http://www.pwas.net/blog Appraisal Services - Pacific West Appraisal Services, Inc. provides real estate appraisal services for land, houses, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and condominiums. Thu, 08 May 2008 19:50:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Grand Ridge in Camas, Washington is an interesting study.  Construction of houses in Grand Ridge began in 1999.  The market was good and construction progress was brisk for six years or so.  It is a well received and well placed development with good views to the south and west. Today, there ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/more-about-grand-ridge-in-camas-wa.php    I have thought for some years that the cost of living "in the country" would eventually rise.  The reason is that if gas were $5.00 per gallon the cost of commuting from distant suburbia to the employment centers would have  a large affect on the property owners ability to ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/urban-vs-suburban-and-transportaion-costs.php The Hillhurst subdivision in Ridgefield, Washington was placed in the county records in November 2003. There are 117 platted lots, including some with older houses on them. Roughly 24 of the lots, or 21% of the development appears to have been existing housing (according to on line county ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/uncategorized/ridgefield-wa-hillhurst-subdivision.php This is a brief note about the  REO activity in Clark County Washington. I have seen some neighborhoods with a large percentage of REO activity.  If your are not aware, REO stands for Real Estate Owned.  Lenders like to hold a mortgage that is receiving regular payments.  They do not like ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/reo-vancouver-wa.php An open letter to Landsafe Real Estate Closing Services To the leadership and staff of Landsafe I am offering “congratulations for a job well done.” The leadership of Landsafe has assembled a great, well trained, courteous and effective staff that gets the job done well.  I have worked for several years for ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/thank-you-landsafe.php Vancouver, WA and Clark County foreclosure activity is up. As you can see from the graph, the foreclosure activity in Clark County has risen.  I have been tracking this since the first of 2006.  At the beginning of 2006 the number of foreclosures was about 60 per month.  Then it began ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/clark-county-foreclosure-update.php This post is a case study of a new subdivision in Washougal, Washington.  It is of the Forest View Phase 2 development. The Forest View development came on line at the end of 2005, at the height and nearly the end, of the most recent inflationary period in residential real estate.  ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/case-study-of-forest-view-subdivision-washouga-washington.php I was recently asked what's up with small acreage home-sites in the Washougal, WA area.  The sales presented in the MLS were reviewed.  This is a macro overview of the recent market activity in MLS area 33. Home-sites in the range of 2.5 acres to 6 acres were reviewed.  This size ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/washougal-small-acreage-home-sites.php I got a phone message from a loan officer at 'Great Big National Lender' yesterday, a very familiar company you'd all know the name of.  The loan officer wanted me to "check the value" on a property and if it did not reach a certain level they would not initiate ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/residetial-lending-and-the-appraiser-vancouver-wa.php FHA appraisal requests are up significantly this year. I was a specialist for FHA appraisals before they went to lender selection of appraisers in the early 1990's.  The FHA had chosen several appraisers locally to watch for indications of fraud in the market; flips and contract fraud, etc.  After lender selection ... http://www.pwas.net/blog/vancouver-wa-residential-appraisal/fha-appraisal-vancouver-wa.php