Over the last five years, or so, I have spoken with many in the appraisal profession covering a number of topics that can have significant impact on one’s livelihood, as well as the enhancement of one’s business.

I have learned a great deal about appraising and real estate but I am a writer, and not an appraiser. So, when thinking of a way to bring new ideas and unique perspectives to my audience, I thought what if yours truly went out in the field on property inspections and wore the hat of the appraiser?

Valuation Review contacted Kevin McGreal, of McGreal & Company Real Estate Appraisal Services in Berea, Ohio, to see whether I could discover the world of appraising up close and personal.

On a rather cold, snowy and wintery day, I took to the streets and became an appraiser for the day.

But before venturing out to see the residential properties, there is some desk work that must be addressed. Upon my arrival to McGreal’s office, I watched the veteran appraiser, with 28 years in the business, preparing to gather pertinent information associated with the two houses we would be looking at.

He reminded me that as an appraiser, he can’t disclose anything he sees during the inspection, except to the lender.

“I do the same type of inspection for most jobs, except for those that are Federal Housing Administration (FHA) properties,” McGreal told me.

The first house we appraised was a brick bungalow in Berea, which didn’t require photos of every room in the house, but he still took some interior photos. The other assignment I accompanied McGreal to was a home in Fairview Park, a refinance with photos needed of every single room.

McGreal utilizes Total software from ala mode for writing reports. His website also is hosted by ala mode, which he says generates plenty of leads. He made it clear that he always is busy and there is never a blank space regarding a particular date on the calendar.

McGreal doesn’t have staff; it’s just him and a secretary who works out of her home. She will do the research looking for MLS information, which saves McGreal time.

“When I get the order, I print out data and everything else I need for the inspection of the property,” McGreal said. “I can track everything from jobs, the clients and payment in an excel spreadsheet. I will also get a lot of tax information that I’ll take with me just to have that data available. My secretary will also look up the property deed and other (county) information I’ll need.”

I learned zoning information also is researched, and can be very valuable. McGreal then printed up sketches for the subject properties, which he will compare with the measurements we will take at the properties.

McGreal also put me in his office chair to utilize a specific software program (Spark) to export data into the URAR and the 1004 MC form that gets included into the appraisal report.

I found McGreal keeps it simple as far as his toolbox. He uses a regular measuring tape and, on occasion, tablets to enter data.

“Not everything to me makes sense as far as using automation,” he said. “I find this, and simply writing it down as I go, to work for me.”

McGreal said we’ll roughly put in about four hours completing an appraisal, which includes the office work we did early in the morning, and the actual writing of the appraisal report upon returning from the field. The time it takes to complete an assignment depends upon the complexity of the job.

It’s key to know as much as you can about the property, and then run the preliminary comps to find suitable matches. For the property in Fairview Park, because of the size and location, McGreal only found three matches, which isn’t good. But, he simply expanded his search to other cities that might have similar views that the Fairview Park house enjoys.

“With large houses like this, there is extra time needed on the inspection,” McGreal said. “It’s not hard to find comps, it just takes longer. I’ll have potential comps to photograph with me but as far as the Fairview Park home, for all I know, the owner could have put a lot of money into the upgrades. I save information on all previous sales of the property being appraised.”

McGreal decided on looking at sales of more than $375,000. This home featured three-plus bedrooms, two bathrooms and a basement. The 2,500 square-foot home was built in 1964.

For the Fairview Park home, it was a refinance. This good-sized home had and in-ground pool that overlooked the Metro parks. As I did my walk-through this very impressive home, the owner told us that a lot of work was done on the house – somewhere in the neighborhood of $65,000. It could sell in the area of $500,000, so we pulled comparables and looked at homes in that price range.

Our appraisal ended with a trip to the backyard, where I assisted McGreal in measuring the parameters that surrounded the in-ground pool, as well as noticing something that I thought I would just mention to the appraiser.

We also appraised a brick bungalow home in Berea. This house had no MLS information because it hadn’t been marketed. It featured its original windows and an old-fashioned type one-car garage. It was an inherited property, with tenants renting it since 2009, while the home was built in 1939.

“Tenants are really good at telling you what’s wrong with the property,” McGreal told me. “This is not a typical home for this area of the Berea neighborhood.”

We initially did a quick search based on the parameters available and did a search for the entire city of Berea to find comparables. Narrowing searches down helps to get reasonable, similar sales. For this property, we narrowed the search down to the last 10-plus years, which gave us three comps.

Once we see the house, we’ll go back and look at any searches to see what fits. It’s all based on condition. The tenants have been renting this brick bungalow in Berea since 2010 and want it appraised to possibly look to purchase it, if they can afford it, or the owners will seek an “as is” price and fix it up themselves.

Back at the office, we further discussed automated valuation models, and why McGreal believes such a method of appraising won’t work.

“Lenders and Fannie Mae would like to use more automated appraisals,” McGreal told me, “but an AVM will never get a house, like the one in Fairview Park right, there is just no way. If the average price of a house in your neighborhood works for your loan situation, you’re happy, but if you have the nicest house, you’re not going to be happy with an AVM.”

Since McGreal started appraising in 1992, he was told he’d be out of business by way of technology. He told me that hasn’t happened yet.

“Some say the appraisal process is a bottleneck for the loan process but typically, appraisals are not ordered early in the process, so it’s not really a bottleneck at all,” McGreal said. “Most clients I have give me about five to seven business days to finish, which isn’t a problem. I don’t see appraisers sitting on jobs longer than they need to.”

Upon returning to the office from the field, it was time to examine all of the notes, measurements, sketches and photos we took out in the field. Of course, that was the end of my day, as I turned the duties of the appraisal report over to McGreal. Still, I gained the knowledge of how that report gets written and what needs to be included for the report to not get sent back – the ultimate goal for the appraiser.

This was truly a unique and enlightening day for me. I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and a deeper appreciation for what these professionals do both in the office and out in the field. And although I enjoyed my experience, I gladly removed my hat of the appraiser and returned to my more familiar surroundings consisting of a desktop computer, staff/editor meetings, flying to appraisal conferences, research, interviews and the writing of articles.