I’m going to give you marina owners some of the most valuable jewels of knowledge I can give… and the price is a real winner! It’s all about how to tell a bad marina appraisal from a good one.
I’m really going to uncork on this one, let it all hang out. I’m not just talking about the problems… I’ll even give you the solutions. This is the one topic that seems highly overdue.
In the lead-up to this blog, I posted a series on how to review a marina appraisal. As you probably know, I am called on to do reviews of marina appraisals. I suppose all the “bad” appraisals come my way but considering the names of the appraisers and companies, I’m beginning to believe that clients need some help in figuring out the differences between a “good” and a “bad” marina appraisal. Yours truly to the rescue!
I wish I had a hundred dollar bill for every time one of my marina reports was compared to something that doesn’t deserve the label “appraisal”. The other appraisal is used as a baseline for value even though it’s a piece of garbage. Anything less than the highest appraisal is “wrong”; anything more and I erred on the side of the owner. No, I really don’t think so. Not in this lifetime, anyway.
You may have just spent thousands of dollars for a rag. But I don’t blame you or anyone else. It’s not your fault. No one ever gave you any advice about what a marina appraisal should have. I’m setting the record straight today.
Before I get into the nitty gritty, one caveat. There are a few ideas and concepts that I’m keeping in my magic kit. I save them for court when I’m called on to rebut the other appraiser’s report.
The Price is NOT Always Right
I can tell if you have a bad marina appraisal with only a single question. No, I’m not a wizard and I don’t have a crystal ball. But I’ve been in business over 20 years and I know more than enough about marina market research to answer this question. It’s really quite simple. How much did you pay for your marina appraisal? Was it $2,500? Less? How about $3,500? Without getting into exact numbers, you’ve got yourself a bad marina appraisal.
I know what you’re thinking. But I spent, say, $3,500. That’s a lot of money! Yes, but not when you consider the amount of time it takes to do the research for a marina appraisal and not violate any USPAP standards. Not when what you want is an accurate market value estimate. It doesn’t matter if the appraisal firm is nationally traded or a one-man shop. I’ve done so many marina appraisals and reviewed so many that anyone working at that price is just not providing you with anything but garbage. If I’m wrong, then for the past 20 years no one has proven it to me.
In America, you get what you pay for… and these price ranges don’t cover the time effort necessary to properly do a special purpose property appraisal. Those are the operative words… special purpose.
In Part 2, I’ll delve into why a marina apprasal, which is a valuation of a special purpose property, takes much more time to do properly than common property types.
