Why do you want the association's budget and minutes?

Because the unit is not valued in isolation. What a buyer pays is shaped by the monthly charge and what it covers, the reserve position, and any special assessment already voted or being discussed. A pending assessment nobody mentioned is the kind of thing that surfaces later at the worst possible moment — usually at a closing table. If you have the most recent budget and minutes, they save time and improve the report.

Do comparable sales have to come from the same building?

Not have to, but they should where they exist, and the report says so either way. Two sales in one building are the cleanest evidence available in any market I work: same construction, same association, same charge structure, same location. Where the building has not turned over recently, the analysis moves to comparable projects and the adjustment between buildings becomes the part of the report worth reading closely.

How much is the floor worth?

Whatever sales in that building show it is worth, which varies by building, by line and by what is actually visible from each. There is no percentage per floor and any appraiser quoting you one is guessing. Where matched pairs exist inside the building, the figure comes from them.

There is a special assessment coming. How does that affect the number?

It depends on what stage it is at and who is liable. An assessment already voted and payable is a known cost a buyer will price in. One being discussed is not yet a fact, and treating a rumour as a deduction is not defensible. The report states what is known, what was disclosed, and how it was handled — rather than quietly folding a number in.

Is a PUD the same thing?

Similar treatment, different ownership. In a planned unit development you generally own the structure and the land beneath it, with common areas held by the association; in a condominium you own the airspace of the unit and a share of everything else. Both are valued with the association and its charges in view, which is why they share a form and a page.

Condominium Appraisals in Northern New Jersey

Half the assignment is the building

In most of New Jersey an appraisal is about a house. A condominium appraisal is about a unit and the project around it, and the project half is the one that surprises people.

What a buyer pays here is shaped by the monthly charge and what it covers, the association’s reserve position, any special assessment already voted, and the tax arrangement the building sits under. None of that is visible from the listing sheet. All of it moves the number.

That is why I ask for the budget and the recent meeting minutes, and why the assignment goes faster when you have them to hand. It is also why a pending assessment nobody mentioned is a problem: it surfaces later, and “later” in this business means at a closing table.

Floor and line beat floor plan

Inside the unit, the things that move value most are the things a floor plan does not show.

Which floor. Which line — the stack the unit sits in, which decides the exposure and the outlook. How much of the view is protected from whatever gets built next, which along the Hudson waterfront matters considerably more than how good the view happens to be today. And what the monthly charge actually buys: heat, hot water, parking, a doorman, a gym nobody uses.

There is no per-floor percentage. Anyone who offers you one is guessing.

The best evidence in any market I work

Two sales inside the same building.

Same construction, same association, same charge structure, same street. Almost everything that normally needs adjusting is held constant, so a matched pair from inside a building supports an adjustment more cleanly than anything available in a detached-housing county.

Where the building has turned over recently, the analysis stays inside it and says so. Where it has not, the comparison moves to similar projects and the adjustment between buildings becomes the part of the report worth reading carefully — because that is where the judgment is.

Tax treatment is not a footnote

A unit in a building under a payment in lieu of taxes carries a different monthly cost from one taxed conventionally. The PILOT runs on its own schedule and eventually expires, and buyers respond to the payment they will actually make rather than to what it is called.

So a PILOT unit does not compare cleanly against a conventionally assessed one. Where the comparables sit under a different arrangement, the report says so rather than averaging past it.

The question an appraisal cannot answer

“Will a lender finance in this project?”

That is not a valuation question and paying for a valuation is an expensive way to get it wrong. Project eligibility turns on the association’s budget and reserves, the owner-occupancy ratio, any litigation the association is in, the share of units held by a single entity, and the adequacy of insurance. A lender’s project review answers it.

Ask the lender first. Occasionally the answer makes the appraisal unnecessary, and that is worth finding out before rather than after.

New Jersey specifics

Buildings under a payment in lieu of taxes carry a different monthly cost from conventionally assessed ones, on their own schedule and with their own expiry. Buyers respond to the payment rather than to the label, and a unit under one does not compare cleanly against a unit that is not.
Along the Hudson waterfront, how much of a view is protected from the next development matters more to value than how good the view is today.
New Jersey requires a public offering statement on a new unit sale and gives the purchaser a statutory cancellation period. It is a consumer protection rather than a valuation input, but it is where the project's own documents can usually be found.

What you receive

A report on the 1073 form, or the form the purpose requires
Comparable sales from inside the building where they exist, and a stated reason where they do not
Analysis of the monthly charge, what it covers, and how it compares
Disclosure of any special assessment, and how it was treated
Signed USPAP certification

What I need from you

The unit number, floor and line
The current monthly charge and what it includes
The association's most recent budget and meeting minutes, where you have them
Notice of any special assessment voted, pending or discussed
Interior access, and access to any deeded parking or storage

Call about a condominium & pud appraisal

Most of this is quicker said than written. Give me the address, what the appraisal has to do, and the date you are working to — a fee and an inspection date come back on the call rather than in a form response two days later.

Worth mentioning: Who is ordering it, and whether a lender or a servicer has already told you what they will accept. That answer decides whether you should be commissioning anything at all.

Appraising a condominium or PUD unit