Appraisal & Consulting

Maine Chapter of the Appraisal Institute update - by Donald MacKay

A goal for the Maine Chapter of Appraisal Institute has been to improve the number and quality of our educational offerings, with an eye to attracting appraisers from other regions to our courses. With the bank thresholds increasing, technological changes, and various market and regulatory changes,

Bifurcated appraisals – A way to cut costs? - by Shaun Fitzgerald

Does anyone remember when mortgage operatives required that only certified appraisers could inspect a property? Trainees (with a minimum of 45 hours of appraisal-specific education) couldn’t inspect a property without supervision; licensed was not good enough either.

What is “green” and how does it affect appraisals? - by Sean Sargeant

My hometown has an environmentally friendly laundromat. How do I know? They have a huge banner stretched over the front door that states “ECO-Laundry.” In addition, the letters are all printed in bright green. I mean, what could be more reassuring about their commitment to the environment

Self-storage and economic development - by Albert Franke

We all have too much stuff. Some of us are hitting the age when we are downsizing and in doing so, need somewhere to store all of that stuff. Millennials, many of whom are deferring home purchases and prefer apartment living, need extra storage for their belongings.

Appraising and underwriting during periods of inflection - by David Kirk

Market inflections are a challenge for both the appraiser and underwriter in the commercial property markets. Economic and property market trends are used for forecasting, and forecasting methodologies are often relied upon in commercial property markets.

Opportunity Zones: A good bet, but still a bet - by Daniel Calano

Most of you probably know what an opportunity zone is. I’ll do a brief rundown and then focus on the opportunities for real estate development and the potential risks. Briefly, opportunity zones were created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Southern Maine’s current appraisal environment & challenges (or, drinking through the fire hose) - by Russell Barrows

The current residential appraisal environment in Southern Maine continues to be challenging, but mostly in a managing the near overwhelming workload. This appears to be directly related to a combination of extremely favorable interest rates as well as what is normally higher demand during a typical, yearly appraiser “cycle.”

Common sense in 2019 - by Bill Pastuszek

This article was originally written in 2015. Seems like a long time ago. Interestingly how everything changes there are some fundamental concepts that don’t. A lot of economic behavior takes place based on a lack of knowledge and judgment and over-reliance on habit, benchmarks, or other factors founded

Appraising cold storage and food processing facilities - by Thomas Jensen

It is important for an appraiser to understand the difference between cold storage and food processing facilities compared to other forms of more traditional warehouse and manufacturing plants. The appraiser first needs to identify their unique physical characteristics

Evaluations – Are they an alternative to an appraisal? - by Shaun Fitzgerald

Financial regulators have raised from $250,000 to $400,000 the threshold at which an appraisal is required. The wisdom of that decision may not be decided until we have another crash. In the meantime, appraisal clients might serve themselves well by understanding the difference