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Real Talk with Sterling Real Estate Group is your go-to resource for all things real estate. In our episodes, we break down the latest market trends, share insider tips, and provide expert insights to empower your property journey. Whether you're buying, selling, building, or investing, we're here to help you navigate the dynamic world of real estate in New York's Capital Region and beyond. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover in a future episode, we’d love to hear from you! Reach out to us at info@sterling518.com.
Lisa Licata (00:37)
Welcome to Real Talk. Today we have with us Sam Gamello from Olde Kinderhook Appraisal Services. Sam, welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. We kind of go way back in the business. So to kick things off, Sam, tell us how did you get started in the business and how long have you been doing this? ⁓
Sam Gamello (00:48)
Thanks Lisa, I appreciate it.
Well, I've
been in the real estate appraisal business for 25 years. My father was an appraiser and I was teaching in 98, 99 at Bishop McGinn High School in Albany as a Phys. Ed. and Health teacher.
Lisa Licata (01:08)
Fun fact, didn't know that. Okay.
Sam Gamello (01:10)
And during
that time he asked me if I wanted to come over and work with him. So I started taking the classes as an appraiser trainee and during my time as a teacher I was taking classes to become an appraiser and then after that two years I started to work with him full-time in like 2000-2001 right in that ballpark.
Lisa Licata (01:31)
Wow, and you took over the business. Eventually. Yeah.
Sam Gamello (01:34)
Yeah, about
2010 the ⁓ business got transferred into my name and then he kind of went part-time ⁓ and now it's just myself, my brother, and my wife.
Lisa Licata (01:47)
wonderful.
Okay. right. Well, I know when I call, I'm lucky enough I always have you there. Yeah. So when we're on the other side of a deal and the appraiser is calling and it's you, we're like, Sam. So we're very confident because we know what you're doing with the appraisals. And some obviously can be tricky. But could you tell us and the public, what is an appraisal?
Sam Gamello (02:08)
I mean it's a simple answer. Appraisal is just an opinion of value. it's in real estate obviously it's an opinion of value of a piece of real estate. So what goes into an appraisal of course we'll talk about but the gist of it is what I like everybody to know is that it is an individual's opinion of value. So it know it could alter from appraiser to appraiser. It's you know the value is not going to be the same you know depending on the person that does the
Lisa Licata (02:37)
but you have the data in the comps to back up to justify your number.
Sam Gamello (02:42)
Yeah, so we have to have access to, we have to be competent. That's one of the things that we have to follow as an appraiser. So you guys follow your guidelines. And one of the biggest things that we have to follow is called USEPAP. It's a Uniform Standard of Professional Appraisal Practice. ⁓ And within USEPAP, it states, are you competent in the market area? And you have to, the appraiser, have to be able to say yes I am, before you take that assignment out.
Lisa Licata (03:08)
Okay, so if somebody, ⁓ an appraiser was coming from out of the area, that wouldn't really justify because they don't know this area. I'm sure you take that into consideration.
Sam Gamello (03:18)
Yeah, so
I mean you could live somewhere else. mean, I you know we we service as far south as Dutchess and Ulster. OK, as far north as Warren and Washington County. so yeah, you don't have to live in a particular area to be competent in that area, but you do have to have access to you know the MLS and the local assessor records and know your way around. So there could be somebody coming in from out of the area that maybe you know worked under another appraiser or worked close with other agents
that are local and they are competent in the market. you do see some of that, but most of the time people live and work in the area that they appraise in.
Lisa Licata (03:59)
Well,
I know back in the day, I think we had someone like from the New York City area that I mean, it was a disaster and actually the bank realized and it went to another appraiser because he wasn't competent in this area. But I know they had to.
Sam Gamello (04:16)
Yeah, a
lot of our local lenders, local banks, you know, you have to be on their panel. Right. And most of the people, I would imagine all the people on the panel are local. So they're competent in the appraisers that they hire. Right. Some of the larger national banks or AMCs, appraisal management companies, they offer like a, they offer a lesser fee. So a lot of us, you know, appraisers that are local, that are established, you know, we don't want to do that work. They're a little more, you know, your appraisal is a little more scrutinized.
