I have the local PUD wanting to move their ROW 10ft onto my property because of a road widening project. Up until now I would have considered myself as ineligible to make an appraisal as I have a vested interest in the outcome. However, thinking about this further, I question that assumption. The decision regarding who has best presented, documented and defended their appraisal should gain the greater credibility with a judge or jury, am I right or am I losing my marbles here???? If I grossly inflate my claim and cannot defend it, that will show up and probably be rejected.
I am wondering where the problem is with doing an appraisal on my property.
Your thoughts gentlemen please,
Thanks, James.

Reply to post by James Causton, on August 29, 2001 at 21:22:35:

James, it is not just a conflict of interest that causes problems, but even just an APPEARANCE of conflict.

When you try to defend your appraisal, you will be explaining it to laypersons- non-arborists. How will they know if you are being truthful, honest and ethical (as we know you to be), or if you are handing them a sack of sh.. er, old fish. What will they have to compare to? In cases like this, the appearance of conflict can greatly affect the outcome.

As the property owner, there are some things you can testify to, for example, the value of your home (assuming you have done some comparison). But an appraisal is a technical issue requiring special knowledge and/or training.

Find someone you trust to do it for you, then step back and let them do the work. It's been said that " a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client." The same thing applies in this case.

Reply to post by James Causton, on August 29, 2001 at 21:22:35:

Russ has pretty much covered it. It is a dangerous assumption that your apprasial will be the technically better documented and most credible. If the PUD's appraiser is just as prepared then your potential conflict stands out like a sore thumb. You might find that administratively your appriasal is not even admitted and then you might lose a time advantage or find that the PUD has already retianed the best other appraiser. Or flip it around... they might sucker you and let you do your own appraisal and then play the jury with the conflict.

And your testimony as an affected party (cry, wimper, bleary eyed from lost sleep as the screening trees no longer block those headlights) may be stronger if you are not also trying to appear as an Independent expert... hard to do both. In some jurisdictions homeowner testimony to "value" of particular trees is admissable while arborist-appraiser opinions are not (see Sun Pipeline, a PA case... is that the one Russ?).

You may also need, BTW, a qualified real estate appraisal. Make sure the appraiser looks at the impact on the value of the remainder, not just the pro-rata value of the taken area.

All of this is tempered by the administrative procedures. Sometimes the ROW agents are tasked to pay as little as possible and you'll have to play hardball and plan for court. Sometimes the agency running the deal does not want the expense of court or the time lost to protests and appeals and they will come out of the gate offering more than land value alone. In those cases you might just negotiate up front for an amount acceptable to you guided by your own appraisal (which is not written up or presented to anybody).

Scott