Berndt Appraisals Inc

Reviews

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  Michael Berndt of Berndt Appraisals is completely incompetent and that is the nicest thing I can say about him. He appraised a LOFT unit in Buckhead inside a HIGH RISE that I was selling for $152,500 / 910 square feet / $168 a square foot at $135k. I live in a building with 122 standard units and 6 loft units. The loft units have 10 foot ceilings (vs. 8 feet in the standard), real HVAC (vs. wall units), bigger windows, bigger tubs/counters/bathrooms, and the HOA's are over $100 cheaper a month than the standard size units. My unit was one of two in the building with a back door and no one above you on the first floor. These lofts have sold for as much as $212,000 in the last 15 years. I have the nicest unit in the building currently for sale so a cookie cutter appraisal didn't work for this particular unit. No lofts this size in Buckhead are currently for sale under $239k. The standard units in my building are all asking over $185/sq ft. I will cover errors in the appraisal first and then back up my valuation afterwards. ERRORS: Using the appraiser's pick of comp 1 at 820 square feet, he gave me a $3,200 bonus for my square footage. If that unit is a comparable, and sold at $151.22/ft and I have 90 extra square ft, that adds $13,610 of value to my unit. He also gave NO CONSIDERATION that the unit he picked is a STANDARD one and mine is a LOFT. Using the appraiser's pick of comp 2 at 840 square feet, he gave me a $2,400 bonus for my square footage. If that unit is a comparable, and sold at $167.67/ft and I have 70 extra square ft, that adds $11,667 of value to my unit. He put stable under pricing. Units in this building have gone up over 425% in 5 years. A unit I bought for $28.5k in 2012 just sold for $121.5k. That is certainly increasing, not stable. He put demand/supply in balance. It's a seller's market, there is limited supply will be for quite a while since it takes about 18 months for a property to come out of the ground. I would put shortage. He put growth as stable. There are 4 cranes all within a mile of my building putting up brand new properties. I would put rapid. Some of the 1 bedroom units at Sobu Flats have 2 bathrooms. That is an anomaly and I should not get a $4,000 deduction for not having a 2nd bathroom in a one bedroom space. You can't expect to buy a one bedroom condo at 820 square feet and have two bathrooms. It's more of a bonus for them than a deduction for me. I am in an urban, not suburban area. The appraisal only has my unit at 900 square feet. This change ALONE ups his current appraisal to $136,500 using his methods and the proper square footage (910). VALUATION: Appraising a property is both a science, and an art. 1) I used price per square foot in my own building of the STANDARD units. I showed him 4 comps in the last year of over $178/ft and 3 in the last 6 months at over $200/ft. He ignored them. 2) I used two high rise buildings closer than the buildings he picked for comps. Both comps are over $249/ft. He ignored them. 3) I used two loft building closer than the buildings he picked for comps. Both comps are over $245/ft. He ignored them. 4) I even used the buildings he picked - one was NOT a high rise, older than my building, had no amenities and was farther away than the buildings I used. The 2nd building he picked is not a conversion and farther away than the buildings I used. I found 4 recent comps at $171 to $188 a square foot. He ignored them. I buy and sell ITP condos and have lived in Buckhead over 20 years. Michael works in Woodstock and really shouldn't be appraising Buckhead condos. I have spent around $500,000 cash to sell around $800,000 in property. I'm making almost 60% gross return and know exactly what each of my properties are worth. His appraisal cost me almost $20k and I have lost $40k over 8 properties total. He refused to consider the information I submitted, call or text me back. Every low appraisal I have received looks absolutely ridiculous in hindsight as the market blows right past their numbers.
  By John Page, January 01, 2018

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