Count, Lot Size and View will see the most change.

Condition – rather than using terms like “Average” and “Good” to describe a property’s condition there will be a rating scale of C1 – C6.  Each rating will describe a specific degree of condition.  C1 will be at the high end and C6 will be at the low end of the range.

Quality of Construction – like Condition, this field will do away with descriptors like “Stone/Frame/Good” and “Vinyl/Average”.  There will be a quality range with standardized definitions from Q1 – Q6. 

Bathroom Count – the new UAD will standardize the format in which bathroom count is shown in the report.  Before, appraisers might use 2.5 or 2F1H to describe a home with 2 full and 1 half baths.  The new format will be shown as 2.1 baths.  If a property has 3 full and 2 half baths, it will say 2.2 baths.  Not that big a change.

Lot Size – lot size and acreage will be described in whole numbers.  Rather that an appraiser using 16’X 72’ to describe a lot in an urban setting they will use 1152 (square feet).  Acres will look like this, 3.2 to describe 3.20 acres.  Anything less than an acre will be in square feet.

View – the appraiser will have to use one of a number of abbreviations or acronyms to illustrate certain view attributes. They will also have to make a determination as to whether or not the view is “N” (Neutral), “B” (Beneficial) or “A” (Adverse).  So the UAD complaint View field describing a home with a residential, golf course location may look like this “B, Res, GlfCrs”.

Below is a guide that describes the Condition and Quality rating scales, Bathroom Count and some of the new abbreviations for View as well as other fields.

This new format may be confusing at first.  If you have any questions about the UAD or appraisals, please feel free to contact one of the appraisers at our office.

Please note that the UAD will not effect the way appraisals are completed for Divorce, Tax Appeal, Estates/Probate, Pre-Listing valuation, Commercial valuation, QRPTs or for determinations of Fair Market Value.

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Another Reason to get a Pre-Listing Appraisal

April 11, 2011 by 1 Comment

Just the other day, I received a phone call from a Mortgage Broker friend of mine. Yes, appraisers and Mortgage Brokers are still allowed to be friends.

He wanted my input on a situation in which one of his former clients found themselves.  Let’s call them the Utley’s. (For the privacy of the parties involved, I will not use the actual names, streets, pricing or house photo in this post.)  The Utley’s currently have their home listed for sale in Springfield Township, Montgomery County for $345,900.  There home has been on the market for 39 days and they have an offer on the table for $339,000.  The Utley’s are concerned about whether or not they should accept an offer this “low”.

I began buy pulling up the information on the Utley’s home in the MLS and public records.  It is a nice 1939 colonial with three bedrooms, 1.5 baths, approximately 1,500 Sq.Ft.  A very common home in this area.

Then, I took a look at the sales and listing activity in the immediate area for similar homes.  What I found was surprising.  The last three sales in the neighborhood in the past year sold for $370,000, $370, 000 and $412,000.  There are currently two competing listings in the neighborhood listed for $370,000 and $469,900.  The home listed at $469,900 was a larger, four bedroom that was completely renovated, probably not the best comparable.

However, there was also one pending sale right around the corner from the Utley’s.  This house was last listed for $339,900 but, it lacked a powder room and was roughly 220 Sq.Ft. smaller.  It had also been on the market for over 160 days with an original list price of $364,000.

After looking at this information, my question to my Mortgage Broker friend was “why did they list it so low?”

By listing at $345,900, the Utley’s are basically telling the market “Hey, this is my pie-in-the-sky, hope I can get it number…but, I am probably willing to take less!”  The reason they are receiving “low” offers is because they apparently under listed their home, based on available market data.  They (and their agent) may have shot themselves in the foot.

To compound the issue, it turns out, the Utley’s agent is a “friend of the family” (probably not for much longer after this experience) that is a licensed agent but, who is not very familiar with their neighborhood.   In the end, the Utley’s may be leaving thousands of dollars on the table or may have to re-list at a higher price.

This is a perfect example of why Sellers and Agents need to have a Pre-Listing Appraisal completed prior to listing a property.  A Pre-Listing appraisal can assist Sellers and their Agents maximize their selling price without over or under pricing.  If the Utley’s and their Agent had an appraisal of the home done prior to listing they might have developed a different price point and might not be in a situation where they are entertaining such “low” offers.

For information on The Coyle Group’s Pre-Listing Appraisal services, please call our office at 215.836.5500 or visit this link.

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