DATE: 10/22/10 TO: FROM: RE: Personal Lines Inspectors Aaron York Narrative Requirements for High Value Home Inspections (HVD, VIP, and M-19 Forms) Office Memorandum The following memo provides some examples as to the type of narrative content we are expecting when completing high value home inspections. The narratives should provide the client a good idea about the type of content & layout of this house prior to looking at the photos or valuation. The better the narrative provided, the less gray areas that will also exist for the review department when it comes it looking over the report. In some cases, the valuation forms may be slightly limited where the narrative may best explain the situation with the home. EXAMPLE 1: GENERAL INFO: Purchase price was not known, with insured having owned the property for the past 10 years. The home is located inside of a private golf course development (27 holes). The development is also a gated community with guardhouse present.. EXTERIOR INFO: The dwelling is a one story frame residence. The roofing is made up of clay tiles and is of hip roof configuration. No apparent window protections were noted and it was unknown if the windows were impact resistant. The home was constructed in 1992 INTERIOR INFO: The home has a total of 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. Other rooms in the home include foyer, laundry area, kitchen, sitting room, great room, formal dining room, and a study. The main flooring throughout is ceramic tiles, with carpet noted only in the bedrooms. The foyer area floor was marble. The ceiling height throughout was 10 feet, with only the foyer noted at 18 feet & Great Room at 22 ft. Ceilings were nearly all textured drywall, with a coffered hardwood ceiling noted in the study. Walls throughout were painted drywall, with some wainscoting present in the study & formal dining room. Minimal ceramic tile work also noted at bathroom walls. Three of the bathrooms had solid surface countertops, with the remaining 1.5 baths having granite counters. Cabinets were all maple. The kitchen has maple cabinets with granite counters. Built-in appliances include: a Sub Zero built-in refrigerator / freezer, a Wolf double oven, a Kitchen Aid disposal, a Wolf cook top, a Wolf vent hood, a Wolf single oven, a trash compactor, and a wine cooler. There was one floor to ceiling stone gas fireplace noted in the Great Room. Fireplace has a hardwood mantel. HAZARDS: The insured has an in-ground pool and hot tub. The perimeter of the property has approximately four foot metal wrought iron type fencing. The home is also located approximately 90' feet away from a secluded lake area. OUTBUILDINGS: None present.
EXAMPLE 2: GENERAL INFO: The insured moved into the home in 11-2004, when construction was completed. Construction cost of the home was stated to be in the $3,000,000.00 area. It is set on a 2.5 acre lot, which cost $125,000.00. No additions performed since construction completed. EXTERIOR INFO: This is an expansive one story Contemporary style dwelling, with the exterior walls being composed of brick veneer & wood siding. The roof is a combination hip & gable covered with wood shakes. There is also a three car attached garage. INTERIOR INFO: The first floor of the home contains a foyer which actually comprises two rooms, a living room, a dining room, kitchen, office (w/ elaborate custom woodwork), pantry (with built-in desk and cabinets), butler's pantry, sunroom, three bedrooms, three full baths, two half baths, and a laundry room. The majority of the interior had cherry wood flooring. All of the bedrooms have wool / Berber carpeting. Interior walls are basically all painted drywall. Ceilings are all textured drywall. A tray ceiling was noted in the dining room & master bedroom. The average ceiling height throughout was 10 feet, with the dining room & master bedroom noted at 12 feet. In the foyer, the flooring is comprised of wide plank cherry wood. The front door is custom milled from a local door-maker. Custom-milled French doors separate the two foyer rooms. The insured reports that the chandelier in the foyer is valued at $22,000. Ceiling height of the foyer was 18 ft. Within the living room, there is a local stone floor to ceiling gas fire place. Floor covering consists of wool / Berber carpeting. There is a large wrought iron chandelier as well. Ceiling height in the living room was 24 ft. Kitchen built-ins are top of the line Thermador & Sub-Zero appliances. Granite countertops accent the custom-milled maple cabinetry. There is also a stone wood fired oven. Flooring was all cherry plank. The office includes hand-milled finishes and domestic cherry wood paneling. The custom coffered ceiling was also milled using similar woods as the wall paneling. The bathrooms were all ceramic tiled, including the master bath. Cabinetry was custom wood with granite countertops. There was a whirlpool bath in the master bath. The staircase leading to the basement was removed from a local church & renovated when installed into the residence. The basement is of a similar quality to the rest of the house. The basement contains a family room, small playroom, large billiards room (with stamped tin ceiling), craft room (with built-in Poggenpohl cabinets & stone countertops), massage room, game room, exercise room, theatre room (with rear CANON projection & built-in theatrical sound system), a full bath, a half bath, a second laundry room & a swimming pool room. (There is a small pool here, with powerful swimming jets that allows the insured to swim standing still, as well as a hot tub. The pool is covered with a retractable cover).
