Kennedy Valuation Services

Brett is a really nice fellow. Under different circumstances, he might be a good appraiser. He gave me an extensive report [40 pages long!] complete with pictures and explanations. It looked really good. But in this instance I absolutely wasted my money! I made the mistake of thinking he knew the Louisville real estate market even tho' he lives in Mt. Washington. Unfortunately, he seems to assume all East end neighborhoods are equivalent. I used to be a real estate agent so I've done many comparative market analyses when I was trying to list houses. Appraisers use the same basic technique, but their info is better and it should result in a better valuation. But in order to get a realistic value, you have to start with roughly equivalent houses to use as comparisons. I would never pick some of the houses he picked for my comps. Of the 4 houses he used, two were in inferior neighborhoods, one was good and the last one was from my own city---about a block away. So that last one should have been perfect. It would have taken extra effort to realize it had problems, however, and should not have been used---it was part of an estate sale [which often results in a depressed price] ---and I heard the place had never been updated. Again, that would result in a lower value. Oh--also, one of the comps was a full year old!! That was a different market! We were taught not to use stale comps---usually 3 months old or less, if possible. A house that's essentially in my back yard just closed and should have been used. So I consider the work to be sloppy and I am not at all happy with the appraisal I received.