Overview / Background
Emerson Treffer is a lecturer, teacher, analyst, and a recognized expert in real estate valuation of various types of residential, commercial, industrial and maritime property. Over his 30+ year appraisal career, Mr. Treffer has appraised and conducted reviews on a wide variety of commercial and residential properties in the Mid-Atlantic States. In South Carolina, he has appraised properties ranging from restaurants in Charleston to Medical Office Buildings in Myrtle Beach to Motels in Atlantic Beach. He has also completed appraisals on Churches, Car Washes, and Office Warehouses in both Horry and Georgetown Counties. He has valued subdivisions in Pawleys Island, Little River, Murrells Inlet, North Myrtle Beach, as well as Professional Office Condominiums in Surfside Beach and Myrtle Beach, Raw Land in Florence, and High End Executive homes in Debordieu Colony. He has also completed assignments on all types of REO properties through the Grand Stand.
He also has performed various consulting assignments in Hilton Head and Beaufort. For the United States Department of the Interior Mr. Treffer has appraised The Tower at The Gettysburg National Battlefield as well as the valuation of easements along the Atlantic Ocean shore line in the Mid- Atlantic States. He also completed appraisals of special purpose properties such as the Production Studios used by HBO. His overall residential experience includes valuing property for the Veterans Administration to valuing large multi-million dollar waterfront estates (ranging from three million to twelve million dollars) as well as historical homes and large acreage estates and horse farms. In addition, he has consulted and valued numerous PUDS’ and other large planned residential communities.
Mr. Treffer earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Maryland and has taken numerous classes and seminars across the United States over the past 30 + years. Mr. Treffer’s varied real estate career also includes consulting and property management experience. He also publishes the Treffer Report for his clients. This publication addresses such issues as capitalization rate trends and forecasts, market study summaries, future forecasts for various types of real estate, as well as information regarding shifting patterns of investment and overall market performance and market trends as well as matrix analysis.
Reviews and Quality Control
Mr. Treffer has worked with various lenders to set up regular on - site training and quality control systems for their in-house staff to insure compliance with USPAP, current appraisal techniques, appraisal review reporting, as well as the overall understanding of the valuation issues that impact the underwriting process. He regularly conducts all types of commercial and residential reviews for numerous lenders and private clients to insure quality control measures and appraisal requirements and engagement instructions are being followed and complied with. He has also completed reviews for many lenders on all types of REO properties as part of the review process, Mr. Treffer has been previously asked to perform numerous reviews involving property flipping cases as well as loan loss estimates and reserve issues. Part of this review process involved combined use of AVM’s, MLS data bases, and URAR reports along with consideration of past market trends and the loan to value ratio (LTV) as a test of reasonableness.
Special Purpose Properties
He has also appraised a wide variety of other types of special purpose properties ranging from religious facilities, racquet ball complexes, fire stations, day care centers, and schools. In addition, his experience includes alternative use valuations for special use properties as well as valuation of alternative fuel processing plant. His has also valued green planned residential subdivisions (acquisition and development), condominium conversions, and medical office buildings well as large industrial complexes. He has also performed various types of studies for PUD and Mixed Use developments.
Detrimental Conditions
Mr. Treffer has appraised properties that suffer from various detrimental conditions and influences such as fuel oil contamination, chlordane contamination, and high powered transmission lines. His experience also includes loss in value analysis due to a variety of crimes as well as reviewing appraisals for various national lenders.
Mr. Treffer has also published articles such as Valuation of Chlordane Contaminated Real Estate. He has also co-authored such publications as Power Lines: A New Problematic Area for the Review Appraiser and Reviewing Apartment Appraisals for Marketability and Feasibility Analysis and as authored other publications.
Expert Witness
As an expert witness, Mr. Treffer has testified in various cases both in Federal and State Courts, Tax Court, and Orphans Court on matters ranging from tax assessments, fuel oil contamination, valuation of easements, marinas, property rights (separation of the bundle of rights), to right of way valuations and chlordane contamination. He has experience in divorce cases, estate valuations, and right of way valuations.
Teaching
Mr. Treffer has taught numerous appraisal classes both on the college level and for various corporations and associations. These classes ranged from basic appraisal principles to advanced investment analysis and subdivision analysis. He has also taught USPAP, Capitalization Analysis, Discounted Cash Flow Analysis, and other related courses. He has also taught general brokerage classes. Mr. Treffer has over 16+ years of teaching experience at the college level. He has been is a guest lecturer for various professional and non-profit organizations for the past 25 + years. He has also lectured and taught classes for a number of banks ranging from USPAP compliance to reviewing appraisals.
While teaching various classes Mr. Treffer has written and published various articles such as Consumers Guide to Home Buying, Guide to Income Property Valuation, The Million Dollar Single Family Residence: An Appraisers Dilemma.
Consulting
Mr. Treffer has or is continuing to serve as a consultant and advisor to such companies as Continental Investment Company, Sun Investment Company, Mid-Atlantic Construction Systems, Keystone Partners, and Graystone Investments as well as other real estate groups and partnerships. Also, Mr. Treffer has a wide variety of experience in real estate partnerships and real estate syndications. For various private clients he also performs various analyses ranging from IRR forecasting and Monte Carlo Simulations to After Tax Cash Flow Analysis. Mr. Treffer has had various consulting assignments that involved real estate syndication and formation of various Limited Liability Companies (LLC).
Banking & Compliance Issues
As part of his consulting practice, Mr. Treffer has conducted portfolio analysis and appraisal reviews for a variety of lenders and for various court cases. The appraisal reviews include both residential and commercial properties. Mr. Treffer has also assisted various lenders in updating and writing appraisal guidelines, appraisal ordering requirements, and other OCC compliance issues. In addition, Mr. Treffer has provided onsite training and development of appraisal guidelines for various lenders in order to insure USPAP compliance. He has also set up in-house checklists for lenders and streamlined the overall appraisal ordering process and overall review process in order to maintain quality control. Part of the quality control process was to train and educate the lenders and their staff in the appraisal process and reporting requirements along with a test of reasonableness. He has also assisted lenders in revising their draw schedules and their overall draw inspection procedures including documentation and reporting requirements.
Property Management & Advisory Services
As part of his varied back ground Mr. Treffer has assisted private clients in the acquisition of various types of property ranging from condominium offices, single family homes, and office buildings to apartment buildings. Mr. Treffer also has experience with valuing REO property and the overall issues associated with this situation including on-going management, maintenance, disposal, and re-sale.
Marinas
Over the past 35 + years Mr. Treffer has appraised numerous marina properties in the Upper and Lower Chesapeake Bay areas as well as the Inter Coastal Waterway in South Carolina. These properties ranged from high & dry operations, marine railways and small boat marinas to large full service and community marinas. In addition, he has valued marine storage areas, marine railway operations, and marinas for conversion to condominiums.