The most recent GCAR GIG was the platform for an announcement about a welcome addition to the MLS: an appraiser database. Wells Eady of Eady Appraisal Services said the upcoming feature will place accurate appraisal data in the hands on Realtors, enabling them to serve their clients even better.
Many Realtors use tax records when determining the list price for a house. However, because local tax records tend to be “all over the board,” as Eady says, an agent will sometimes list a house for too much money because he or she did not base the price on the home’s true dimensions – which appraisers are trained to determine using specific guidelines and techniques.
“I’ve seen tax accessor data in Chattanooga include porches, decks and even a driveway. The house was 1.500 square feet, but it was measured at close to 3,000 square feet because of the driveway,” Eady says.
Inaccurate data can lead to trouble for Realtors. For example, an agent might find a buyer for a client who’s selling his house, but when the official appraisal determines the home contains less square footage than the tax record shows, the buyer could insist on a lower price – and threaten to walk if he doesn’t get it.
“We’re starting to see deals fall through because of that. So Realtors and appraisers agreed something needed to be put together,” Eady says.
The “something” of which Eady speaks will be an additional report on the MLS listing for a house. Eady got the idea while working in Atlanta on a residential appraisal database. Through his contacts at the appraisers association in Birmingham, Ala., Eady learned that the company that developed and maintains the Chattanooga MLS, Solid Earth, had implemented a feature that allows users to add fields to the system and then plug in the desired data.
“We can take it a step farther and not only put in the measurements of a house but also the room count, the number of square feet on the first floor, the percentage of the basement that’s finished and more,” Eady says.
Realtors in turn can use this data to determine the most accurate price for a home.
Eady says he and the other appraisers working on putting the system in place should be ready to launch it on October 18. Also, the Association has offered to hire a temporary employee to enter information local appraisers are willing to have placed in the system. Eady plans to have the data pertaining to the 5,000 or so houses he’s measured added to the system.
“This has been an issue for several years, but the need for accurate data is greater now than it has ever been.”