I got a call from a gentlemen who owns a vacation home on the Jersey Shore. It seems that an undersized lot adjacent to his home is coming up for sale and he wanted to know what he should offer.*

I was his second call. The first call to a residential appraiser who did a “comp check” and determined that there was not enough data to appraise the lot.

What the appraiser was really saying was that he did not want to do the hard work of research. He wanted three perfect Multiple Listing comps to hand him the answer.

If I hear one more residential appraiser complain about fee pressure I will be sure to ask how many “impossible” assignments they have passed on.

“Impossible” is what differentiates you from your competition. “Impossible” is what a client will pay a premium for.

Do the impossible.

  • The client pressed me to take the assignment. I reluctantly agreed, not because the work would be “impossible” but because there is no one correct answer when there is only one potential buyer.