Appraisal Articles

Can you believe it?

Coming back from doing an appraisal today, I was driving down the road and I had to pass a car pulled off on the shoulder, there were bits of tires shredded on the road, and two women standing by the car. I passed them, but slowed down to look in my rear view mirror to see if they needed help. As I watched in the rear view mirror, the car they were standing by began to roll down the road towards the pond at the bottom of the hill. I should have stopped to see if I could help, but I figured with the two of them running after the rolling car headed for the pond, there was probably very little that a five month pregnant person could do to help...

Can you believe it?

I am usually more helpful, it is the Southern girl in me, but these days situations like this are so common place I have become immune. I see weird stuff everyday, even though these days I am doing less active appraisals and more in office reviews. And I bet you do too, so I challenge appraisers out there to send me some stories of the crazy things we see on the roads and in homes.

People ask me all the time, “Don’t you get sick of looking at houses?” And I have to answer, “No, every house is different and I learn something or see something new in every one…”

I did an appraisal on a house one time in Middlesex, and I had to use my clipboard as a counter. I held it close so the owner would not see, and used it to keep track of how many animals were INSIDE the house. I counted 4 horses and 6 dogs outside the house, but that was nothing compared to the inside. They had 8 birds from cockatoos to pigeons, then they had 32 cats! It was unbelievable. I opened a bathroom door, and oh excuse me, this is our nursery for the kittens… 8 in that room.

I swear I opened a closet and there was a cat stuck on the top shelf. Evidently they raised Maine Coons and Sphinxes and planned to use the money from their refinance to purchase an RV with which they could travel WITH THE CATS to various shows and events to sell and display their various litters! I kid you not. You can’t make this stuff up, it is too real…

Send me your wildest and craziest stories, please email me.

Amanda Rivera