AutoPano to create panos

I have the opportunity to create a virtual tour of a new listing and I want to learn how to use Autopano Pro. So far it’s very simple. I’ve taken my photos by holding the camera because of a lack of time. Daylight is fading fast and so is my battery life. I stand with my camera as close to my body as possible and still able to see through the lens. I’m also guessing at the 2/3’s rule for each photo’s overlapping. Lastly, from past experience I have learned to make a simple photo that helps me differentiate between each room. I always take a picture of my feet before going to the next room.

Using Autopano seems simple. After uploading my photos to a folder on my laptop I open Autopan Pro. I’m able to choose the first few photos which were of the living room as I stood in the foyer and photos of the foyer as I stood in the living room. Thankfully the house is vacant.

 

When taking the photos I find it’s easier to blend them together and still have part of the ceiling and part of the floor if I hold the camera at a 90 degree angle. Portrait, not landscape. This causes the pictures to need to be rotated when you begin to work with them. But with Autopano it’s able to stitch the correct photos together and it left them in portrait mode. And it allows you to upload all the photos you have taken (including the ones of my feet) and it sorts through and creates multiple panoramic shots.

Although it’s not intuitive I discover the next step is to double-click on the panoramic photo. It’s turned portrait so I use the icon that turns it 90 degrees counterclockwise and the photo looks great. There are other icons to correct the color, the type of projection, the vertical and center and more. Even the Yaw Pitch Roll. When you choose that icon you are able to give each a number and it applies the changes to your panoramic photo. That is something you can lose a lot of time in tweaking.

I click Save, Render and Export to PanoTools for each of the panos because I really don’t know what I need and I don’t want to have to recreate anything. I’ll just save everything to CD later and put it in a drawer to save disk space.

In the kitchen the pantry door is out of alignment.

I’m sure I can use the control points icon to create points on each picture and force it to line up. But even though I’ve created the pano photo and turned it 90 degrees counterclockwise, the control points use the original photos that have not been rotated. It would be easier if they had been rotated. But you are able to change the scale to fit the entire photo in the screen and this helps. I try adding control points but it doesn’t appear to be working. I use the mouse to draw a square around a corner near the pantry door in picture one and then another square of similar size the same place in picture two. Then I click on the add control points icon. Nothing appears to happen. I do it again, several times, in different areas. Control points do not appear to be added. On another pano, the bathroom, I’m able to add control points on door corners, vent corners and the towel holder and delete pictures. But then I don’t see what I need to click on to save my changes. Apparently just Xing out saves it and my pano looks much better.

Overall, I’m very impressed with AutoPano and I will definitely keep using it. It was amazingly accurate on creating the panos, easy to correct lighting, color and angle. It needs more documentation on using some of the features but that’s really the only con.

Now on to creating the floorplan and website.

Neighborhood analysis. . .

The most common report requested is the Fannie Mae 1004. This requires details regarding the subject, of course, but also regarding marketing conditions and specifically the neighborhood.

Marketing conditions and neighborhood data can be difficult to determine and up to individual opinions. For which appraisers always have.

Let’s first look at the form:

 

The first section under Neighborhood Characteristics is asking if the location of the subject’s neighborhood is Urban, Suburban or Rural. The acceptable guidelines for making this determination can be found at Fannie Mae Single Family Property Guidelines. To summarize: “An “urban” location relates to a city, a “suburban” location relates to the area adjacent to a city, and a “rural” location relates to the country or anything beyond the suburban area.” They are not refusing to lend money on specific types of neighborhoods.  But if you choose urban or suburban as the neighborhood location, it will be much harder to explain why you had to extend the search more than one mile from the subject or more than six months from time of sale to obtain comparables.

Next, how Built-Up (the degree of development of a neighborhood) is the area. >75 is checked if there is little vacant land. <25 is chosen if the subject’s neighborhood is mostly vacant property. The Fannie Mae Single Family Property Guidelines states “The degree of development of an area may indicate whether a particular property is residential in nature. When underwriting a mortgage secured by a property located in a rural or relatively undeveloped area, the lender should focus on the characteristics of the property, zoning, and the present land use to determine whether the property should be considered residential in nature.” The same information applies to Growth.

 

Under the heading One Unit indicate the price range and predominant price of properties in the subject neighborhood. The natural inclination would be to use the local Multiple Listing Service and see what comparables exist within the subject’s neighborhood. But this part of the grid actually needs to know the range of all homes found within the neighborhood. LOW under PRICE will indicates the lowest priced home which could be occupied, not one in need of repair or only attractive to investors willing to renovate. HIGH is the highest priced home in the area and be extremely high in comparison to the subject. Predominate is usually a range such as 95-115 referring to $95,000 – $115,000. It is tempting to ensure your subject’s value is within the Predominate’s range which may not be accurate. But the subject’s value should be between the low and high range unless the subject is not in any condition to be occupied.

