Dove è il valore?

For the past five weeks, our family has lived just south of Florence, Italy in a small town named San Donato in Poggio.  Returning yesterday, with twelve hours of flying and about nineteen of travel time, I am tired, excited, sad, happy, and reminiscent, already.

We stayed in a wonderful apartment, huge by Italian standards, with three bedrooms and one full bath, a balcony patio with tiled floors, a full kitchen WITH dishwasher, and even a clothes washing machine.  The people in town were very lovely and warm and we enjoyed meeting them all.

It was very interesting to me to see that even in a city so busy as Florence in the Tuscany region, with about 370,000 people (which swells to almost 2million during summer season), there are quite a few "affittasti" or available spaces to rent.  Also, many of the signs say "negoziabili" although I noticed this one more in Biella, a city of about 45,000 in the Piedmont region.

There were, fewer than I would have imagined, "immobiliare" or real estate offices.  Prices, however, quoted in Euros seemed reasonable until I did the current math, about $0.75 US dollars to the $1.00 Euro.

I guess if I want to live there, I will need to save a bit of cash.  It was really lovely!!  (and I particularly like this one, which does not even quote a price until you apply - in other words, if you have to ask . . . )

The value today is . . .

So in the course of my business, I often have to ask for help from other professionals.  Today when working in a Georgia County that has limited historical plats available online, for example, I contacted a surveying company in that market, for the second time in a matter of three weeks.  It is a shot in the dark of course, most people are nice, but busy with their own affairs and clients, etc.  However . . .

both Larry Evans and Kirby Holton at Statewide Surveying in Douglas, Georgia were helpful, and very quick about it.  No days and days of telephone calls, no cajoling, whining or begging (on my part), they simply assisted me the very best they could - with great results.  I got exactly what I needed to do my valuation analysis in the best way possible, to serve my client more fully.

Today the value was in the details of kindness and assistance.  Thank you gentlemen.


(p.s. I hope you enjoy your prize on Thursday!)

Communication

The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

— George Bernard Shaw

A quote I really like and to which I often refer comes to mind as I contemplate a valuation conversation with a real estate expert at banking management levels.  For me, when I review my own properties, I often cannot see what the value should be.  It is hard for me to separate my desires, wants, and needs from true value.

The market does not recognize my needs specifically, and based on the underlying principle of substitution, that market (i.e. buyer) can chose another alternative versus my property.  As humans, we value what we have already acquired, for whatever the myriad of reasons may be.  They are often non-pecuniary, having nothing to do with the market value.  Residential, particularly, is a bit tougher than commercial, since it often has more emotional investment.

The question is, will I be able to adequately communicate the market data to provide enough information to help the seller make what I perceive as a good decision.  Ultimately, it is their decision.

Lateral Support

Ok, so it has been quite a bit of time since my last post.  With two teenage daughters, notice to proceed on 50 or so appraisal reports, and returning for post graduate education, left over time is in short supply.


However, this is rather important.


During my class, and particularly a quiz I just took, it occurred to me that there are always parallels in life.  We are studying property rights, and one of my quiz questions was "what is lateral support".  Defined by my text it is "The right of lateral and subjacent support is the right to have land supported by the adjoining land or the soil beneath."  Real Estate Law, Robert J. Aalberts, 2012.


What if we replace the word land by the word "value"?  Is there some particular right of property owners to be 'supported' in their values by adjacent values or 'lateral support' of other property and other financial instruments and perhaps even the fiscal policies of our government.

Consider this:  

It seems to me that our lateral support is rapidly disappearing.  Perhaps we ought to take action, quickly!