They ask for more and then they want to pay you less right because the AMC is like a third party and they take a portion of the appraisal fee So some of those you know larger national banks may have some people come in from out of town and at that and that may be the what happened with you and the person might not be competent in the market, but you know, they're getting that the that appraisal order because you know, they're willing to do the work
Lisa Licata (04:53)
Okay, that makes sense.
Yeah. And how how are appraisers picked? Right. Isn't it computer generated? You're all in a pool and it's but
Sam Gamello (05:20)
Yeah, so if you're in a if you're on an appraisal panel for a particular lender then it you know It's supposed to be like a round robin basically so that you know as an appraisal order comes up It just goes to the next appraiser in line
Lisa Licata (05:33)
Right, so it's not like we're calling, we're asking the bank, hey, could you call Sam for us? We want Sam.
Sam Gamello (05:38)
No, no, but I
if it is a local bank like say for example, know, you know Pioneer Bank, right? Okay, so let's say ⁓ I did an appraisal last year of a particular house and Pioneer has that in their system Then they might send me out there because I'm already, you Yeah, I'm already, you know, I'm already aware of the situation and you know, I've been to the house already and it might be an easier process Okay, but that's up to that's up to the bank to
Lisa Licata (05:54)
Yeah.
To
the bank how they yeah, but if a seller calls you or I know I've called you directly In fact like two weeks ago that I had someone that wanted to put a house on the market But wanted an appraisal so that obviously for an I picked up the phone I called you right and you did the appraisal. So Do you recommend sellers Getting the house appraised before it goes on the market?
Sam Gamello (06:25)
Well,
mean from a business decision, I want to say yes. Yeah, but most of the time You know a lot of our agents look we're lucky local. Yeah, I feel like we have a lot of knowledgeable real estate agents So if you have somebody that that you know, know is knowledgeable in the market Then they should be able to list that right accordingly But a lot of times we'll get called in when there's a disagreement between an agent and the seller
Lisa Licata (06:51)
A big spread.
Sam Gamello (06:52)
Yeah, yeah, so then
the agent might call me or the seller might call me and say could you do an appraisal on my house? you know, I don't agree. I want to use this agent I don't want to leave him or her but I want to be listed properly. Will you come in and give an appraisal?
Lisa Licata (07:07)
Right. And I mean, sometimes unique properties where there's really, how do you comp this? Right. So that's when, you know, you're called in because your expertise, because you've seen, and sometimes you have to go out of the area, maybe right up north. I think we have something like that.
Sam Gamello (07:22)
Yeah, I mean really you have to go to where you can find something similar. And if it's a really unique property, then you have to take in consideration your market. Like who's buying that house, they're not going to limit their search parameters maybe to just a certain area if they're looking for a particular house. So then we would expand our search areas for comparable sales.
Lisa Licata (07:40)
How far back do you go when you're looking for comps in today's market?
Sam Gamello (07:44)
Well, lenders really
want to, you know, they don't want to see you go any farther back than a year. Okay. So like Fannie Mae requirements are to have three comparable sales within a year. And they would like to see them within six months.
Lisa Licata (07:49)
Okay.
I was going to say I thought it was, you know, a tighter. Yeah.
Sam Gamello (08:00)
They would like to see it within
six months, but we are allowed to go out a year and technically it's up to the appraiser how far back they go so if you for example, know, for example if you have a unique property or say you have something like a monstrosity on Saratoga Lake, right? I can't limit myself to the sales within the past year, right? So, you know, you'd have to go farther back and you know, for example, I got appraisal order in the city of Hudson, which I know pretty well and it was a multifamily and there was only
was a high-end multifamily and there was only one sale in the past year. So I told the lender I have to go over a year or I really don't I'm not going to able to give you a competent appraisal and they allowed me to expand over a year.
Lisa Licata (08:41)
So you have to ask the bank for permission first before you go over the year?
Sam Gamello (08:45)
I will because you know
you they're gonna you want to you want to be upfront with what's available. Right. So at least at that point ⁓ you could you know you're everybody's on the same page I don't really want to waste a borrower's money right if I'm just gonna you know not be able and I and I don't I want to be able to produce a credible report right and so in order to do that I just figured you might as be upfront with the lender okay
Lisa Licata (09:09)
Yeah, that makes sense.
