Special Use Appraisal Interview

Zack Kaufman

Fin 181

Dr. Hansz

Special Use Appraisal Interview

For blog post assignment two I interviewed Tom Austin. Tom is a commercial appraiser of mainly office buildings but also appraises special use commercial buildings. Tom is very meticulous and detailed in his work and passionate about what he does. However, Tom is very careful when approached with special use appraisal projects. He knows what he is specialized in and if a special use property is too far outside of his specialty, he will often refer it to someone else to assure the best and most appropriate opinion of value is stated to that client. The property that we discussed is a trade school called Gayland College.

To start Tom is an Alumni of Fresno State getting his degree in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics in 1987. However, had been working for an appraiser since 1985 while he was attending college and once he graduated he never looked back. His passion for appraisal led his to be a Certified General Appraiser and a member of MAI.

The property Tom appraised was a 8,358 sq. ft. C-P building in Fresno. A bank came to Tom for a particular appraisal problem. The bank needed a building appraised for financial purposes. The college pursued a loan, so the bank needed to see how much the building was worth so they could work out the numbers with their client. Tom Austin’s problem was determining his opinion of value of the property. It was a school inside a building zoned for general commercial. (C-P).

Tom had to decide how he would appraise this building and what approaches he would use. The property was built in 1950 but renovated in 2000. Tom concluded its effect age was 20 years, not the whole 61 years of its existence. After determining the highest and best use of the property was in-fact a school, he proceeded with the project. He considered other possibilities of its use but any changes needed accommodations that would make its use less feasible. So with that in place, the real only best and most accurate appraisal approach would be sales comparisons. In Tom’s comparison approach he used six comparable properties. Two Dare care facilities, Two Churches, and two office complexes all of similar characteristics. In his appraisal report he arranged everything and made his adjustments as the subject property compared to the comparables. Then came to his reconciliation point. The final number at what the property is worth is not relevant. The important parts of our conversation were what he was thinking and what his methods were when he appraised this building. Why he made some adjustments here where he did, and what he reasoning was.

The project Mr. Tom Austin took on was not an easy one that any ordinary person could do. It took a skilled and experienced veteran. Because it was an appraisal of a school it made the circumstances different that that of an average office complex. Just because it was used as a school rather then a typical office, made his choices and actions much more complex. As Tom Stated, the Appraisal process is there for a reason, and if you follow it you should come to a reasonable answer.