PRE-FIRE APPRAISAL OVERVIEW

by Katherine Guidry, President
Palo Verde Appraisals, Inc.

Palo Verde Appraisals and Katherine Guidry will be taking orders for pre-fire and all other appraisal needs.

Cerro Grande Pre-fire Appraisals will be performed in compliance with The Appraisal Foundation's Uniform Standards of Professional Practice. This is a Retrospective Appraisal with extraordinary assumptions taken from a homeowner filled out Statement of Conditions of the subject property as of May 3, 2000.

For the homeowner this simply means the appraisal will be dated as of May 3, 2000 and will be assessed taking into account all information provided in the Statement of Condition

This is all pretty cut and dry as far as methodology is concerned. It is not as clear what the uses will be.

The Office of Cerro Grande Fire Claims retained PricewaterhouseCoopers to determine if the Fire had reduced residential real estate market values in Los Alamos County. Their findings issued March 28, 2001 but with data collected as of January 31, 2001 states that Los Alamos County Residential property values declined between 3-11%.

The OCGFC intends to request subsequent analyses of the Los Alamos County residential real estate market until the real estate market returns to price levels that would have prevailed in the absence of the Fire, or up through the second quarter of 2002, whichever is sooner. The March 28, 2001 Final Report is available in the Los Alamos and White Rock Cerro Grande Customer Service Centers and is available on the internet at www.fema.gov/cerrogrande.

Realized Losses are currently being processed for diminutive value due to the Fire.

In meetings with the OCGFC, I have been told the issue of Unrealized Losses will be looked at next year. At that point with appraisal and invoice in hand the claimant can file to have his property examined for Unrealized losses.

ORDER APPRAISAL