Sam Gamello (09:09)
And it was
a local bank so they were okay with it. They understood.
Lisa Licata (09:14)
Good.
How does the bank appraisal process work? And at what point are you called in?
Sam Gamello (09:22)
We
usually never call it until you have the meeting of the minds, right? Until you have that executed contract. So once that contract's executed, then the bank will order an appraisal. And it'll go out to the appraiser and then at that point they'll reach out to, if it's a for sale by owner, they'll reach directly out to the sellers. But if it's listed, then they'll reach out to the listing agent most of the time. Unless the lender is asking you to reach out to the buyer's agent for some reason.
And sometimes, you know, they ask that.
Lisa Licata (09:54)
Yeah,
yeah. I think we've had that happen a few times. It's not common, but it does happen. What happens if the house is not a praise for the contract price?
Sam Gamello (10:05)
⁓ Well, we get yelled at. Yeah, a lot of pressure. But ⁓ no, I mean, at that point, there's a few things that could happen. The lender is going to look at it and say, you know, are the the people putting enough money down where the appraised value doesn't matter as much or ⁓ if it's a, you know, say it's a tight, you people are tight on funds, right? Then, you know, they may have to go back to negotiation to renegotiate it. Right. So what can you do?
to what can you do as a buyer's agent, ⁓ and it's really the buyer's agent. So there is something that's called the reconsideration of value. So Fannie put that in place to where if an appraisal comes in under contract price, then the buyer and the buyer's agent can provide the lender with comparable sales that they feel the appraiser should look at.
Lisa Licata (10:59)
that were in your report.
Sam Gamello (11:00)
that were not in our report. And then the ⁓ lender, the underwriter is supposed to review those sales and see if they're credible. And if, you know, if they in fact may help or, you know, help the buyer in terms of the value, you know, the market value being increased and send them to the appraiser, then the appraiser will review them and they have to, if they feel they're credible, then they would put them in the report and alter the appraised
value or they'd have to describe why they didn't use them or why they don't think they're comparable.
Lisa Licata (11:36)
Has that happened to you a lot?
Sam Gamello (11:38)
Not a lot, but it has happened a couple of times. Yeah. I mean, I actually have one recently that didn't, that came in under contract price. And most of the time, you know, I tell every agent the same thing. If you're, you know, like if you list a house, right. And you've been doing this a long time, pretty good at what you do. And you really think that house, you know, the market value of that house is 350. So you put it on the market for 3, 4, 9, 9, and it goes to contract for 400. Why am I going to be able to find sales for 400,000? To be able to support that. The chances are.
not. So it's probably going to be an appraised value that's going to come in less than contract price.
Lisa Licata (12:16)
So what I mean, obviously now there's no inventory, right? So homes are hitting the market. They're going on the market at where the listing agents are running the comps, the fair market value. And now they're going way above asking because there's no inventory. Right. So how do you appraise a house? You know, is it listed, you know, 400,000 and you have an offer at 480? Yeah. I mean, how do you you know, because the
listing agent has done their job at the fair market value but you have a buyer that's willing to pay way over that.
Sam Gamello (12:52)
Yes, so the
willingness that there was a gentleman that I worked for when I was working with my dad in the beginning, I always used to say worth does not equal value. So what is the house worth to an individual buyer? It's not what the market value of that house is. So there are some factors that we may take into play into, you know, into into, you know, the consideration that you guys might not. And one of the things and Fannie's been pushing this a lot lately is to do market
condition adjustments or time adjustments, okay, so You know so then we would go back to like the contract price and see which way the markets moving And if there's an increase in the market Then we would make an it you know an adjustment against that comparable sale which could help the case You know in the appraise value
Lisa Licata (13:26)
Look.
to
an appraise. know, and again, know, houses that are going way over the list price. ⁓ I know a lot of, you know, listing agents who are saying, you know, if you made such a high offer, you'll have to cover the appraisal gap. So if it's not appraising, you know, they're ready to put in, you know, that extra money with the bank to get that to work. We're seeing that a lot.
Sam Gamello (14:04)
That seems to be the case and the other thing that I think that agents have to take into consideration What I see a lot of is a house going to contract for over list price and then they're adding a concession on top of it. So, concessions are not supposed to, are not allowed to be a factor in market value for us.
