Quality Quarterly Q4 2017 - Issue #35

TECHNOLOGY CORNER

BEST PRACTICES & TIPS

Tip No. 45 – Excel Tips by Curtis Buono, ARA, MAI, AI-GRS A lot of people are familiar with the basic Excel keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste and basic formatting functions, but these are just scratching the surface. Excel has a ton of shortcuts that can eliminate clicks and make creating or editing spreadsheets quicker and more efficient. These are some of the most helpful. Shortcuts with cells selected: Select Entire Column Ctrl + Space Select Entire Row Shift + Space Add Filters (only works in 1 row) Shift + Ctrl + L Delete Column / Row / Cell Ctrl + - Add Column / Row / Cell Ctrl + Shift + "+" Hide Selected Rows Ctrl + 9 Hide Selected Columns Ctrl + 0 Add Data Group (+/- to Hide/Show Rows/Columns) Shift + Alt + Right Arrow (add) or Left Arrow (remove) Tip No. 44 – Estimating Effective Age We’ve seen some inconsistency in how our appraisers treat effective age. Often the effective age is estimated to be less than the actual age, without proper rationale applied as to why. In theory, if a building is (say) seven years old and no capital improvements have been invested, the effective age should be seven years. It is not unusual, however, to see the effective age at five years or less. Estimating effective age is inherently subjective and contingent on the property’s appearance, level of maintenance on the mechanicals (not apparent from a typical inspection), utility relative to other properties, and other factors. The estimate can be complicated – the owner is relatively new to the project and historical maintenance and capital improvement information is unavailable. In general, unless details on the property’s renovation history and maintenance program are available, the subject’s effective age should be at or near its chronological age. While exceptions clearly exist and the appraiser’s judgment is critical, this general guideline should be followed when estimating effective age.

GRAMMAR & STYLE Tip No. 36 – Decade References (excerpted from Cushman & Wakefield’s Style Guide) • In text, write out phrases like “1998 to 1999;” do not use dashes in such phrases (e.g., 1999-2001). • Do not use apostrophes when referring to decades (e.g., 1990s, not 1990’s). • Do not abbreviate decades (e.g., 1980s and 1990s, not 1980s and 90s, or Eighties and Nineties). • In tables and graphics, dashes are acceptable in decade ranges, but decades should still not be abbreviated (e.g., 1998-1999 instead of 1998-99). As a result, do not remove any watermarks or other information from the images. If the photos do not include a watermark, we must note that the photo is from Costar adjacent to where the picture is displayed within the appraisal report. Please contact Tinequa Hunt if you have specific questions. CoStar Photographs There has been some confusion about whether we can include Costar photos in our appraisal reports. Based on our most recent contract, we are allowed to include the pictures, but we must also include proper attribution that the photos are from Costar.

General shortcuts: Navigate to Next Break Select While Navigating

Ctrl + Arrows

Ctrl + Shift + Arrows

Open a Cell to Edit

F2 (ESC to close)

Change Cell Reference (in a formula)

F4

Open Cell Formatting Box

Ctrl + 1 Alt + =

Auto Sum

Trace Formula Precedents/Antecedents (in a formula)

Ctrl + [ or ]

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