Properties impacted by contamination raise challenging and complex appraisal issues, according to a new book from the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers.
“Valuing Contaminated Properties: An Appraisal Institute Anthology, Volume II,” published last week by the Appraisal Institute, was written to help appraisers understand the history and development of widely recognized and generally accepted methods for handling assignments involving contaminated properties.
The 503-page book includes articles, seminar material and professional guidelines on the topic published since 2002, when the first volume of the series was released. There have been major changes in the appraisal profession’s perceptions of contaminated properties in the past 12 years.
“This book is a definitive compilation of accepted appraisal knowledge on an important topic,” Appraisal Institute President Ken Wilson wrote in the book’s foreword. “This updated anthology will help appraisers stay current and look toward a future of evolving strategies for dealing with environmental contamination.”
“Valuing Contaminated Properties: An Appraisal Institute Anthology, Volume II” is divided into chapters covering 10 different topics related to contamination. Practitioners will learn about recent trends in contaminated properties including:
- The accepted understanding that contamination’s impact on value is largely temporary;
- The shifting focus from appraising industrial and commercial source sites to appraising residential properties affected by contamination; and
- The increased availability of online sales data and the new emphasis on using more market data in contamination assignments.
The book is available for $75 ($60 for Appraisal Institute professionals) on the Appraisal Institute’s website.