Lisa Licata (14:26)
Okay.
Sam Gamello (14:27)
So a concession actually comes off a comp like dollar for dollar. So if you have a house that sold for 290 with a $10,000 concession, really in our appraisal report, it's $280,000. Right. Yeah. So that I see a little bit of is the man of significant concession on top. Right. And then it's hard.
Lisa Licata (14:39)
Right.
then it's hard to appraise. And if it doesn't, really can't, you know, cause some of those buyers need that concession, you know, to get to the closing table. Yeah. I don't see a lot of concessions nowadays. Are you seeing a lot?
Sam Gamello (15:01)
Yeah, I would say you know maybe 20 if I had to take a guess 20 to 30 percent of the orders that come over. Okay. to us have concession on. It was definitely much higher.
Lisa Licata (15:11)
Right, it used to be much higher way
before COVID. Yeah. lot of how, you know, houses to sell and, you know, utilizing VA, you know, so if someone's doing a VA loan, I know those concessions are built in there, which they should be, you know, but those can impact, you the appraisal. Do you do VA appraisals or am I wrong? there's a separate appraiser? Okay.
Sam Gamello (15:34)
There's a VA panel.
I just never applied for it. And now I think it would be difficult to get on because there's enough appraisers in the area.
Lisa Licata (15:42)
enough.
Okay, I
know we kind of, just threw that one at you. But I knew you'd be able to handle it. You know, I do have a question on here, because when we were talking about appraisals, a lot of times the listing agents like to be at the house when the appraiser shows up and they usually have their folder and supporting comps. How does that affect upgrades and everything? If they're handing you a list, here's all the updates and everything that they've done in the last few years. Does that impact your appraisal?
Sam Gamello (16:12)
Well, all the data and information that we can get up front is great. Okay. Most of the time we'll notice that, you know, during our walkthrough, during our observation of the house, but it's still nice to have in front of you. So then when you go back to your desk, you have all that information right there.
Lisa Licata (16:26)
So it is important for a seller to get that information to their agent, which the agents are asking ⁓ when the work was done and an estimated value for that.
Sam Gamello (16:38)
And most of the appraisers
that I talk to, and there's a few that we speak regularly, especially if there's something that, we don't have peers that are in our office, like a lot of other people do. So if we get jammed up on something or can't figure something out or need somebody to look at something to realize we're not losing our mind, there's a few of us that kind of chat. And I don't think there's anybody that has a problem with an agent giving them a folder of
information in comparable sales really to see where where your mind is right and you know how you guys came up with that list price
Lisa Licata (17:15)
Yeah. Because a lot of work goes into trying to find those numbers and getting the right price for a seller. What are some things that can delay an appraisal? And what should buyers and sellers be aware of to keep things on track?
Sam Gamello (17:30)
So delay in terms of like once it's ordered. So I would say access to the property is always a big one and that's always a bigger issue in multifamilies. When it's difficult to get in with tenants or tenants weren't aware that we were coming.
Lisa Licata (17:34)
Yeah.
that the house was on
the property was on the market.
Sam Gamello (17:51)
Exactly.
So access and a lot of us like the appraisers that I know that I speak to a lot of us will go in certain areas on certain days. So, you know, maybe on Monday you're going to Saratoga County and on Tuesday you're in Albany County. So then an order comes over in Saratoga County to try to get in on the day you're there. Right. And if you can't, then unfortunately you may lose a couple of days for that appraiser to be able to reschedule that. So I always say, you know, if you can, you know, as an agent, if you can get us in,
when we're trying to get in. It's easier, at least it'll be seen sooner than the next time that we can get there. ⁓ And the other thing that I've seen, and I don't see it as much in the Capital Region, but for some reason up north in the southern area of Columbia and Greene County is the executed contracts.
So we need to have an executed contract in front of us before we can complete the appraisal. So technically like for FHA we're supposed to have an executed contract before we even schedule an And a lot of times we'll get a contract that comes over that's not signed by both parties and at that point it would hold the process.
Lisa Licata (19:01)
So who is giving you that contract? Not the bank.