For mechanicals, the home is heated with a geo-thermal system with two heating units. The home has 18 heating zones & also has central air conditioning which has 13 cooling zones. This is a computer monitored home. The home also has an Otis elevator. ADDITIONAL INFO: A cleaning person comes in one day a week. She has a specific code allowing her to enter the home. HAZARDS: There is a basketball hoop set up in the backyard. No other hazards noted. OUTBUILDINGS: None were noted. EXAMPLE 3: GENERAL INFO: Insured purchased the home in October 2006 for approximately $575,000. This does not include the land. Home sets on 6 acres of land. Lot slopes away from the home on three sides. The front entrance to the home faces a dead end street which branches off Lake Ridge Dr. The primary access is a driveway off Old Farm Rd which is the main access to the subdivision. The insured recently completed construction of an open porch at the rear of the home which is now the main entrance. A three wall addition is to the side of the home facing Old Farm Rd. EXTERIOR INFO: This is a 2 story Colonial style home. The actual year of construction was not known, but was estimated to be the 1960 s. The exterior walls were largely made up of aluminum siding with some brick veneer accents. The roofing is gable with an asphalt shingled covering. There were 2 one car built-in garages at each end of this home. INTERIOR INFO: The residence has a total of 4 bedrooms & 4 bathrooms. The first floor of the home includes: family room and kitchen in an open floor plan, a sunroom, 1 full bath, bedroom, and the laundry room. The family room had a fireplace with wood mantel. The kitchen had basic appliances with ceramic tiled counters & laminated cabinets. To the left of the kitchen and up a half flight of stairs is the original living room and the dining room. Insured is in the process of remodeling these rooms for use as playrooms for their children. A second standard wood staircase to the upper level was also located adjacent to these rooms. The flooring for the first floor is largely oak, with just the bathroom having vinyl flooring. Walls & ceilings were all painted drywall. Ceiling height throughout the home was 8 feet. An open-sided hardwood & carpeted staircase leads to the second floor. The second floor contains the master suite, two bedrooms, and two full baths. All of the bedrooms had standard carpeting with bathrooms having ceramic tiles. HAZARDS: There is an in-ground swimming pool which is 4 feet to 10 feet in depth. Pool is surrounded by wrought iron fencing with gates locked. There was a diving board at the deep end of the pool. There was life safety equipment adjacent to the pool. Insured also has two medium sized mixed breed dogs that were quite friendly. OUTBUILDINGS: There is a pool house at end of the swimming pool with a half bath and changing area. There is also a kitchenette in the pool house.
EXAMPLE 4: GENERAL INFO: The risk was started in 2006, and construction was just recently finished. The price of the home was reported as being about $1.2 million, not including the property the land sits on. The risk has multiple acres here, overlooking the Rubicon River, and 10 acres are rented out to a neighboring farmer for crops. The property also has another smaller home on it. EXTERIOR INFO: The risk is a single family home that has a built-in garage, screen porch, and a mostly finished basement. This is a 2 story Contemporary style brick veneer dwelling. The roofing is multi-level gable & hip with an architectural shingle covering. INTERIOR INFO: The first floor of the home contains the kitchen, dinette, Great room, laundry room, craft room, three walk-in closets, two half bathrooms, one full bathroom, office, library, master suite, foyer, garage & screened porch. A standard wood staircase leads to the second floor. The second floor has three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, two walk-in closets, and a bonus room over the garage. The basement has the following rooms: bar room, media / theatre room, exercise room, display room, one full bathroom, two utility rooms, and a jacuzzi room. The basement has a bar room that is furnished like an Irish pub, with all custom hardwood, leaded glass, deluxe wet bar, a large fireplace, a dining booth area & textured drywall ceilings. The countertops throughout the house (including the kitchen, bathrooms & basement wet bar) were a granite looking stone that the risk had stated were actually Zodiac. All cabinetry was reported as being cherry. The average ceiling height was 9 feet, however the Foyer was at 20 ft & the Great Room was at 26 ft. The main floor covering throughout the home was standard carpet. The foyer & kitchen had acid etched concrete floors. The Great Room had a cherry plank floor with in-laid mahogany surround. Ceilings throughout were painted drywall however, the library had a wood tongue & groove ceiling. Walls throughout were painted drywall. All bathrooms throughout were builder s grade quality with solid surface counters & ceramic tiled floors. The master bath did have a whirlpool tub. The home has a total of 6 stone fireplaces with wood mantels. Of the six fireplaces, one of them was gas. One of the units was located in the basement. The basement and entire first floor has in-floor radiant heat (including the garage), with the second story having forced air. There were a total of 2 forced air furnaces.