Age may read NEW in areas where there has been new construction. And if the area was recently rural but builders have now converted pasture land to garden-home communities the LOW could be NEW and the HIGH 100+. Under AGE new construction would read as NEW. Predominate may or may not be the age of the subject and it is usually a range. Sometimes two ranges. Take the example of new construction: Predominate may read as NEW-5, 50-75 indicating there is new construction and there is also established areas.

Fannie Mae Single Family Guidelines indicate: “The price range must reflect high and low prevailing prices for residential properties that are comparable to the property being appraised (one-family properties, two-family to four-family properties, condominium units, or cooperative units) and, in some cases, for competing properties (one-family properties when the property being appraised is a two-family to four-family property or a condominium unit, or condominium units when the property being appraised is a cooperative unit). Isolated high and low extremes should be excluded from the range, which means that the predominant price will be that which is the most common or most frequently found in the neighborhood. The appraiser may state the predominant price as a single figure or as a range (if that is more appropriate).

When the subject property has a sales price (or value) that exceeds the upper price range, the property is considered as an “over-improvement” for the neighborhood. The property is considered as an “under-improvement” if its sales price (or value) is less than the lower price range. If the subject property is an over-improvement, the mortgage terms generally should be more conservative because the property may not be acceptable to typical purchasers. The appraiser must explain why the property is an over-improvement or under-improvement and comment on the adjustments that were made in the “sales comparison analysis” adjustment grid to reflect that condition.

The lender should consider whether a property in an urban area is among those being renovated. Since demand for this type of property can be strong, the property should not be regarded as over-improved if there is a strong market interest, which is indicated by the existence of comparable properties.”

The Multiple Listing Service will not be very useful when it comes to determining percentages for Land Use. Using the county map book will give you much information in this regard by noting major highways and streets. The Fannie Mae Single Family Guidelines also have advice: “Our appraisal report forms provide an area for the appraiser to report the relative percentages of the developed land in the neighborhood when discussing the present land use, rather than simply referring to the zoning classifications. The appraiser should report separately the percentage of developed one-family sites, developed two-family to four-family sites, etc. Undeveloped land should be reported as vacant. In addition, if there is a significant amount of vacant or undeveloped land in the neighborhood, the appraiser should include comments to that effect to ensure that he or she adequately describes the neighborhood. If the present land use in the neighborhood is not one of those listed on the appraisal report form—such as parkland—the appraiser also must indicate the type of land use and its related percentage. The total of the types of land uses must equal 100 percent.

Typically, dwellings best maintain their value when they are situated in neighborhoods that consist of other similar dwellings. However, some factors that are typical of a mixed-use neighborhood—such as easy access to employment centers and a high level of community activity—can actually enhance the market value of the property through increased buyer demand. Urban neighborhoods also frequently reflect a blend of residential and non-residential land uses—including residential multifamily properties, other properties that are used to provide commercial services (such as groceries and other neighborhood stores) in support of the local neighborhood, industrial properties, etc.

When different land uses and property types are present in a neighborhood, that fact should be considered a neighborhood characteristic that the appraiser needs to take into consideration when performing the neighborhood analysis and defining the neighborhood boundaries. To ensure that any positive or negative effects of the mixed land uses are reflected in the sales comparison analysis, the appraiser should select comparable sales from within the same neighborhood whenever possible. If this is not possible, the appraiser may need to make “neighborhood” or “location” adjustments to the “sales comparison analysis” grid for any sales that are not subject to this same neighborhood characteristic.”

Equipment. . .

Digital cameras are wonderful.  I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to try using film cameras, dealing with having the film developed and having the report completed on time.  

When I first began in real estate I was utilizing the Sony DSC model and loved everything about it. The LCD screen in the back was large, the buttons were all conveniently placed, the batteries were rechargeable and the results were perfect. I also learned to use virtual tour software to enhance my listing presentations and stand out from the MLS crowd.

But in appraising houses it was difficult to handle. I had to work out a system to measure the house and make notes on the graph paper about anything I needed to take photos of, then go back and unlock my car to retrieve my camera, take exterior photos and then interior photos. Although it does have a camera strap I was constantly juggling the camera and the clipboard, resulting in banging the camera body frequently.

