You guys are so nice! Many thanks! Joyce, Therese and I will be using the Florida room next year...and we look forward to it. The area is not heated and the days have gotten colder lately. We have laid down on the 2 lounge chairs which we got as a gift from my family and friends. Janice, the flooring is made of ceramic tiles which I have laid with my son Marc. Jill, I'm doing just fine. I have adjusted to my new lifestyle. Inasmuch as I do not like to inject myself each day with Lovenox, nevertheless I got used to it...and this is part of my daily routine now. I dont feel sick, I eat well, somethimes my bones ache but nothing serious that I cannot endure. I keep busy, and take life one day at a time...Who knows?...I may live many years yet! Mary, you remember well. I have transplanted my best looking hostas on one side of the concrete steps, so Therese and I will have a perfect view next summer. Carol, we went to see my brother Mau in Montreal...and when we got there...surprise...all members of our families and friends were there to celebrate our 50th. It was a wonderful gathering! Thanks for your toast.... Papou

ncrealestateguy, There was/is no buyer's agent--the appointment was made under the name of the appraisal company & my agent only knew about it after the appointment. Apparently no realtor went on the appointment as none was noted on the email alert. There is a lock box on the door & with the code they made entry to do an appraisal. The information I have gotten from my agent is that this was unexpected and odd. And then the info about the man being upset that his appraisal was higher than he wanted. I have never heard of this happening before and felt very uncomfortable. After re-reading everyone's input, including your very good question, I plan on speaking to my agent again. There is so much that I had never considered--thanks to everyone for the eye opening responses.

Wow that is dark green. And you had the wash out from the bad storm right?

Our experience has been that we have had the same lady do our appraisal several times, and she had done it in years past before we were owners of this home, so she’s seen it for a long time. Anyways, we’ve gone through several with her, and when she’s walking around looking at everything, she has commented on the landscaping changes we have made. (She’s always very complimentary and likes what we’ve done to this home... we’ve done a ton of diy interior remodeling and exterior landscaping, as well as stuff that we’ve had to hire out.) She has gotten to the point with us that now she excitedly asks “what is your next project with this house!?” since we’ve sometimes had her out because we needed to refinance for a loan, yet always after a large project (or several large projects). She has made note of even little changes we have made, such as we replaced our back door... I had forgotten about it, and she noticed it and asked and I was like “oh yeah! Yes that’s a new door and it’s not wood anymore, it’s fiberglass!” The first time we had her out I was like “well... we changed all the incandescent canned lights over to LED. Does that help?” And she noted it and told me it did make a difference. (It’s a BIG house... it’s a lot of freaking canned lights, LOL!) So I guess it depends on your reason for having an appraiser out... if you’re trying to finance an additional loan or need to sell and need your home to appraise as high as possible, then yeah, I’d try to get everything done that you can beforehand. If you need it appraised because you added square footage but you’re not wanting your tax bill to climb TOO high, then I’d just make sure the yard doesn’t look overgrown, but I’d wait on major landscaping. I could be wrong on all that, I’m not a pro... but that’s been my experience thus far with a handful of appraisals under my belt over the decades. LOL!