APPRAISER STORIES
IN THE TRENCHES…
APPRAISER STORIES
You’ve all got them…. The crazy car chases, the surprising living
conditions, the exotic assignments, and the unique collectors. Here are
a few of your stories we found to be buzzworthy.
An attorney for the husband engaged me to
appraise a home for upcoming divorce
proceedings. Instructions: Current AS IS market
value and current AS IS rental value. Arrangements
were made through the wife. All the bedrooms had
been rented to tenants. She tried to deny interior
access. I explained that it was necessary and asked
her to call her attorney. Her attorney instructed her
to grant me full access. Each bedroom had a
rudimentary illegal kitchen. The original kitchen had
44 | APPRAISAL BUZZ FALL 2019
no cabinets or appliances because she had sold
them on Craig’s List. Can lights and speakers in the
living and family rooms had been pulled out and sold
on Craig’s list. Two sets of French Doors replaced by
plywood on hinges had been pulled out and sold on
Craig’s list. The place reeked of cannabis and had
ashtrays with cannabis ashes all over the place (not
uncommon here in California). The garage had a 4 by
4 roughly sawed hole in the ceiling and it appeared
to have carpet over the opening above. When I got
to the bedroom over the garage, there was a 4 by 4
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
over the throw rug, I would have fallen into the
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
creating the hole, someone had sawed right through
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
asked her what had happened. The wife said she had
rented to a person who turned out to be a meth user
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
”Craig’s List.” She locked his belongings in his room
and changed the lock, hoping to collect back rent
in exchange for the belongings. One day while she
was at the grocery store, he broke into the garage
and used the husband’s chain saw to cut the hole
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
need contractor’s estimates for repairing the hole
and structural issues, as well as re-install the original
kitchen and remove 4 illegal kitchens, patch all the
holes, and replace the missing lights. What is the “as
is” market rent for a house with no kitchen, a hole in
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
that it was zero. The court agreed.
��������������������������������