At the State Board of Equalization meeting Friday, December 6, 2019, I served as one of five panelists for a discussion of Assessment of Personal Property & Fixtures: Ensuring Accurate & Consistent Valuations & Application Methods. The other equipment appraiser on the panel was my colleague Garret Schwartz. Panelists affiliated with the assessor’s office were…Read More
Factors in Appraising for Fire Loss or Theft
How do we appraise equipment that’s been destroyed or stolen? Of course we hope for good records — photos, equipment lists, maintenance records — but rarely are those available. Often whatever records might have existed have been lost in the same fire that destroyed the equipment. In most of the fire cases we’ve been called…Read More
What Determines the Cost of an Appraisal?
When folks call us for an equipment appraisal, the first thing they usually ask is how much an appraisal will cost. Many of them are surprised to hear that we need a lot more information about their equipment and their situation before we can provide a quote or bid for the job. Why does your…Read More
Purchase Price Allocation Appraisals
When CPA firms need appraisals for financial reporting purposes, it’s often related to business combinations. Appraisals for business combinations are most commonly needed when one business entirely gains a controlling interest over another. At that point, the purchase price allocated on the books needs to be split out, with specific amounts allocated to inventory, land,…Read More
CARB Regs in Appraising Small Fleets
Recently I valued a 1994 flatbed truck used for heavy hauling. Even though I’ve done more truck appraisals than I can count, this one in particular proved the importance of double-checking CARB rulings. What I discovered was so interesting that I put together a case study regarding the truck appraisal under the current CARB regs….Read More
Eminent Domain: Processing & Manufacturing Facilities
More than one legal organization expects that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) approved by the 117th Congress will lead to a significant increase in eminent domain activity. These investments in public works – in the industries of transportation, energy, water resources and broadband – are expected to…Read More
Spray Dry Technology: Atomizers and Evaporators
We regularly appraise food processing plants, and one constant is that they are all fascinating. From the basics of rice and almond processing, the specialty equipment of row-crop packaging and winemaking, to the intricacies of legacy facilities, I remain amazed by the technology. When I was hired by a CPA to appraise his client’s evaporation…Read More
Throwback Thursday: Campbell’s Sacramento Legacy
In 2014, I walked into the old Campbell’s Soup plant in south Sacramento with a camera, clipboard, a pad of paper, a limited asset list, and noted appraiser Bob Podwalny. Our assignment was a retrospective 2013 property tax appraisal. Comstock’s article about the facility’s redevelopment references the plant as one of the “oldest and most…Read More
Busch’s Standards: Recipe for Reality, Thoughts on Chapter 1
Lawrence Busch’s Standards: Recipes for Reality covers the subject of standards in considerably more complexity than was really necessary for our purposes: developing a section on standards for appraisal review classes. As early as the introduction we found what the class needed, but by then I was already captivated by his premise that standards shape…Read More
Deconstructing Daubert on the Art of Appraisal
Appraisers frequently refer to what they do as an “art.” And in fact, the word “art” features prominently in the title of a book on appraisal review published by a major appraisal organization. But the practice of referring to appraisals and appraisal review as an “art” can be problematic, especially when we’re providing appraisals to…Read More
Tax Appeals, Family Law, and Other Reasons to Get an Appraisal
Reasons for equipment appraisals are varied and multiple, as we discover each time we answer the phone here at our equipment appraisal office in the Sacramento Valley. Will the appraisal be used in a Redding trucking company’s attempt to settle a loss claim with an insurance company, to resolve a family law matter concerning a…Read More