To: bovik@k
Subject: House Appraisers
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 89 16:32:02 EST
Message-ID: <7208.604013522@LERNER.AVALON.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: Richard.Lerner@F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU


I wanted to find out how much a house was worth, to get an idea of whether or not I
should sell it.  Below are a number of replies to a request for appraisers.  A number
of people recommended Robert gelman, and he seemed very competent over the phone.
However, in the end, I took Daniel Leivant's suggestion, and talked to Merryl Lynch
Realtors.  They sent over Marie Kashauer, who gave me an informal appraisal and
suggestion on what she would initially list it at.  Of course, I do not know yet how
accurate she was, but it gave me a general ballpark.  I used Merryl Lynch in Shadyside
(521-5500).

Here are the replys:

----------------------------------------
From: Charles.Fineman@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU

My cousin runs an appraisal service. His name is Bobbby Gelman. I
think the name of his company is Saraben. HIs office is in Regent
Square.
----------------------------------------
From: Peter Feiler <phf@SEI.CMU.EDU>

the appraiser that the Pgh Presbytery uses on a regular basis is
Robert B. Gelman. He is doing an accurate, solid job. His phone number
is 247-1800.
----------------------------------------
From: Richard.Stern@SPEECH1.CS.CMU.EDU

The person most recommended to me when I was in a similar situation was
Robert Gelman.  He's listed in the white pages.
----------------------------------------
From: Michael.Jones@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU

My father-in-law is a registered appraiser, and has been doing it for decades
all around the city.  Call Bill Bruckman at 242-4230.
----------------------------------------
From: Roni.Rosenfeld@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU

Here's a NEGATIVE recommendation.

Do NOT use Charles Weissberg & Associates.  They appraised our house
for us before we bought it, and 2.5 years later we are still finding
things they should have seen and didn't.  For example, they claimed
we had hardwood floors underneath the w/w carpet, which now we found
out we don't have.  Of course, in this case they screwed the buyer, not
the seller, but there's no reason to think they are biased.  I would
simply not trust them.
----------------------------------------
From: Daniel.Leivant@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU

from my experience it makes no sense to pay an appraiser if it's not
for legal requirements.

1.  appraisers simply compare houses to ones sold recently.
info about sold houses is available (i think) from realtors,
and info about houses on the market are certainly available.

2.  appraisers are often making their job easy by looking up the
last sale price of your house, marking it up for inflation.
this is a five minutes job for anyone, and is very much off the mark
if any work has been done on the house.

3.  many realtors would give you an appraisal on you house without
strings or obligation (but the appraisal is not acceptable by a bank).

if the idea is that an official appraisal can be shown to the
prospective buyer, i don't think this would be effective with
non-dumb buyers: appraisals can differ frm each other by up
to 20%.
----------------------------------------