Sam Gamello (19:04)
The lender. Yeah, but don't give us whatever they have. So if they get it from either the buyer or the buyer's agent, and if the contract that the buyer's agent gives the lender is not executed, then that's what they're going to give us.
Lisa Licata (19:18)
I would think the lender would kick it back and be like, can we have a signed copy?
Sam Gamello (19:20)
Well they do, they do, they put pressure on them but I mean a lot of times it's the attorneys maybe taking you know little too much time or you know a seller that just hasn't signed yet.
Lisa Licata (19:29)
Right right and they you know even down in Columbia County Contracts are executed different Than they do here here the agents are filling out the contract down there. It's right It's like a letter of intent and then it goes to the attorney Yeah,
Sam Gamello (19:43)
It's a binder for it. And then it's
the attorney. Those attorneys like to take their time.
Lisa Licata (19:49)
Yeah, that takes, so that could hold up. Yeah, yeah. We do some business down there and it's always, where's the contract? It's coming, when? Couple weeks and you're like, oh boy. But that's how they do business down there. So I think we have it lucky here, how we do it. From your experience, what can a seller do to prepare their home to support an appraisal?
Sam Gamello (20:16)
I think, know, I kind of go off of what I hear from agents, you know, without putting significant renovations into the home, ⁓ it makes our job easier if we can see what's there. So declutter, you know, get things off the floor so we can see what kind of flooring is there and the condition of that. And again, allow us access, right? Allow us access to everything. A lot of times you'll show up and, you know, there's a baby sleeping in the room or...
you know there's dogs in a bathroom and you know you can't get in there to take a picture. You which you know might shuffle things around a little bit but I think sometimes the sellers don't understand that you know just because there's photos on the MLS doesn't mean that we don't have to take our pictures. Right. You know the bank requires us to take a picture of everything and original photos of everything.
Lisa Licata (21:06)
Right.
Sam Gamello (21:09)
I think the biggest reason for that is that a lot of realtors take professional photos. Correct. So the house looks a lot better.
Lisa Licata (21:17)
Yes, that if you're taking it with your cell phone. So is it okay for homeowners to be there when you do the appraisal? That doesn't really matter to you,
Sam Gamello (21:29)
No, I don't mind it. Yeah.
I mean, you know, I think COVID got most of us used to it. I mean, of course, it's great if nobody's there. Right. You know, an agent's there, let us in, we can, you know, do our thing and get out. ⁓ ever since COVID came, I feel like everybody's working. Yeah. know, and most people understand, you know, that if they're in a room and, they're on their computer, I'll just say, hey, you know, let me get a quick picture of that. And then you can sit down and keep working again. And then they go right to work. And I just do my thing.
Lisa Licata (21:54)
And you guys aren't there long. I mean, you're there enough, but it's not.
Sam Gamello (21:58)
As long as it takes us
to do what we have to do. So the more complex house and the bigger home may take a little longer to measure. ⁓ And get our notes and take everything that we need to take. But for the most part, You know, if you've seen an appraiser running in and out in 10 minutes, I think that's a problem. But they should do due diligence and get everything they need. ⁓
Lisa Licata (22:22)
I had a great question I want to ask you and I just lost my train of thought. I have to start writing stuff down. It will pop, believe me. I'll be like, hey Sam, I remember. Tell us about the secondary markets, Fannie, FHA, and what's new coming down the pipe. You alluded to that.
Sam Gamello (22:41)
Yes, so the
bit that mean the biggest thing that Fannie's pushing is the market conditions they want to see what what's going on in the market and I don't really think it Gears as much towards our market because we're always like top five in the country for most recession proof real estate markets Yeah, knock on wood. Yeah, but you know, we're very solid real estate market. We don't see the crazy highs Yeah, you know that some of the other markets see but we also don't you know crash like a lot of them do.
I mean, you if you look around, if somebody watches the national news and sees what's going on with the rest of the country, they think that our real estate market is shot.
Lisa Licata (23:20)
Exactly. We talked about that yesterday with Kerry talking about, you know, real estate is local and not to really listen to the national because what's happening in Florida or, you know California, it does not apply here. You know, I think we're insulated to like you said, we're in a very good area.
