Home appraisals

JennyNoel · June 2009

First of all...thanks to those who responded Wednesday to my mover recommendation post! It's great to see old friends that are still here

We had a set back yesterday and weren't sure if we would even sell our current home, but things got somewhat worked out today and we are still getting the new house.

Which brings me to my next question and vent- since when did they put so many restrictions on home appraisals? And why did the appraiser on our current home think he had to screw us royally?!! He valued our house at $10,000 less than the buyer was willing to pay. Anyone else have problems/experience with this?

MrsSandro · June 2009

Awwww! Blake is so cute!

Not sure what to respond to on the OP.

Mere8180 · June 2009

As for the appraisal he would have compared your home to recent sales in your neighborhood and surrounding areas. If you have had foreclosures or any distressed sales it can bring values down. Appraisers are being ultra conservative as well has the underwriters who are approving them at the banks. I know where I work we can ask for reconsiderations as long as the buyer/seller provides alternative comps that support their purchase price.

JennyNoel · June 2009

Mere8180:
As for the appraisal he would have compared your home to recent sales in your neighborhood and surrounding areas. If you have had foreclosures or any distressed sales it can bring values down. Appraisers are being ultra conservative as well has the underwriters who are approving them at the banks. I know where I work we can ask for reconsiderations as long as the buyer/seller provides alternative comps that support their purchase price.

Thanks Mere...I know the other homes in the neighborhood definitely had a huge negative impact the value of our home (there have been several foreclosures recently). It just sucks because we had alot of activity when we listed our home and two offers within 2 weeks. One offer was several thousand over list price and then our buyer offered to pay what we asked. I guess we shouldn't have spent one penny doing all the upgrades we did or we should have waited until the market was better to sell. And the buyer's lender who ordered the appriasel said that there was nothing else we could do. I guess it just sucks.

Oh well, maybe I will get a deal on the new home

JennyNoel · June 2009

Oh, I also should point out to anyone who might find themselves in this situation...if the appraisal comes in lower than agreed upon purchase price, you can ask the buyer to pay more than what it appraised for. We did and got an extra $4,000 from the buyer (but he did have to pay it out of pocket b/c the lenders won't finance more than the appraisal). I feel like I KNOW wayyyy more about this whole process now than I ever cared to know!

Mere8180 · June 2009

Also be aware if the buyer is doing an FHA loan if the home appraises lower than the sales price they can walk away and you have to refund the earnest money.

hmp1 · June 2009

I work mainly with VA loans and you can protest the appraisal amount to the VA. It is probably close to FHA and Conv requirements. With the VA it is not a fast process. The appraiser most likely used foreclosed homes as comps. If you have 3 comparable non-foreclosed homes you can use, you might be able to get it changed.

JennyNoel · June 2009

Buyer is doing a conventional loan and *really* wants the house, so he's not walking away. Bad thing about conventional is that new regulations only allow one appraisal...

.happy.as.just.kim. · June 2009

No advice as far as all the appraisal junk goes, just wanted to tell you I feel your pain. At least you had 2 offers and lots of business quickly. Our house in Abilene has been on the market since Dec. We moved out completly in March, and are living in Japan, but we've been paying on it every month of course, with virtually no showings or anything. We FINALLY got an offer this past week! The good thing about the offer- he's paying in cash, so no financing worries there, wants to close in a week, and he is buying it as is, so no inspection (there isn't anything majorly wrong with it and we spend quite a bit updating it before we left, but inspectors always find SOMETHING to nit-pick over it seems). It still has to appraise for the agreed price (so fingers crossed on that one) but hopefully it will all go thru and be done this week. Good luck with yours as well- it is such a frustrating process esp when things go wrong and you have to wait forever!

purplegirl_2008 · June 2009

I have heard that appraisals are being regulated very strictly by the govt now and rather than having any say in which appraiser performs your appraisal they are now "assigned" and could possibly have little to no experience in your specific area...I don't know for sure if that has all went through as the entire real estate/mortgage industry is changing so fast right now. Also, if there are more than 2-3 forclosures in your area they are considered "market" these days and it definitely lowers values--the flip side of this is when you are fighting the property taxes the forclosures will work in your favor

Home appraisals

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