EXAMPLE 5: GENERAL INFO: The home is a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath home located in an upscale neighborhood. The insured just purchased the home for 1 million dollars with the most current appraisal at 1 million dollars as well. The lot itself is stated to be worth approximately 300,000 dollars, which is stated figured in the above amount. The home is also located on a golf course. The home is semi-vacant, as the insured just purchased and is in the process of moving items in. The insured's do not live at the location yet. EXTERIOR INFO: This is a 1 story contemporary style home built on a walk-out basement. The home slopes from front to back. The roofing is asphalt shingles & is of hip configuration. The exterior walls are vinyl sided with a few small areas having stone veneer. The home was built in 2004. INTERIOR INFO: The first floor has the following rooms: Foyer, kitchen, dinette, formal dining room, pantry, laundry room, sunroom, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, the master suite & two master walk-in closets. The master bedroom and formal dining room have tray ceilings. The master bathroom has a whirlpool jetted tub with ceramic tile surround, a stone tile shower with upgraded shower system and 14" ceramic tile flooring. The kitchen has maple cabinets with granite countertops at both the main area and the island. The backsplash is also granite. Cabinets seen in the kitchen are same type as the master bathroom. The other full bathroom on the first floor has oak cabinetry with a solid surface counter. The 1/2 bath has a pedestal sink. The master bedroom has 2 large sized walk-in closets. The home has a total of 2 gas fireplaces, with one on each floor. The basement level is about 90% finished with custom components, from etched glass double office doors to a full wet bar with appliances. The basement has the following rooms: 1 bedroom, 1 full bathroom, office, exercise room, game room, TV room, family room, a finished storage room, and utility room. The full bathroom here has a tiled countertop with oak cabinetry. There is a large game room which sports a row of built-in base cabinets. There is also a wine vault. The majority of the home is carpeted, but the home does have a fair amount of area with hardwood floors stated to be Brazilian cherry. There was also a large premium wood inlay area noted in the sunroom flooring. All bathrooms were noted as having ceramic tiled floors. All of the interior walls were painted drywall, with one area being just wallpapered (dining room). Ceilings were all painted drywall. The home has a centrally reporting fire detection system which goes hand in hand with the centrally reporting burglar alarm system. The home also has a central vacuum. All mechanicals are original to the structure and appear to be in good operating condition. The home does have about 20% of heating supplied by radiant in-floor heating. The home has 3 forced warm air furnaces and central air conditioning. HAZARDS: There is a hot tub at the rear of the home. Tub has a secured cover in place. The insured has 2 dogs. One is a black lab and one is a spaniel. Both reported having no bite history. OUTBUILDINGS: None noted.
EXAMPLE 6: GENERAL INFO: The home was started in 2006, and finished in mid-2007. The risk did not keep track of the cost of the construction, and an appraisal was not available. The grounds include farmland leased out & a 1/2 mile long driveway. EXTERIOR: This is a 2 story contemporary style dwelling. The home has a combination hip & gable roof with an asphalt shingled covering. The exterior of the home leads to a walk-out basement. The home overlooks a moderately steep hillside. The home has interior & exterior cement work that is costly, cement medallions, cement built-in benches, and solid "cream city river stone" siding, which looks like limestone. INTERIOR: The first floor of the home contains: Kitchen, master suite, Great room, foyer, dinette, sitting room, a full bath, pantry, laundry room, mud room, and access to the enclosed and attached garage areas. An open one-sided wood staircase leads to the 2 nd floor. The second floor contains: three bathrooms, 2 full bathrooms, study, office & 2 walk-in closets. The basement is approximately 90% finished & contains a family room, home theatre, bedroom, bathroom, bar room area, utility room and a safe room. The home has a Geo-thermal heating system. The home has hickory cabinets and granite countertops throughout, as well as hickory hardwood flooring to match. Only areas noted with varying flooring were the bathrooms, which had ceramic tiles. The master bedroom has a jetted whirlpool tub. The walls were all painted drywall. The home has 9 foot painted drywall ceilings. The Great room had a custom hickory tongue & groove 24 ft ceiling. There was a floor to ceiling brick double fireplace with wood mantel here as well. The fireplace is seen in the Great Room as well as the basement family room. HAZARDS: The insured has a friendly Collie dog. The property has a 5 acre pond. OUTBUILDINGS: There is a huge shed where the risk stores collectible vehicles and other personal belongings. These examples are meant as a guide to help provide ideas as how to approach writing a narrative on the form. Keep in mind that the more details that we have to work with, the less chance there is of a valuation being incorrect or requiring additional calls to complete the report.