Sam Gamello (23:38)
Yeah, and you can still get a reasonable home for a reasonable price. The one thing that Fannie's looking for is they're looking for, they want to see really what is going on in our market. Is the market moving? You know, is it going up? Is it going down? And then they want to see those, you know, explanations or graphs in our appraisal reports. Okay. And then they want to see the adjustments made.
Lisa Licata (24:04)
And
that's all spelled out in the reports that also you know to the bank into the buyer. Yeah, the buyer gets copied on the appraisal report. Yeah let's Sometimes when we go on on listing appointments a seller will say ⁓ I had my house appraised last year and when you start asking, you know some further questions. It's because they did a refinance So how is a refinance appraisal different from a buyer purchasing a house for an appraisal?
Sam Gamello (24:33)
It shouldn't be.
Lisa Licata (24:34)
You don't think so?
Don't some of the appraisers try to do like a different, it has to be so much of the money they're taking out.
Sam Gamello (24:41)
They shouldn't. So unless you're doing like a ⁓ restrictive appraisal for like a local bank for HELOC maybe, they may ask for like a letter of some sort. just is the market value of the house at least $100,000? Because they're a long time bank, affiliate, they're a long time bank, ⁓ not employee, but customer.
Lisa Licata (25:06)
customer.
Sam Gamello (25:07)
They don't know anything on
their house and they're just doing a quick HELOC and the bank knows the house is worth a half a million bucks You know something like that, but if an appraisal is an appraisal an appraiser should walk into any appraisal the same way and Value that home the same way And it shouldn't matter if it's a refi a purchase if it's for divorce purposes or estate or you know there you know for You know IRS purposes right there's some different wording and some you know
Lisa Licata (25:23)
same way.
Sam Gamello (25:37)
IRS has a different definition of market value that you have to include in. But overall, the appraisal should be, the same process should happen no matter what's going on.
Lisa Licata (25:48)
So if someone has an appraisal for a refi that happened two years ago, you think that that's still valid? I mean, it should be updated, right?
Sam Gamello (25:56)
Yeah, it definitely should be updated. Yeah, I mean the markets always moving right so you know you never know could it be the same value? Absolutely, you could have the same market value, but I would think you would want to get a new appraisal done because you know the lender would definitely want to a new appraisal done. Yeah, yeah. Most appraisals they don't really want to use over three months.
Lisa Licata (26:15)
When you do an appraisal, and let's say for whatever reason the deal falls apart, does that appraisal live somewhere for the next buyer to come along and then when it's assigned to a different appraiser and they put in the address, do they already see an appraisal was done? Is that all in your programs or?
Sam Gamello (26:32)
Yes, so that there's a there's something that's called a uniform ⁓ Appraisal data set okay, UAD for through Fannie Mae so every appraisal that's done for mortgage purposes is put in that data set Okay, so the appraisal will be there but for conventional financing a new appraisal is needed every time okay for FHA financing ⁓ For a certain period of time, and I don't remember. I think it's 90 days. Maybe I don't remember. Yeah, okay that appraisal kind of follow that house
⁓ So, you know, if somebody applies for an FHA mortgage and HUD will have that appraisal there, that lender could use that appraisal for their buyer.
Lisa Licata (27:15)
So you mentioned FHA. When you're doing an appraisal for a conventional buyer versus an FHA buyer, is there something, is there different things you have to look at or take into consideration?
Sam Gamello (27:26)
Well, yeah, so there's there's, you know, FHA guidelines that are that that differ from, you know, the the guidelines that are conventional guidelines. Fanny has a lot of their, you know, they have their book and then the HUD, you know, book is called 4000.1. OK, and, know, some of the things that you guys always, you know, worry about would be like chip and peeling paint, any health and safety concerns, you know, handrails, is there missing siding, cracked windows, ⁓ you know, the distance between well and septic.
In the more rural areas, always a problem. Everybody's always worried about that. You need 50 feet between well and septic, 100 between well and leach field, and then at least 10 feet to the property line. if that, like for example, if that is not the case, then that could be a deal killer right away.
Lisa Licata (28:14)
even if
it's an older property.
Sam Gamello (28:17)
Yeah, so any grandfathered local municipal ⁓ may have a grandfathered clause for the distance between well and septic, but HUD doesn't.
Lisa Licata (28:30)
⁓ okay, so regardless it has to be taken into account.
