The expectation is that the house will appraise. Most people are happy when the house appraises. An appraisal is not the way for a purchaser to value a property. Never was; never will be.

My challenge is in knowing that they value that more, but the market doesn’t. Then I have to factor in a lot of other issues all at the same time. Some of the updates actually devalued the property. Would have been better in original condition. The part that needed updating is not done and the part that was updated was done wrong. So they get nothing for their updates.

But given this is a real buyer and a real house, I can’t show the house and it’s particulars even though it would shed a whole lot of light on this thread. That could bring multiple offers by highlighting the home my buyers are making an offer on today. But maybe “when the dust settles” I’ll come back and detail the considerations.

My job in preventing people from overpaying, is to consider how they value things, against how the overall market will value the property when THEY go to sell it. I then tell them what they should do while they live in it, to pick up the value. So they have little to no risk as the current owner left a lot of money “on the table” by improving the wrong things.

Sorry, I went sideways there into reality. But truth is, daylight is not always a good thing. Like a skylight in a master bedroom is not always a plus. Remember our very long days come June in Seattle. Lots of people want that light to get the heck out of their bedroom

I agree w Ardell that you can’t really put a value on a property unless you actually send a knowledgeable person out to view it. Again – Zillow isn’t sending actual people around to account for variations like this and in Pierce CO it seems like they don’t even acknowledge that a basement exists. IMO they should emphasize more of the “estimate” in their zestimate or do away with it all together and keep the price range only.

I have a current basement gripe with the listing for my current neighbors house which states: 4 br/2ba however, no mention is made that two of the “bedrooms” are in a basement with tiny non-egress windows. Perhaps that is why its been 8 months and it hasn’t sold… Maybe the owners are set on a higher price and won’t budge, but I why the listing agent doing what I consider to be false advertising

When I enter a new area, do I “Do as the Roman’s Do? Or do I hold myself to the highest standard I am capable?” Do I succomb to each common practice of each local area, or do I apply a better way if I know one, as a result of my broad geographic experience?

Do I listen to those who say, “But that’s not how WE do it HERE”? That’s why I pay a lot of attention to “consumer-centric” vs. “agent-centric”, even though I’m not sure any of us know EXACTLY what that means, I am getting better at applying that single approach.

It takes a lot of internal combustion and practice though, and it can be a lonely game to play at times.

I have written several articles on valuation techniques for homes in the Seattle Area.

Our mls system doesn’t provide the data fields, but when I am looking at property in the mls, I always click the tax record link that shows me where the square footage is.  Main floor, second floor, basement level is broken down.  Even then, I cannot value a home that has finished basement square footage without viewing the property.

What I don’t understand is why people seem to want to value a property “sight unseen”.  That really has never been possible for agents or appraisers or any one who values property.  Why the need for this function to be a “computer” function?  It really isn’t possible to value a house without seeing it in person.

I agree with you though, and was quite disturbed by it when I first moved to Seattle, especially when buyers, sellers and agents use total square footage as a valuation tool.  That really isn’t appropriate.  An appraiser will assign different price per square foot values.  But there isn’t one magic number for all basements.

Where I’m originally from we valued the house without the “extras”, finished basement being an “extra” and not part of the home valuation initially.  Then you could only add 10% for all extras, like pool, finished basement, more lot than “needed”.  So if a house by its main components valued at $500,000, you couldn’t add more than 10% more, $50,000, for all other extras.  It’s an “old” appraiser’s rule of thumb, and possibly “outdated”, but I find it to still be more accurate than some methods used in this area today.

It is a quirk of the Seatlle Area to try to act like all finished square footage is “created equal”, and appraisers DO NOT do that when they appraise for loan purposes.  So that is your “checks and balances”, if you are financing a house.