An Appraiser Speaks…

I had the pleasure yesterday to hear local appraiser Alan Pope speak. Alan makes the time to take the data he sees in his appraisal work to extrapolate trends (and opinions) on the market in general. His absorption rate graph http://www.alanpope.com/Apr12/king2002-2012combined.pdf shows that supply is being absorbed by demand at a rate we’ve not seen in King County since 2006. Interestingly, he compared an un-staged home to a bank-owned or short-sale property in terms of buyer valuation. I knew that many agents believe in staging but was impressed to hear this from an appraiser.