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| MAY 2004 |
A Publication of
ELLIOTT® & Company Appraisers |
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ELLIOTT® ANNOUNCES
APPRAISALS WORLDWIDE |
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 ELLIOTT® & Company Appraisers, which for several years has been performing
real estate appraisals in all 50 states, now offers appraisals worldwide.
“ELLIOTT® & Company Appraisers is expanding internationally in order to
follow the lead of our clients and worldwide mortgage markets which are
becoming more prevalent in other countries outside the United States,”
said Charlie W. Elliott Jr., the company’s president. “Some of our clients
in this country are expanding internationally. Furthermore, we have
foreign banks, including Canadian ones, here in this country.”
Elliott said that the company is becoming international by expanding its
network of appraisers, that it already has, into a worldwide network.
Currently, the company has a network of over 2,000 appraisers and over
5,000 clients.
“We have always been a company that covered a large geographic footprint,”
Elliott said. “We began as a small company covering several counties from
our original headquarters in North Carolina. Later, we expanded to become
a statewide, then a multi-state operation, and eventually a national
operation. Becoming a worldwide company is just another extension of our
expansion.”
The company plans to begin its international operations in countries most
similar in economic structure to the U.S.A.
“I would say we expect some of the larger and more developed countries to
be providing most of the business in the beginning,” Elliott said. “As we
grow, we expect to expand into smaller and less developed countries.”
This international move is a natural progression for a company that has
been in business since 1980. The secret to the success of ELLIOTT® &
Company Appraisers’ ability to produce appraisal service over a large
geographic area is that of having relationships with some of the best and
most professional appraisers in the industry, located in areas distant
from its Central Office in Greensboro, N.C.
“The world is taking the lead of the United States in the mortgage
industry, and they’re adapting our format, our templates and our system,”
Elliott said. “They’re fine tuning it a little bit to fit their needs.
There are differences in the ways properties are evaluated in other areas
of the world, and we are prepared to meet this challenge.”
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THE EXPANDING
INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGE MARKET |
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 The mortgage industry in the most developed
counties outside the United States is about where it was in our country 25
years ago. Nevertheless, it probably won’t take 25 years for this industry
in these countries to reach the point where we are today.
Japan has adapted its Government Housing Loan Corp. after Fannie Mae and
now has the second largest mortgage market in the world. China had
virtually no mortgage market in the late 1990s, but now has one of well
over $100 billion.
While most U.S. mortgages are now sold into the secondary mortgage market,
European mortgages are still funded primarily by savings deposits. Also,
mortgages in this country tend to fall into the 15-30 year span, while
most European mortgages are for five years or less. The United States has
almost six times as much outstanding mortgage debt as either Germany or
the United Kingdom, and that these two countries have over twice as much
mortgage dept as any of their European counterparts. Look for this to
change, however, now that European countries have had a chance to observe
the boost our mortgage industry has given to the U.S. economy. |
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PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS |
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 The
State of the Global Property Evaluation Art
As is in many, if
not most, areas of commerce, the United States is the hands down
world leader in business systems and practices. This is, without
question, the case in real estate appraisals. We have been the
world leader in mortgage lending for many decades. This has
paved the way for us to develop a sophisticated system for
evaluating collateral for these loans. Thanks to Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac, the Appraisal Foundation and the Appraisal
Institute, among others, we have the best collateral evaluation
system in the world with approximately 80,000 state certified
appraisers. If we have the best system what are the other
countries doing?
First, there are few, if any, government certified real estate
appraisers in other parts of the world. The bar for
qualification seems to be much lower and is usually tied to
membership in some organization or relegated to real estate
sales people, surveyors, etc. In Canada real estate appraisers
are members of the Canadian Appraisal Institute. In England this
function is relegated more to brokers and surveyors. In fact, a
real estate valuator in England is referred to as a surveyor. In
some of the lesser-developed countries the profession is even
much less sophisticated. Rather than a traditional appraisal,
which we are accustomed to receiving, the highest level or state
of the art appraisal may be the rough equivalent of a BPO. This
may be prepared by someone with few, if any, official
credentials.
Regardless of the state of the art in a given locality, local
rule trumps everything else in real estate valuation. What may
seem rudimentary in the United States may be presented with an
air of professionalism in other countries. Thus, the traditional
method of collateral evaluation employed in a given area will
dictate the method used, even if the lender might prefer a more
sophisticated product. This is due to the lack of local data
sources and professionally trained vendors, as well as the
absence of strict government regulations. |
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IN THE
NEWS |
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 ELLIOTT®
adds new Web address
The Web site of ELLIOTT® & Company Appraisers can now be
accessed at a new Web address:
www.appraisalsworldwide.com. The home page can still be
reached at
www.appraisalsanywhere.com and, for that matter,
www.elliottco.com.
For the past three years, the
real estate market values in Shanghai has been growing by over
20% annually. Last year real estate values in this large Chinese
city increased 28%. The municipal government has recently issued
rules to hold back mortgage loans and prevent short-term
investors from buying before the buildings are finished.
Foreign money is being heavily invested in Florida real estate
according to local and international officials who attended the
recent Metro Orlando International Summit held at Disney World.
Investors from France, Canada and Saudi Arabia appear to be
leading the way.
Inflation of real estate prices is also strong in Great Britain,
where housing prices have been growing at nearly 20% in recent
years. Interest rates have risen three times in recent months to
combat this.
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QUOTES
OF WIT & WISDOM |
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“Until Eve arrived, this was a man’s
world.”
– Richard Armour
“The world is but a large prison out of which some are selected
daily for execution.” – Sir Walter Raleigh
“The world does owe you a living, but it doesn’t home deliver.”
– Richard Saunders
“God owns heaven, but He craves the earth.”
– Anne Sexton
“We cannot ply innocents abroad in a world that is not
innocent.” – Ronald Reagan
“If the world is cold, make it your business to build fires.”
– Horace Traubel
“The earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot live
eternally in a cradle.”
– Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
“The world owes you nothing; it was here first.” – Mark Twain
“Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, was honored by
posterity because he was the last to discover America.” –
James Joyce
“The world has narrowed to a neighborhood before it has
broadened to a brotherhood.” – Lyndon Johnson
“Like a 10-ton cake, the world is more than anyone can eat at
one sitting. Select a piece of it, then enjoy the party.” –
Samuel Silver
“The real world is not user-friendly.” – Richard Throop III |
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ELLIOTT® & Company Appraisers
currently offers appraisal service throughout all 50 of the United
States. Clients are encouraged to place orders directly to any
office local to properties to be appraised or to the central office
for assignment.
Orders may
be placed via telephone, fax or through the company's Web site. All
Internet orders will be processed through the central office.
Some
Offices Are Independently Owned and Operated
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3316-A Battleground Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27410
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