Sam Gamello (28:33)
Yes,
yeah, and you know, so you have a small lot, say, you know, 50 by 100 lot, ⁓ the wells in the front, and then the septic's like on the side, and it's say 30 feet apart, then chances are that you can't get an FHA mortgage on that. Wow.
Lisa Licata (28:49)
So the seller has to move it, which is probably not going to happen, right? you've to change the type of finance. Interesting. Interesting. Sam, I had a bunch of questions, but I think we, as we were talking, right, did I miss anything that you want to get out to the public that they really need to know about the appraisal process?
Sam Gamello (28:54)
Change the financing.
Well,
I think that, you know, one of the things that always the questions that always pops up is, you know, the, the, what's a gross living area of a home and how big is my house? And some of the things that I notice on MLS sheets are, ⁓ agents use the assessor records a lot. Right. So I always tell the agents, you know, don't price if you, if you're not sure of the actual gross living area of that home, have it measured, have it measured by an appraiser or have it measured by a contractor.
Somebody that could measure that house accordingly because if you price your home at you know let's say the assessor record says it's 1,840 square feet and then an appraiser comes in and measures it at 1,300, you price that home at 1,840 square feet and now we have to appraise it at 1,300.
Lisa Licata (29:56)
Yeah, someone's not going to be happy.
Sam Gamello (29:59)
So that's always
something that comes up on our end. ⁓ The gross discrepancy and gross living areas.
Lisa Licata (30:06)
And we rely on those public records.
Sam Gamello (30:10)
And some of them are good. And if you have a newer home that was newly built, new construction, plans are on, the chances are it's spot on. some of the old bungalows or capes, I see a lot of discrepancy in the square footage. And the other thing too is no matter what is going on in the basement, no matter how it's set up, it never can be included in the gross living area.
Lisa Licata (30:16)
builder plans.
Even if it's, well, walk out, can't. It's all four sides have to be.
Sam Gamello (30:39)
the entire area has
to be at grade. And that's not like a decision of the appraiser. That was pretty made in stone by Fannie Mae. So then all appraisers would be on the same page.
Lisa Licata (30:50)
How do you take in consideration a finished basement?
Sam Gamello (30:53)
I mean sometimes
if it's you know finished to the same condition quality as the rest of the house you may value it similar to the rest of the house
Lisa Licata (31:00)
Okay,
so really depending, but if it's just a sheetrock and you know, a throw rug down, it's a different...
Sam Gamello (31:06)
It would be a different value like I've done them on Saratoga Lake where you you live in the basement. Yeah. I mean you walk out to the lake with a beautiful patio. Yeah. know, sliding doors and big bar. I mean that value would be that basement would be valued significantly.
Lisa Licata (31:20)
Okay, yeah basements are always challenging to try to you know get that into the ⁓ into the comps. Do you I know sometimes we've come across an appraiser asking does a base of the finished basement have a CO? Is that I mean? Right yeah.
Sam Gamello (31:37)
We're not really code-enforcement officers.
So unless it's new, right? Unless the area is new and completely brand new, it's a newer home, that may be an issue that the CO wasn't done properly. Is it safe? But if it's old and existing, chances are the appraiser's not going to ask because, we're not co-enforcement officers. Our job is to value what's there and then observe and report.
Lisa Licata (32:03)
I've had
a couple just through 26 years, you know, and I've heard a couple agents and I'm like what? But you know, it does happen not a lot, but it does happen. Yeah Have we covered everything? Did we miss anything? We can really talk forever. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Wonderful. Well Sam, could you tell our listeners how to get a hold of you?
Sam Gamello (32:17)
I don't think so, I think we did.
Unfortunately, I'm very old school. my phone number is 518-542-7774, Olde Kinderhook Appraisal Service. If you ever have any needs for an appraiser, feel free to give me a call. If I can't do it, I'll find you somebody that can.
Lisa Licata (32:42)
And Sam,
just so know, we'll have all of your contact information in our show notes. And certainly if anybody needs to get ahold of Sam and you can't, just give someone at Sterling Real Estate Group a call and we'll get to you right away. Thanks Lisa. So Sam, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. to have you back again. All right. All wonderful. Thank you.