Customer Reviews

Real Estate Appraisal from A to Z: Real Estate Appraiser, Homeowner, Home Buyer and Seller Survival Kit Series

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fantastic book to learn how to decide what the price and market value is for you house or condominium or rental property. There was a ton of great and helpful advice that was excellent and easy to read and learn from. Many appraiser books are too technical and written only for professional appraisers but this book is written in a way that anyone can benefit from. When I wanted to sell my house I knew that I should not rely on what a real estate broker tells me since they just want to earn a commission. So I decided to read up on how to decide what price to sell my house and was able to do that properly with what I learned in this book. Great book for anyone interested in real estate. Highly recommended if you want to maximize your real estate profits and have a top appraiser walk you through the process every step of the way.

This was my choice for the book to teach me about real estate appraisals. Before my husband and I did a very expensive renovation and remodeling of our home, we wanted to find out what the sales price of the house could be if the work was done. Since we are not appraisers we wanted to learn what a real estate appraiser does and looks for to decide on what a house is worth in the market. This book told us everything that we wanted to know and a lot more. You do not have to be someone with years of experience to be able to understand how to appraise real estate with this book. We learned so much helpful advice and techniques that my husband and I realized the home remodeling and improvements we were planning to spend a fortune for, would have not been a good investment. This book showed us how to determine the value using a what-if scenario that professional appraisers use. We learned that only 70% of the money we were planning to spend would have been a good investment to increase the sales price of our home. The extra 30% would have been an over-improvement in the appraisal lingo which means that we would have been over-spending on the remodeling without getting the increased value and sales price for our home. When you are talking about a $115,000.00 remodeling and improvement job, then that 30% this book saved us is certainly something that my husband and I are very happy to have learned. This book was a great investment for us and has given us a phenomenal return on the purchase price in savings.

If getting to know your home is important to you, then REAL ESTATE APPRAISING FROM A TO Z is a good place to start. It addresses safety concerns; inspections of the Operating Systems, the Lower Level, the Interior & Exterior, Direct Sales, Sample Appraisal Reports, Cost,Income & more.

Rebeccasreads recommends REAL ESTATE APPRAISING FROM A TO Z for those who want to learn everything their Realtor doesn't want them to know, without the sugar coat. You'll learn how to catch the problem conditions in any house, how to close the deal & a new career in one of the hottest markets.

My career has been real estate appraisals for over 17 years now and I can confidently say that I have read at least 50 books on the topic of how to appraise real estate. This book was very impressive in the content and the layout and how everything is explained by the author. If you are a beginner or have many years of experience appraising homes (like me), you will be very happy if you read this book. Everything from the basics of the business, to details on the Direct Sales Comparison Approach, the Cost Approach, and the Income Approach, to details on how to make money as a real estate appraiser in your own business, are all covered very well and explained clearly - for beginners or experienced real estate professionals.
There were many additional topics covered by this book that I have not found in other appraisal books that I have read. Some of these topics were aspects of the business that would take you many years to learn and come across, or at least I know that was my experience in this business. There is good, detailed information about the type of appraisal accounts you can get to earn money in this business.
If you are a non-appraiser just looking for a book with a great overall explanation of how to appraise your own home or condominium, then this is the book for you. You'll find the book is detailed and easy to read and understand. What you learn should save you thousands of dollars in headaches and time by not making the mistakes that the book will warn you about. It's always better to learn from experienced appraisers, like myself or a book like this, since they will help you prevent making many errors when you buy or sell your house. You cannot rely on your real estate agent or broker since I can tell you from many years of experience - they don't know anything about how to determine the value of a house or condo the way a professional appraiser can do it. I hope this review is helpful to you. Happy house shopping if you're a home buyer! Good luck on your appraisal exam if you're an appraiser buying the book to help with getting your license.

I read a lot of excellent book reviews about this book from many well-known book reviewers. So I bought the book since I am an appraiser and found that they were correct - this is a great book for anyone to learn how the professionals appraise real estate. You don't need to be an appraiser to use this as a reference since the author explains everything very clearly and it's easy to understand. I highly recommend this to anyone in the real estate business or any home owner. I saw that some of the Top 50 book reviewers on Amazon have rated this book with 5 stars also. (Apparently the somewhat negative review written by "A reader from arlington, va United States" was written by someone who doesn't even know that this is a real estate APPRAISAL book and NOT a HOME INSPECTION book since he/she criticizes the book since it's not incredibly in-depth for HOME INSPECTORS. Obviously the book author is interested in writing content to train people about real estate APPRAISERS not to become home inspectors. The book author even mentions that in the book very clearly since the book author has a very in-depth home inspection book which goes by the different title of Home Inspection Business From A to Z. Maybe that "reader" should learn to "read" the title of a book before he orders it and writes a book review!!)

I know alot about building and am getting into home inspection. The information in the book was helpful but I know from looking at inspection checklists and other books that this one left out or short-changed some critical inspection areas. It almost seemed as though the author just got tired of writing certain sections. All in all it's a decent deal for the money but it could only be an introduction to much more carefully crafted reference/instructional books.

I purchased other books by this author and the prior edition of this book. This is the 4th edition and is excellent. If you want to become very knowledgable about real estate appraising then this is the right choice. It is written in a very enjoyable writing style as though you were a client of the author getting advice directly from him. There were so many topics covered that it was a lot to digest but everything was helpful to me and probably will be to you too. All three approaches to estimating real estate values were talked about - direct sales, cost, and income approaches. If you are a home owner and want to determine the price to sell your house for then you have what you need in this. There are photos and sample appraisals that can simplify the whole process and you don't need to be a technical person to understand how paid appraisers do their job.

I've purchased other books by this author and found them to be excellent. He writes as though he is giving advice to one of his appraisal or home inspection clients. This new fourth version of the book covers all three approaches used to estimate the market value of real estate: Direct Sales Comparison Approach, the Cost Approach, and the Income Approach. Everything is explained in a way that myself, or anyone else that has no prior experience as a real estate appraiser, can learn quickly how professional appraisers do appraisals of homes and condos.
I've read many books on real estate and this appraisal book and the home inspection book by this author are easily the best books available on these topics. Some of my friends and relatives have purchased these books based upon my recommendation and all of them have thanked me since they've saved as much money as I did when I renovated and sold my home. Maybe this book review will help others to also save money from the advice in this book. Your money will be well spent and I'm sure you'll be happy with reading this edition.

I have been a real estate appraiser for over 5 years and this book is a great reference for me that I use often. Most of the appraisal books I've read were too boring, but this book tells it like it is which makes it stand out from the rest I've read. If your an appraiser or just looking to go into the business then get this book.