Seattle Washington Eminent Domain Lawyer | Don't Hire Your Own Appraiser Immediately

One of the great things about being an attorney is that every day I get the opportunity to help someone solve a problem they have. I get the chance to make someone's life better, put their mind at ease, and feel like they've been listened to. And, since I have this platform to write on, I like to share some of those stories so you can avoid any pitfalls or problems those before you may have encountered.

Today I got an email from a woman who was having some of her property taken by eminent domain so that a school parking lot could be built. She'd read some information of mine on a different Seattle eminent domain blog I keep up (more for fun than anything) and wrote me an email asking me a couple of questions. Those questions were: (1) should I get my own eminent domain appraisal or use the school district's appraisal; and (2) who can I talk to that can help?

These are the two most common questions I hear all the time. Having your property taken by eminent domain in Washington State, or anywhere else, whether for a school parking lot, commuter train, road widening, sewer line, or public building, is a process people may only experience once in their life. And the tendency is for people to want to trust the government is doing right by them with their offer of just compensation (they often are not - government staff may be some of the most overworked and underpaid around, not a good combination for great work product). On top of that, many people just don't know enough about eminent domain to put up the fight required to get what you deserve.

Let me get back to answering these questions. Questions number one, should you get your own appraisal or use the school district's appraisal? The answer: neither. And let me explain. First, you don't want to get your own appraiser, at least not until very late in the process (like after the actual eminent domain petition has been filed in court). There are a couple of reasons for this. Reason number one is appraisers are expensive, and you aren't going to necessarily see a lot of return on your investment. The kind of appraisal that you want to properly evaluate your land from an eminent domain perspective is going to cost anywhere from $3,000 - $5,000, and that is on a residential property. The second reason is that an appraisal is your own worst enemy. Once you have committed to a specific determination of value, you don't have a lot of wiggle room. If you stumble upon a factor that significantly increases the value of your property after the appraisal has been completed, you'll have to shell out more money to get it revised.

Second, you should use the school district's appraisal, but only to bolster your theory of value and show the school district what they missed when compiling their evaluation. An appraisal is kind of like an essay test - there are many right answers that can be framed in many different ways. And, like an essay test, it is always better to be the person grading the test than the person writing the test. So, you won't necessarily rely on the school district's appraisal, but you will use that as a baseline from which to build upon.

Some of the things that might be missed in an appraisal are: loss of access; incorrect assessment of highest and best use; utilization of poor comparable sales; making incorrect adjustments for the differences between your property and the comparable sales; or failing to utilize a more appropriate appraisal method altogether. These errors can lead to thousands and thousands of dollars for your property. And the money doesn't come from getting your own appraisal, but from analyzing critically the government's appraisal.

And how do you critically analyze the government's appraisal? This is the answer to question two - you hire a qualified Seattle eminent domain attorney to assist you with your property. The difference between a Washington eminent domain lawyer and a normal run of the mill lawyer is this: the run of the mill attorney knows nothing about eminent domain valuation. Unless you stumbled into this area of the law, most attorneys have never even seen a case like this before. An qualified Seattle eminent domain lawyer will be able to evaluate your offer of just compensation, review and critically analyze the government's appraisal of your property, and communicate to the government, in a way they will understand, why the government owes you a lot more money than they have indicated on their offer of just compensation. And, although every case is different, in almost every case there is money left on the table by landowners whose property is taken by eminent domain.

So, what are the lessons here? First, don't hire your own appraiser until you are required to defend your position in court. Until that point they are neither cost effective nor persuasive to the government. And second, don't negotiate on your own. Find and hire an eminent domain lawyer you can trust, one that is familiar with the law and will fight hard to get you the property you deserve. In Washington State, you can find a lawyer like that at CMS Law Firm LLC.