Then I found the Kodak V705. Although it is not perfect it is wonderful. I like many things about it and dislike only a few. The LCD screen is large, the photos turn out wonderful but the two best features is that it has a dual lens system enabling you to take panoramic photos on the camera, it fits into your back pocket and if you forget the memory stick in your computer it has built-in memory. That may not seem like such a big deal until you know about one of the cons. The V705 uses a proprietary cord to connect the camera to the computer. That’s okay if you only work on one computer. But I work on my laptop at home and my desktop at the office and I don’t want to have to remember to bring the cord with me. So at the office I take out the memory card and get the photos downloaded onto the desktop. If I forget to reinstall the memory card the camera allows me to use its generous built-in memory to take photos and then when I get back to the office I only have to insert the memory card into the camera, click on Menu and then Review and I can copy the photos from the built-in memory to the memory card. That has been a lifesaver several times.

And having the camera in my back pocket means while measuring the house I can take the photos when I see the need for photo documentation and I don’t have to stop and make a trip back to the car to retrieve the camera.

Pros                                                                             Cons

Large LCD Screen                                          Proprietary battery

Pocket sized                                                    Proprietary cable

Built-in memory/easy card transfer

Panoramic feature

For creating virtual tours I have learned to use PMVR from Duckware (www.duckware.com). Although the site clearly states “No Programming: No programming experience is required to use PMVR.” this is not for the faint of heart. There are other software packages that will enable you to create your own virtual tour, and even some companies that all you to upload your photos and they create the tour. But PMVR is definitely the most economical. And the customer service is outstanding. Complete documentation with multiple examples are easily found on the site.

The software allows you to use quality photos but the tour is still quick loading. The software is Java based so it works on both Macs and PCs. A floorplan is optional but I find it’s the best way to keep your viewers from getting lost and makes sure they are confident they have seen the entire house. They can click on “hotspots” which light up as the mouse passes over the photo or by clicking on the individual rooms on your floorplan. The entire tour is fully customizable so you can be sure you, as the agent, and your company, are receiving credit for the tour and you are not giving free advertisements for the software developer.

It’s still very important that you use quality photos because the software can only work with what you give it. If you have rooms with lots of light coming through the windows, think ahead before snapping the picture to make sure the dark corners are going to blend in with the natural light on your photo the same way your eyes make immediate adjustments. And although a tripod slows you down and limits your movements the photos will show the difference when the camera or the software tries to paste together the panoramic shot. I have even used a small level to ensure as I turn the camera the bubble can tell me the camera is still perfectly level for each shot.

If your camera does not create panoramic photos internally you will have to create the panoramic shot on your computer by “stitching.” This means utilizing a software package that takes multiple shots which overlap approximately 1/3 and blends the multiple shots together seamlessly to give you one photo. Many times the digital camera software package will have a stitching function.

  

Possible real estate listing. . .

Although the real estate market is slow and some could justifiably say unstable, the phone is still ringing. The calls are not very productive but just the sound of the phone ringing gives everyone hope.

 

When the market experiences oversupply some positive things occur. Some individuals choose to give up their license. Fewer agents mean more opportunities for the ones left. But, when it’s difficult to obtain financing and when the public is scared by the news media even more opportunities is not enough. We also have to be more creative in drawing attention to ourselves and our listings.

 

This past week I received an interesting call. A well-established industry is looking for money to expand their building. They decided selling an adjacent 6-7 acres would be what they needed for their expansion fund. So they called asking how to determine the value of the property and wanted us to present a marketing plan. Great? Hmm.

 

The property is landlocked. This means there is no road frontage. None. Not a driveway, an alley, absolutely no access on its own. The property also has the railroad tracks on one side.

 

Now the real estate agent has a problem. First, when approached by a potential listing, the agent has to determine who would be most interested in the property in its present state (next door to an industry, zoned industrial, no access). I’m coming up blank. Okay, next determine what changes could be made to make the listing more attractive to a wider audience. First, zoning can not be changed. In another situation zoning could possibly be changed, which might take months, but in the meantime the property could still have exposure with the potential zone change. But not in this situation. Next door to an industry, within an industrial park, the zoning is not going to change.

 

So we have narrowed down the list. Garden home builders will not be interested in being next to a railroad track (although I have seen it done, more than once and within the past two years), no commercial stores which attract the public, no public services. And considering its remoteness, not even storage buildings.

 

Okay, so it looks like only another industry. What about the neighbors? To the south of the landlocked property was a nursery which recently closed and sold to an undetermined business. That’s a possibility. So our marketing plan includes one plan of action: direct mailings to industries and neighbors indicating the value of the area and the opportunity to own acreage conveniently located.

