Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Appraiser defends his "Apples to Oranges" comparison.

This arrived from Judson Clendaniel. Notice that it starts out in the third person and then he concludes his statement in the first person.

Clendaniel is a lifetime resident of the Seattle area and has been appraising full-time since 1978 - almost as long as my good friend, former coworker, and respected colleague who preformed the previous appraisal. What has been left out of the commentary is that after the first appraisal, the property had been platted, graded & filled and utilities extended. Streets had been vacated adding to the potential size of the site. The market also continued to improve. These changes were described in my report, in detail, so that the decision makers had up to date information.

As for past real estate agent - yes, I sold houses to pay for College. WSU, 1978 BA, Business Administration with an emphasis on real estate, full tuition scholarship recipient. I hold an MAI designation, am a published appraisal author and past real estate instructor. My client list includes the top developers, bankers, public agencies and attorneys in the area as well as national investors and lenders. Perhaps Mr Zandberg should expand his "real estate circles." And no, I didn't do the Woodway appraisal - I did the review.

Judson H. Clendaniel, MAI


Your assessment of your own conduct is quite breath-taking. Clearly, you decided to respond to comments written on this blog because you harbor some degree of guilt for your part in the financial assault on a public agency. In my opinion, you are just another dollop of pond scum looking for a quick buck in serving your deep-pocket client to further his own financial ends. Sadly, your target was an easily fooled rube that believed the mush you continue to spew without regard for facts, truth or honor.

First of all, your MAI credential means nothing in this argument. The appraisal that was provided by Northwest Valuation was performed (as opposed to "preformed") by someone with the same credential. Attempting to set yourself apart by citing this "illustrious" designation means nothing to the rest of us.

As for your conclusion that the property had been graded, platted and filled - what planet are you on? Were you even aware of the contamination? Did Raskin even inform you of the history of the site? Did any past use make it into your assessment? What good is a graded and filled site if the appropriate response to contamination is to mitigate it?

I will put my faith in the District's appraiser, Jim Irish and John Koster. Those are three highly distinguished individuals that do not agree with your feeble assessment. The King 5 report exposed your scam for what it was - a scam. Your appraisal was making a comparison between apples and oranges. As for the market continuing to improve, just what sage wisdom were you relying upon to draw that conclusion? As a university educated appraiser with a lifetime of experience in real estate issues, how could you not see or hear that train coming? I will say this much, however, you served your master well. I hope you were paid enough to cover the guilt that any normal human being would have to be feeling. Just how do you sleep at night?

Regarding the Old Woodway appraisal and transaction, that discussion will be happening this summer. I have read a lot of material on the topic and have a lot to share when the time is right.

As for expanding my "real estate circles", if it means encountering people like you, I think it might be better if I left the profession all together. Fortunately, there are still a lot of great people in the industry and even a few honest appraisers.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

NW Valuations appraisal of $3.3 million was NOT the first appraisal. Judson is talking about the one from years before, that is no longer valid and has no basis for comparison.

Appraisals are no longer valid when older than one year.

Anonymous said...

Interesting article; Mark's response is intelligible, to-the-point, and the TRUTH!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps his big screen was covered with asbestos and toner the night of the KING 5 report, and he chose to just not have a TV, rather than pay for abatement. Maybe too costly, huh?

Anonymous said...

Who is "my good friend, former coworker, and respected colleague"?

Anonymous said...

Does it matter? Who would want to be his friend? Co-worker? And what does his respect mean to anyone? His assessment of property is bad and his assessment of people must be worse.

Anonymous said...

Funny how this guy mentions all of the area's top bankers and developers as clients. As if they never take advantage of the public sector or rush in to scoop up public money.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know why the new ESC site is not being developed?

Rick Jorgensen said...

This one made me chuckle. I was curious about what the meaning of "MAI" was as an attachment to their title. I assumed that it was a designation of proven competance such as RN for Registered Nurse or CPM for certified Program Manager - things that require a test and industry experience to be qualified for. I did a goggle search on MPI and found that all you need to do is WRITE A CHECK. You don't even need to be an appraiser - just belong to a "related field" like an attorney.

I can't comment on his skills as an appraiser but the arrogance of affixing a "title" to his name is definitely one for the books. I should sign up as well because I'm a landlord - that should qualify me to join. Then maybe I can be an appraiser as well :-)

Anonymous said...

The new administration site will be developed when the recession ends. During that time, Cypress Equities will sit on the Lynnwood High School site until they either feel confident enough to move forward (banks will loan them the funding) or they can sell their access to someone elese (banks will loan someone else the funding).

Football players like Emmitt Smith and Roger Staubach may have small fortunes laying around but they don't tread water any longer than the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

I found his web site and this site needs assistance.

http://home.comcast.net/~judhc/site/?/home

Mr. Zandberg, please offer to help him out with his content and links.

ESD15.org said...

One would think he might have the money to hire a web developer.

Perhaps he is shopping around for a web appraiser first.