Forensic Scrapbook

If you live near a blasting quarry operation, I would like to hear from you. You are invited to take the short 18-question “Online Survey - Proximity to Blasting Quarry Operations” posted on the website. The results of the online survey will be summarized and...

As of January 2019, Tony Sevelka is only one of two appraisers in Canada who has earned the Appraisal Institute’s AI-GRS (General Review Specialist) designation. The AI-GRS designation is held by professionals who provide reviews of appraisals of a wide range of...

Appraisals are prepared for a host of reasons, but, in every instance, an appraisal is intended to support a decision-making process that involves the appraised property. A party commissioning an appraisal will either rely on the appraisal or attempt to induce another party (e.g., an expropriating or condemning authority, investor, etc.) to rely on the appraisal.

When an appraisal is prepared on behalf of a public agency, the work product is always subject to disclosure, and usually there is no expectation of privacy, unless the report carries settlement privilege. An appraiser should always assume that their appraisal report...

Thank God I don't get paid to think! Another appraiser representing the same party as in the preceding expropriation did what he was told to do by his legal counsel. Of course, the appraiser made full disclosure in his appraisal report of his accommodating, obedient,...

What's that stuff called that baffles brains? An appraiser valuing an undevelopable 28-acre narrow strip taking of 5,200 feet along the western boundary of a 346-acre unserviced parcel as part of a future highway went to great lengths in discussing highest and best...

When the appraiser couldn't find comparable sales for the taking of an easement strip measuring 30' by 4,600' (3.2 acres) across a 272-acre farm, he ingeniously substituted another parcel for the taking, which he then appraised at an amount which formed the basis of...