 

In preparation for my appointment I have aerial photos, courthouse information and direct mail marketing suggestions. Not much to go on. And still I have to explain the landlocked issue and determine a price.

 

Of one thing I am certain. Even before searching the local MLS this is not the type of transaction that will be considered hot. I intend to make it plain that although there is insufficient data to determine a DOM (days on market) range, we anticipate steadily working the advertising for at least two years before there’s any possibility of success. And that’s only if a market turn occurs as anticipated this summer. It could take longer. And since they already have the money allocated, I’m sure this is not what they want to hear.

 

And if I don’t get the listing, I won’t mind. I have the attitude of working every possibility but realize there are some listings I really don’t want.

Winter is slow. . .

Market Comparison of December 2006 vs. December 2007 by Neighborhood

It is definitely winter. The high tomorrow is expected to be 18°. And although I would love to have a few assignments to help me reach my goal of 200, I can wait until the temp warms up a few more degrees.

Understandably there are few assignments this time of years. Most of our work is from mortgage brokers and they are not very active around Christmas or New Years. But soon people will be worried about paying Christmas bills or income taxes and refinancing will an option.

FHA is certainly more attractive to individuals wishing to refinance. But many people don’t understand the differences between FHA and Conventional financing. And they don’t need to. Mortgage brokers are more than willing to deal with the paperwork for the opportunity at their percentage. What I dislike most of all is when we appear for our routine appraisal inspection and the homeowner has not been informed of the guidelines for the loan they are applying for.

In many homeowners’ mind they have the amount they paid for the home plus the amount of renovations/improvements made plus a couple of thousand dollars for appreciation and they see no problem in their home appraising for this amount. The mortgage broker apparently doesn’t explain the process to the homeowner either. That is left up to the appraiser.

I show up and find a home which has been well maintained for the most part. But the bathroom ceiling is peeling. Or the kitchen ceiling is peeling. And to the homeowner there’s not a problem because they understand the ceiling is not peeling because of water damage. It’s because of previous water damage; the roof is now fixed; they just haven’t repaired that one spot. Or steam from the shower causes the ceiling to peel; the original paint was applied improperly. But I can’t take the homeowner’s word for it. If it was a conventional loan I would be able to place a statement in the report that the peeling paint on the ceiling was minor, make a cost adjustment for it and put in the homeowner’s statement, attributed to the homeowner, of course.

But this is FHA. And FHA does not like peeling paint. Not any kind of peeling paint. No matter when the home was built.

So I have to inform the mortgage broker it’s not going to work until the peeling ceiling has been repaired. And I have to make another appointment to take pictures of the ceiling after it has been repaired.

When I show up for the appointment the homeowner wants to know why her formula (the amount they paid for the home plus the amount of renovations/improvements made plus a couple of thousand dollars for appreciation) was more than the value I arrived at. Actually the value I arrived at was not more than the house originally appraised for two years ago. And she took the time to compare my appraisal report with the appraisal report from two years ago and noticed we used different neighborhoods. The appraisal report from two years ago went into a superior neighborhood, more than two miles, to locate comparables. Red Flag!

I tried to explain, without criticizing the other appraiser, that leaving a neighborhood to obtain a specific number was not acceptable. I even tried using school systems to explain the difference. But the homeowner’s mind was firmly set and I wasn’t about to change it. I really wanted to explain the appraiser who valued her home so highly was not doing her any favors and if I was seeking her approval and followed the same line of thought I would just be perpetuating a crime against her. And against the lending institution by misleading them into thinking if the home was foreclosed on today they would be able to sell it for more than they actually could reasonably expect. That’s if the underwriter let it go through.

And with the slow real estate market underwriters and review appraisers have much more time on their hands.

Advertising

One way to attract attention to your company and yourself as a competent appraiser trainee is to let everyone know how well you know their market. Mortgage brokers and even banks will take specific areas of a city and blitz the addresses with marketing material, usually easy-to-toss postcards. And for the beginner mortgage broker those postcards can seem very expensive.

 With that in mind I began providing a chart that demonstrates how our market compares with itself a year ago. It’s not always encouraging at first glance but there are several points of interest. Areas you may consider to be declining will have an increase in the number of sales or the sale amount. This can be explained by investors coming in and working to revitalize an area. Then you see a neighborhood that is known for being the big-money area, and it will appear as though everyone is moving out. All this information culled together will give the person spending money on advertising vital information: send adjustable-rate mortgage advertising to areas demonstrating growth; areas declining could benefit from 15-year mortgage rates; stable neighborhoods could be interested in refinancing. Something for everyone.

