At Buchanan Appraisals, we are dedicated to being a part of the rebuilding of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In 2011, five-plus years after Katrina, many people across the Mississippi Gulf Coast are still living in temporary housing. We eagerly await the opportunity to help you get back into your home -- or into a new one. Whether you need a professional appraisal for a construction loan, a retrospective valuation for tax purposes, or help making a decision about marketing your current property, our staff stands ready to help you. Today we are still Providing Value to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Deepwater Horizon update: The Mississippi Gulf Coast is open for business! The beaches are clean, the restaurants are open, the golf is great, and our arts districts and galleries in Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis are magical places to visit. Has the oil spill affected property values? Yes and no. There appears to be no permanent damage to our 26 miles of sand beach or wildlife and seafood habitats. It is too early to quantify any long-term effect on housing values, although there has been a drop in offers on beachfront and other higher-end properties. One of the primary ways we arrive at an opinion of market value is by comparing properties that have sold recently to the property that is being appraised. The slowdown in closings during the summer of 2010 will lead to scarcer sales to choose from in selecting comparable properties for other beachfront homes. Does this mean they are worth less today than they were before April 2010? No. Does it mean that it may be harder to value the $700,000+ property? Probably, at least for a while. Give us a call ~ we'll talk about it.

Legislative note: Some of you have expressed concern about recent valuations being completed by out-of-town or otherwise unknowledgeable or inexperienced appraisers. Was your neighbor's home appraised by someone from Greenville or Greenwood instead of Gulfport or Gautier? Or was it valued from Chicago or Atlanta by someone who has never even visited our area? Did your lender tell you that they can no longer select their preferred local appraiser? This is the result of the HVCC or Home Valuation Code of Conduct which went into effect May 1, 2009. This restriction was placed on your Mississippi Gulf Coast lender by the New York Attorney General (now New York's Governor). Don't let New York tell Washington tell Mississippi how to lend money. The markets are not the same. If your lender tells you they have no control over the appraiser selected for YOUR home appraisal, ask them which AMC they are using and insist that they hire only local professionals to value your property.

Our investment in training and technology has helped our customers greatly reduce their workload. By offering on-line appraisal ordering, coupled with automatic report status updates and electronic delivery of the final product, we are able to eliminate the run around and phone tag hassles associated with this process. And since this process saves us money as well, we can keep our rates competitive with anybody in the industry.