Off the Rails: Crazy Appraiser Stories

You’ve all got stories of crazy inspections: eccentric collections, mysterious apparitions, and unorthodox decor. Here are a few we found to be the most Buzzworthy.

This piece is featured in the 2025 edition of the Appraisal Buzz Magazine. Some other features in our magazine include funny Buzztoon comics, industry trends, as well as crazy stories from appraisers and readers like you! Read all these articles and more in the latest edition HERE. If you want to make sure you are receiving the print version of the Appraisal Buzz magazine in your mailbox, sign up HERE.

 

Ghost Story

I appraised a house owned by two middle-aged sisters. When I showed up for the inspection, a little boy answered the door with one of the sisters. I came back inside after measuring and taking photos, and the boy was sitting at a barstool in the living room. I finished the interior inspection, wrote the report and sent it off. Three weeks later, I got an email from one of the sisters: “This may sound weird, but I was looking at your pictures from the appraisal. The one in the living room looks like someone is sitting at the barstool. Do you see anything?”

“Yes, there was a child sitting at the barstool,” I replied. In the photo, I’d blurred the child’s face for confidentiality purposes.

Then came the reply: “Sorry, but there was no child here, just me and my sister.”

I contacted my software provider and got the photo restored: A little boy is clearly visible on the barstool. I sent her the restored photo and called her to discuss. She said she had never seen the child before, and he was not there the day I did the appraisal.

—Jeremy Darrow

Animal House

I went into a basement and saw a metal ornamental door over a room, so I shined the flashlight in. There were at least fifty cats climbing all over each other and up the walls. Then I went outside to assess the outbuilding: It had four dogs that looked like they’d been bred over and over, and there were three more dogs chained outside. (It was winter, by the way.) Meanwhile, the owner was carrying her beloved Chihuahua around like a prince. My assistant got into the car and started crying. I thought, If I saw a child that was abused like that, what would I do? 

I called animal control and asked for them to check on the animals’ welfare.

—Ruth Ann Pierson

A Heads-Up Would Be Great

One sunny afternoon, I went to a house inhabited by a young man who told me to make myself at home, no problem going into all the rooms for photos. Great! I went into one of the bedrooms, and inside, stacked floor to ceiling along two walls, were clear plastic bins, each with a live tarantula inside. No forewarning from the owner. (“Hey, by the way, that room is filled with spiders!”) I felt I showed great restraint in maintaining my poker face and not running screaming from the house.

—CR Douglass

Let That Sink In

When I was an appraiser trainee, I was tagging along with my supervisor on a packed day of about eight appointments. It was mid-January in upstate New York. Trust me when I tell you it was COLD. First appointment, 9am: we finished walking through the inside of the home and headed outside. I began walking around the back yard (tall winter boots on, of course) when I suddenly realized I was about three feet lower than I had been moments ago. I looked down to see brown, icy water pooling around my feet. I struggled to comprehend what was happening as my boots became completely submerged. Seconds later, the homeowner cracked the door open just wide enough to shout, “Watch out for the koi pond! It’s probably covered in snow!”

I spent the rest of the day wearing socks I borrowed from a homeowner and plastic bags stuffed into my boots, while a swampy smell permeated my boss’s car. Lesson learned.

—KWAppraisalGroup

Reflections

My assignment: a log home in the middle of the city. I go into the owner’s suite, and right in the middle of the room is this built-in whirlpool tub up on a pedestal with velvet steps leading up to it. The whole ceiling is just mirrors. I think, How am I going to deal with this? The owner is so proud of this custom owner’s suite they’ve built. 

It isn’t something that the normal market would want, so it has a certain…market impact, let’s say. I handled it by cost to cure.

—Jared Preisler

Den of Iniquity

The owner met me at the door. When we walked into the living room, there were empty beer bottles stacked about twelve high in rows about ten or twelve deep. In the kitchen, same thing. The back deck had single beer bottles everywhere — all one kind of beer. The children’s bedrooms, absolutely normal. But in the owner’s bedroom, there were not beer bottles, but columns of cigarette boxes stacked to the ceiling. In the garage, you guessed it: beer cartons stacked. I even went into the attic: beer cartons. 

I did the inspection as if none of that existed. But when I left, I couldn’t resist making a comment. The homeowner said, “I’ll be out soon! I’ve got a moving truck coming.” And I said, “Sir, I hope it’s a big truck.”

—Melissa Bond

Do you have a crazy experience to share? We’re collecting stories of mishaps, mistakes, and miscommunications from when you were an appraiser trainee, for the Summer 2026 issue of Appraisal Buzz magazine! Comment below or submit your stories to comments@appraisalbuzz.com with the subject line, “In the Trainee Trenches – my story.”