City of residence: Warner Robins

Occupation: President, Donofrio Appraisal Associates Inc.

QUESTION: What’s the role of an appraiser?

ANSWER: I appraise the value of real property. Real property is anything permanently affixed to the Earth, such as a house or commercial building, landscaping, that sort of thing.

QUESTION: Who does an appraiser appraise for?

ANSWER: In most cases, it’s for banks so that they’ll have an idea how much money they can safely invest in a loan.

QUESTION: Technically, who do you work for?

ANSWER: We’re not supposed to advocate for a homeowner, buyer, bank or anybody. I don’t really work for banks or anybody; I work for the appraising profession. The Dodd–Frank legislation of 2010 requires all lenders to use an unaffected third party, so they have to go through a third-party appraisal management company to hire appraisers. I get an order and deal with the facts, and that’s all.

QUESTION: What are you looking at when you do an appraisal?

ANSWER: I evaluate the property in its present condition. I look at what’s there, the quality and workmanship of the property, whether it’s residential or commercial.

QUESTION: First, what issues do you run into related to commercial properties?

ANSWER: Actually, it’s the confusion in commercial appraisals that people think since they are making all this money in their wonderful business that should figure into my appraisal. But I’m just looking at real property involved -- the building -- not the value of the business venture.

QUESTION: How do you go about a residential appraisal?

ANSWER: I measure the house and observe its condition. First the exterior, and I see if there’s any physical damage, or if it’s in good condition. I notice the age of paint, how old components such as air conditioning are and make an accurate sketch of the house. Inside I observe and make notes on things like ceiling height -- a 9-foot minimum indicates better quality construction -- and look at trim, extent of decorative trim, floor coverings and other such things.

I check to see if the floor plan is functionally what it should be and if portion of it is below grade. That technically makes it a basement. I note such things as well as when it was bought, how long it was lived in, what improvements have been made, that sort of thing. And that’s most of it on site.

QUESTION: What do you do with your information?

ANSWER: I take it back to the office and put it on computer. I create the floor plan, input all the factual data into a pretty straightforward form and work on information related to house quality and condition, neighborhood and condition of the market there. I work on comps.

QUESTION: What are comps?

ANSWER: Comparables. In order to determine value, you have to look at comparable houses in the area and see what they sold for. Of course, you’re looking for similar location, square footage, rooms and other features. You have to find comparable homes as close as you can to the original, but you also may have to make plus and minus adjustments for differences. There is judgment involved, but it’s all very straightforward, too. One thing I like about this job is I can base everything on facts. I’m very careful just to use what I can factually document when arriving at a value.

QUESTION: What other major factors might you consider?

ANSWER: Well, a big factor these days is whether or not the property is in foreclosure. There’s a section to discuss that. You can’t compare the price and situation of a regular house for sale with one for sale that is in foreclosure. That definitely has to be addressed.

QUESTION: How do banks look at your results?

ANSWER: That’s interesting because every case and every house is different, but, of course, banks want to look at things in the same way across the board. Banks feel safer when everything conforms. That’s one reason we use comps and similar homes and structures as close to the area as possible. We also try to bracket results and end up with the best information.

QUESTION: Though it’s very factual, don’t you have to have an eye and feel for appraising property?

ANSWER: What I’ve found in 19 years as a licensed appraiser with a top certification in Georgia is that, yeah, you do get a feel for it and values and what adjustments are. You’re doing the same thing over and over but adjusting it to age, location and all the other factors. An appraisal is a lot like one of those word problems you had as a kid where a train leaves Chicago going 60 miles an hour.

-- Michael W. Pannell