How much is a swimming pool worth in Baton Rouge Shenandoah Estates?

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So, in Baton Rouge’s largest subdivision, Shenandoah Estates, how much is a swimming pool worth? Or, how much extra value does a pool add? My late and long-time friend and REALTOR, Pat Guttery, said a pool is an investment in family fun, not necessarily an a monetary investment where homeowners should expect a decent return on cost because pools are not necessarily investments. Shenandoah Estates is so large with perhaps 2800 homes, Google Maps labels it a city or town and provides a large enough sample of sales to derive interesting data on home features. When describing “pool”, I’m talking Continue reading How much is a swimming pool worth in Baton Rouge Shenandoah Estates?→

How do Baton Rouge Appraisers judge percent of home construction completion percentage?

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Ever wondered what Appraisers use to report to Banks what percentage of construction has been completed for a draw inspection? Download is below PDF: PROGRESS REPORT OF BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION Percentage Checklist Home Appraisers use for draw inspections. I’m adding this here after a question this morning: How do I know when an under construction has reached 90% completion? Attached form is based on points per item completed with the goal to reach 100 at bottom. During “draw inspections”, Banks or Lenders have Appraisers go out to make 3 to 5 inspections and report back the percentage of build progress. Continue reading How do Baton Rouge Appraisers judge percent of home construction completion percentage?→

Greater Baton Rouge Real Estate Home Appraisal assignments for the week of May 14 2017

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Greater Baton Rouge Real Estate Home Appraisal assignments for the week…you know that Beach Boys song “I get around, get around, I get around…”? Well, that’s the life of a Greater Baton Rouge Home Appraiser…we’re all over the place! In East Baton Rouge, home appraisal assignments in subdivisions Monticello, Round Oak, Broadmoor, Walden, Shady Hollow, Zachary’s new DSLD Cedar Bend subdivision. Within West Baton Rouge, The Gates At The Oaks, Sugar Mill Plantation and Sugar Hollow and taking comparable photos in Esperanza Estates. Within Ascension Parish, appraisals in The Fields Subdivision and the new DSLD Hidden Farms Subdivision off Jefferson Continue reading Greater Baton Rouge Real Estate Home Appraisal assignments for the week of May 14 2017→

What’s Going On In O’Neal Place After Great Flood of August 2016

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What’s Really Going On In O’Neal Place After Great Flood of August 2016 and Why? So far in 2017, sold prices are 30% higher than pre-flood! Will this post-flood recovery create a paradigm shift of improvement for the subdivision? It could take a couple of years to complete and a new direction may be possible within! Yes, O’Neal Place, being located very near the Amite River flooded severely during the “Great Flood” of August 2016 with flood water levels between 4.4 to 4.8 feet high and leaving dozens of empty homes where either tenants or owners just walked away. For Continue reading What’s Going On In O’Neal Place After Great Flood of August 2016→

Who Owns The Baton Rouge Home Appraisal?

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Explaining the confusion of who owns a Greater Baton Rouge home appraisal for a home mortgage.  No, it’s not OK for you the buyer of a home to believe you can “shop” for a better home loan deal once you’ve applied for a mortgage with one lender and they’ve ordered their appraisal you’ve paid for…  You can, just realize that lender’s appraisal is not “transferable” to another lender should you find a better lending deal, perhaps one with lower closing cost or a better rate. And, if you apply for a home loan with that second lender for the same Continue reading Who Owns The Baton Rouge Home Appraisal?→

Baton Rouge Appraiser Photos From The Field – Walking Away and Rebuilding NICE

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These are the some of the Greater Baton Rouge Home Appraisal photos from the field I’ve taken and or from late 2016 – interesting things an Appraiser sees during a typical day in Greater Baton Rouge. It seems like everyday I’m out in the field, I realize just how far reaching those August 2016 Great Flood waters reached 5.5 months ago…and wreaked havoc on our residents homes on mental state. Some of the work I perform is for draw inspections where I have drive out to determine what percent of recovery construction has been completed. Some people I find are Continue reading Baton Rouge Appraiser Photos From The Field – Walking Away and Rebuilding NICE→

Are Baton Rouge Failed Home Sales A Major Concern and Why They Occur

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I recently was sent a video of Ryan from TheREsource.tv regarding Failed Sales A Major Concern, link to his video is below. In the video, Ryan states 4.3 percent of contracts failed to close, which more than tripled from 2014. This is Ryan’s map showing where home sales fail to close at the highest pace. These are the cities showing where home sales fail to close at the highest pace. I don’t have any verifiable statistics on what percentage of Greater Baton Rouge home sales fail to close, nor such a source of information. Why The Increase In Failed Sales Continue reading Are Baton Rouge Failed Home Sales A Major Concern and Why They Occur→

How NOT to get maximum value for your Greater Baton Rouge home: Ignore conformity

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How NOT to get maximum value for your Greater Baton Rouge home: Ignore conformity While my Appraiser Friend, Tom Horn SRA, writes this about the Alabama housing market, a Southern market, this is so very pertinent to our “Southern” Baton Rouge Louisiana housing market. I can give you example after example where “different”, “unique”, “modern” and “contemporary” have taken 3 to 4 times longer to sell and sold at drastic discounts because it was just odd and sometimes just downright “unattractive”. When I say “unattractive”, I ‘m not just referring to my personal preference, but rather buyers obvious negative reaction Continue reading How NOT to get maximum value for your Greater Baton Rouge home: Ignore conformity→

Parc Chaleur in Baker Home Sales 2016 by Baton Rouge Home Appraiser Bill Cobb

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Baton Rouge Home Appraiser Bill Cobb reports on Parc Chaleur Subdivision in Baker Home Louisiana 70714 Did Parc Chaleur Subdivision flood in August 2016? If it did, I didn’t see any signs or evidence of flooding as of 11/12/2016. Baker Is A Weaker Housing Market Overall In general, the Baker housing market is still weak when other markets like Zachary, Baton Rouge, Central and Ascension Parish are very strong. For example, of the 269 sales since January 1, 2015, 78 of them or 29% were distressed sales (foreclosure, short sale or 3rd party). Other markets have far, far less distressed Continue reading Parc Chaleur in Baker Home Sales 2016 by Baton Rouge Home Appraiser Bill Cobb→