And your local, hungry appraiser-trainee provided you this information and possibly saved some of your advertising dollars.

It’s not easy to pull together the information but it takes me only three hours once a month. I’ve attracted the attention of three new clients and had old clients call and say my numbers were accurate. I’ve even had the chart used to explain the role of the residential appraiser to a group of networking businessmen. And I’ve gotten the reputation of being the person able to analyze the multiple listing service and pull out useful data.

Market Comparison July 2007 vs July 2006

In the beginning. . .

It was difficult to find information on becoming an residential appraiser. I knew two women who were able to support their families with their single income by appraising homes. But these same two women worked all the time: nights, weekends, family-time. They also started in the early 80s before the S&L scandal and before the restrictions we now have to ensure quality appraisals. And appraisers as a group are not forthcoming with information

 I started out in real estate. And I really think that benefited me more than many appraiser trainees who depend solely on their appraisal education.

 Let’s start with education. Before you invest in your real estate classes know this: you must have a real estate broker willing to work with you before you can start selling. Your state license has to be under a broker’s license. Don’t start taking the classes before you have made arrangements with a real estate broker. Many of the large franchise real estate companies offer classes at their local offices and for the best student will provide mentors after you obtain your license. A mentor is a wonderful way to start because the classes are not designed to give you the knowledge you need to start advertising yourself, planning your path or even speaking intelligently with potential buyers/sellers.

And real estate brokers are usually willing to work with most everyone. Most states do not mandate a broker/agent ratio. So the more agents the more potential the broker has for income. The broker is responsible for agents breaking the rules so you must come across as a good student, knowledgeable and seriously interested in your real estate career.

My real estate classes were all on-line. And this is not for everyone. You have a limited time to access the classes so you have to be organized and goal-oriented/self-starter. I determined how long the class would take (60 hours) and was determined to finish in two months. I felt like that wasn’t unreasonable. And I exceeded my goal by one week.

Some people scoffed and in retrospect I can see why. I was the only person anyone in our real estate office knew who had taken the class on-line. Everyone else spent two nights a week, approximately five hours a night in a classroom setting watching VCR tapes of lectures and highlighting a xeroxed-copy of a textbook.

 I don’t like TV and I don’t think I would have been able to focus on the information with any type of respect. What the classes had in common with my on-line classes was the repetition on the tests. My on-line class required you to take an on-line, multiple-choice test after each section. Then there would also be tests after completing each topic. You were not able to advance until you had answered each question correctly, twice. Although it was incredibly annoying, repetition really does pay off.

 As a working mother the on-line classes enabled me to have the most flexible schedule imaginable. I’m also frugal. I used Google to search for classes qualified to teach in my state and the prices were very comparable. I chose to go with CompuTaught/CareerWeb. They offered a CD or strictly on-line classes. The only real problem I had with that was although I could work at the office on my lunch break or at home on-line, if we went somewhere for the weekend without Internet access I wished I had the CD. But if you choose the CD it is only installed on one machine and you are to only use that one machine.

 And if you reason it out, the small amount of time away from the Internet made the choice obvious for me.

For the most part the information was common sense: behave yourself, treat people with respect, be honest, ethical, use that math you swore in high school you would never use, just be nice.

When it came time to take the exam I first had to pass the class test. And since it was on-line how would CompuTaught/CareerWeb know it was me and not someone else taking the exam? They first sent me a proctored exam. I made arrangements with the local library to allow me to take the proctored exam in one of their offices. They checked my license to make sure it was really me and then set a time limit. They mailed the exam to CompuTaught/CareerWeb in the provided envelope. Within two days CompuTaught/CareerWeb informed me I was qualified to take the official state licensing exam. I made an appointment on-line and the location was also an H&R Block income tax office. They too had to verify my identification, make sure I was only carrying one calculator and two pencils, nothing else, and then take my picture with a web cam for the test results. I made an 87. My state license arrived within one week.

But I soon discovered selling was not for me. . .

My first blog.

I’m new to the world of blogging and I’m new to residental appraising. So new, in fact, I’m constantly researching; trying to find more info to help me be a better appraiser. Because of that, and because I’ve had great difficulity in locating real world experience, I started this blog.

 I intend to discuss my current education, obtaining continuing education credit, my field experience, my frustration and my excitment.

 Hopefully I’ll learn more about blogging too and be able to add podcasts.

Let me know how I’m doing!