Appraisal Institute Announces Support for New Solar Valuation Form

CHICAGO – The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, today announced its support for a new tool that will assist appraisers and others seeking to establish the value of a property’s solar-powered features. The spreadsheet was developed by Solar Power Electric and Sandia National Laboratories.

We are pleased to continue to serve as the industry leader in real estate valuation by offering our support for this innovation,

said Appraisal Institute President Sara W. Stephens, MAI. “We encourage real estate appraisers, mortgage underwriters, credit analysts, real estate property assessors, insurance claims adjusters, photovoltaic industry sales staff and others to take advantage of this new tool.”

Finding a way to value residential and commercial properties with photovoltaic (PV) installations is a growing challenge facing the nation’s real estate industry. As more homes and businesses turn to solar power, the need grows for ways to develop reliable and credible opinions of value of the installations and the power they generate.

PV Value works within a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to determine the value of a PV system. This is done using an income capitalization approach whereby the energy value is calculated over the lifetime of the PV module warranty. Inputs to PV Value include the zip code of the location, local utility rate and characteristics of the PV system. An appraisal range of value estimate is returned as a function of a pre-determined risk spread. This tool can be used to value a PV system at any location in the U.S. through its interface with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s PVWatts simulator.

“The Appraisal Institute is pleased to support yet another solution to a challenge facing the real estate industry,” Stephens said. “We are honored to continue providing a leadership role on the important issue of green and energy-efficient valuation.”

The Appraisal Institute last September introduced its Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum, a form intended to help analyze values of energy-efficient home features. It is the first of its kind intended for appraisers’ use.

AI’s addendum was designed to produce data that can be entered into the new solar spreadsheet.

The Appraisal Institute issued its form as an optional addendum to Fannie Mae Form 1004, the appraisal industry’s most widely used form for mortgage lending purposes. The Appraisal Institute’s addendum allows appraisers to identify and describe a home’s green features, from solar panels to energy-saving appliances.

Since June 2008, the Appraisal Institute has offered more than 100 individual classroom courses on green and energy-efficient valuation, and more than 2,300 attendees have participated.

Click here to see the new solar valuation spreadsheet from Solar Power Electric and Sandia National Laboratories.

Solar Power Electric is a solar company and electrical contractor located in Port Charlotte, Fla., that sells, installs and services solar electric systems for commercial and residential customers in southwest Florida.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated and managed by Sandia Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

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The Appraisal Institute is a global membership association of professional real estate appraisers, with nearly 23,000 members in nearly 60 countries throughout the world. Its mission is to advance professionalism and ethics, global standards, methodologies, and practices through the professional development of property economics worldwide. Organized in 1932, the Appraisal Institute advocates equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in the appraisal profession and conducts its activities in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Members of the Appraisal Institute benefit from an array of professional education and advocacy programs, and may hold the prestigious MAI, SRPA and SRA designations. Learn more at www.appraisalinstitute.org.