The Stories Our Homes Tell

---

A cozy bi-level house, like the one I grew up in, featuring a brick driveway, well-groomed shrubs, and a nicely maintained lawn, creating welcoming curb appeal.

The house I grew up in was a bi-level style home in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb east of Denver. I was 7 years old – the youngest of five – when our parents bought the home. We lived there for about 12 years. The house – with its attached 1-car garage, four bedrooms, two baths, living room, a nice sized kitchen, dining area, and family room with wood burning fireplace – served our family well. During those years, a great deal of activity happened on that property. Five growing kids. Parents who both worked. And lots of pets – dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, birds, and even a cat – also called that bi-level structure home.

This was the place where birthdays and holidays were celebrated, where our parents threw dinner parties, where we did our homework, where dad played the piano, where mom napped after work and got up to make dinner, where my guitar and drum loving brothers ‘jammed’ in the garage. This was the place where, at 15 years old, I would take advantage of having a lower-level bedroom from which I’d occasionally sneak out late at night to do things you’re not supposed to do at that age (and no surprise, I eventually got caught by my dad).

After my siblings grew up and moved out and I graduated from high school, my parents sold the bi-level and bought a ranch style home about five miles south in another Aurora suburb. Within a few years of living there, I met, fell in love with, and moved into an apartment with the man who I would later marry. This year (2025) we celebrate 35 years of marriage and 40 years together, and our home (since 2005) is in – you guessed it – Aurora, Colorado. And just so you, the reader, don’t think I’ve never lived anywhere other than Aurora, me and my husband’s first home – from 1991 to 2005 – was in Denver.

Over the years, I’ve come to see the houses in my life as chapters in an ongoing story. Sometimes, when I have an appraisal assignment near one of my old neighborhoods, I get nostalgic and can’t help myself. I drive by the houses I used to live in just to see how they look. I want to see if the current owners are taking care of the yard. Have they repainted the exterior recently? Is that one tree I used to sit under still there?

Then the appraiser in me takes over. I wonder about the value of those old houses. What have the homeowners done to help their home either maintain or increase its value? I wonder how long it’s been since the homeowners had their properties appraised.

Just as the story of our lives revolves around growth and change, ups and downs, so too is the case with our homes. These structures we live in go through similar ups and downs. Homes are often our largest investment, no different really than the investments we might make in the stock market or other financial products. And just as we watch those investments rise and fall, we should also be watchful of the rise and fall in value of our homes.

Are you keeping track of your home's value fluctuations?

We purchased our current home in 2005 for what seemed like a pretty hefty price: $250,000. Today our property has more than doubled in value. Of course, being an appraiser, it’s no surprise that I would know what my own house is worth. But I go beyond the step of just knowing the value. I analyze the sales data of my market every few months. Why? Because I believe as a homeowner I should know the value position of my property at any given moment.

What if you’re planning to update or remodel your kitchen in a few months. Or, due to unexpected surgery, you’re expecting a slew of medical bills to soon land in your mailbox. For either scenario you might need to tap into your home’s equity by refinancing your mortgage. Or you’re considering downsizing because the last of your children will be going away to college in the Fall. Knowing the value position of your home before you commit to any of these changes will help you make informed decisions, giving you the confidence well in advance to make those changes.

The primary reason I am writing these blog posts is to help homeowners recognize the importance of having their homes appraised, and not just when you must have it done (as in when you’ve already engaged with a lender to refinance or purchase a property), but rather when you just want to know your value. And with these blog posts I also intend to do something a bit bolder: I want to bring more transparency to the appraisal industry as a whole. I want homeowners to not only understand what appraisers do, but how and why we do what we do.

My blog topics range from how appraisers determine a property’s market to how appraisers make adjustments in appraisal reports to what appraisers look for when they visit a property. I also write about properties I would love to appraise, including historical landmarks, architectural wonders, and unusual structures.

Some of the blogs to check out include:

• “Is your house a Q4/C4 or a Q3/C3,” which is about how appraisers rate the quality and condition of properties.

• “I’m not refinancing. I’m not selling. Why do I need an appraisal?”, which dives into the many reasons a homeowner should get an appraisal.

• The “What’s your house made of?” blog series focuses on specific features of homes, with each post singling out one home item like flooring, countertops, ceiling types, etc.

Ultimately, I hope these posts will encourage homeowners to be more proactive in monitoring the value position of their homes. By learning about the practice of appraising, understanding what appraisers look for when they visit homes, and all the intricacies of what goes into writing appraisal reports, homeowners can be better prepared for having their homes evaluated.

Our homes are where our stories are told. We tie many of our life’s milestones to the houses we’ve lived in – like the house you lived in when you rode your first bike, or the house you lived in when your twins were born, or the house you lived in during the blizzard of 1997.

As lead Certified Residential Appraiser and owner of TSR Appraisals LLC, I am dedicated to telling the stories of the homes I visit – the story of value. Has the home been updated? Is the home well maintained? If it’s not well maintained, is it at least structurally sound? What characteristics of the home stand out? Is the home’s location beneficial (i.e., the property backs up to open space or a park)? Or are there adverse factors (i.e. property backs to a busy road or commercial property)?

For every home I visit, there are so many questions I need to answer. From those answers, in concert with the data I gather about the home’s market, I solve the mystery of value … and an appraisal report is born!

Make sure to check out the rest of my blog articles. I generally post a new article on the 2nd Monday of every month. Make sure to read my post titled, “I’m not refinancing. I’m not selling. Why do I need an appraisal?” You’ll learn the importance of having an appraisal done sooner rather than later. And next month, make sure to read “Is your house a Q4/C4 or a Q3/C3,” to understand how appraisers rate the quality and condition of properties.

At the end of the day, I’m hoping these blog posts will help uncover some of the mysteries behind the appraisal process. And because value is my business, I’m also hoping passing along this information will truly be of value to you.

Want to be notified when the next article gets posted? Subscribe today by clicking the button below.

And if you’re interested in having your home appraised, call 720-984-0199 today and let us answer any questions you might have about the process.

Subscribe!