Alexander “Sandy” Grice, 71, has been appraising for almost a half-century, so it is fair to say he has seen and done a lot within the profession. Specializing in litigation valuation, Grice also dives into shipyards, airports, historic properties and some “unusual” real estate.
“I have been an appraiser for almost a half century, specializing in litigation valuation, as well as shipyards, airports, railroads, historic properties and some truly unusual real estate,” Grice, a Virginia resident now retired, told Valuation Review. “For example, the only shipyard in the nation capable of building submarines and nuclear aircraft carriers, an island migrating at 23 feet per year, or ‘an engineering wonder of the world’ for 1856 come to mind.
“Additionally, I’ve dealt with eight parcels that became entire state parks, several hundred properties for the route of the Appalachian Trail literally from one end of the state to the other,” he added. “Sometimes, it's necessary to search rather far afield for 'comps' like Australia and Canada for a coal export terminal, or everywhere for a blimp hangar.”
Grice said how he found the perfect comparable in those pre-internet days is a mystery to him, but there was an exact duplicate in Oregon (Tilamook). He called up the buyer trying to confirm the sale, but the buyer thought Grice was a spy for a competing blimp company and was somewhat hesitant to reveal any facts to the veteran appraiser.
Grice pointed out that with such unusual, non-traditional properties, sometimes finding the units of comparison took some creative thought.
“For the Chesapeake Light Tower 15 miles off Virginia Beach, that unit of comparison turned out to be the number of beds,” he said. “Four other lighthouses in the area sold, all bought by guys wanting a really neat place to hang out, hence, the number of beds. Of course, ownership would be limited to those who could afford a helicopter.... I hitched a ride out with some NASA guys who had some experiments our there (wind energy related) and I spent several hours walking around whacking everything with a ball peen hammer. If it 'rang,’ I figured the steel was structurally safe. If it went 'thunk', I backed away slowly. It was 70-plus feet down the Atlantic, with no way to get back aboard.
“GSA was the client, but after my inspection I wanted to see how much research was involved,” Grice added. “They decided they were going to offer it up in a sealed-bid auction, hence no need for an appraisal.”
While the company A.P. Grice & Son was founded by Grice’s father and named after his grandfather in 1953, Grice joined it in 1974 after the Peace Corps - a wells project in North Africa. Grice’s grandfather was one of the original developers of Virginia Beach, and it was the oldest appraisal company outside of Richmond.
“My first appraisal was a marina that was being ‘over-flown’ by an interstate highway,” Grice noted. “No physical real estate to speak of, but loss of riparian lands was evident. The solution was the capitalized loss of income from berthing slips that could no longer be rented or accessed. For the aforementioned engineering wonder, it’s the Claudius Crozet Tunnel under Rockfish Gap that has just opened as a rails-to-trails project. I was able to use cost, market and income approaches for a hole in the ground.
“It was a straight income valuation, as just compensation was computed by the capitalized rental loss from slips that could no longer be accessed,” Grice added. “No one seems to need appraisals of this sort anymore. Indeed, the Virginia Department of Highways, who used to be our biggest client, aren’t doing much ‘new’ work anymore.”