I have been actively involved in Real Estate Sales and Construction for over 40 years and I just reviewed the worst appraisal I have ever seen. The subject property was a condo in San Ramon with limited recent sales. I have been told that standard practice for a condo appraisal is to have at least two comps outside of the complex to get a feel for the condo market in a particular city. Tom Morgenstern, the appraiser, completed his appraisal using only data from the complex. Of the 6 comps he chose, 3 were 5 months, 8 months and 13 months old respectively. He made a minor time adjustment on the 8 month old comp., but no adjustment for time on the other two comps. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that residential real estate in the city of San Ramon has probably had appreciation of 10% in the last year. Furthermore there are 4 or 5 very similar complexes in San Ramon with several recent sales in the last three months that manifest a much higher value for the subject property. The result of this horrible appraisal is that a young, first time home buyer will miss out on the Unit of her dreams. I would also challenge the company owner, Tim Warden, to do a better job of reviewing appraisals completed by his staff since he is ultimately responsible for all appraisals coming from his company. If a Warden Appraisal Service employee is assigned to your home for an appraisal, I would immediately request a different company. read more