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Looking to see if anyone has gone through an appraisal or inspection for an FHA Loan recently. We found a house and had an engineer come. As with any engineers inspection, some things came up. Overall, the house inspected above average as per our engineer. Some of the things that came up dealt with things you see in many older homes, mainly no grounds to the outlets. Now this is okay as long as its not near any water source (bathroom, kitchen, external outlets, etc.). I heard that FHA is quite strict on GFI outlets among some other things.
Can anyone share what the FHA people pay most attention to during their appraisals/inspections? Did we hear incorrectly about how strict they are on GFI outlets? (for those that don't know, these are the outlets that have a test button on them so they can automatically shut off if water is introduced to the electrical system from these outlets) What are some other hot buttons of theirs?
Our FHA appraisor did not check the outlets. He just did a quick walkaround looking for things like loose handrails, severely cracked concrete and unlevel sidewalks.
We told him what the house needed to appraise at for the sale to go through and he came in right on that number.
This is good news, I think..haha I've read and heard a few nightmare stories about their appraisals. If you don't mind me asking, who is your mortgage with? We are going with Wells Fargo and our agent there mentioned GFI several times saying it was a big deal. I think the railings are a town code issue too but this was one of the other things that came up on the report. The sellers did say they were going to fix it.
Do you think it was the smooth talking that got your the appraisal at the correct number....? I'll send my wife in for that...lol
Really depends on the the FHA inspector.......they really look at different things than a home inspector looks for. Handrails are a big concern for them.
Our buyer used Wells Fargo also. The biggest holdup for us was the termite inspection so make sure that comes back clean. There were a few delays here and there and we had to re-schedule closing a couple of times so make sure you have a back up plan at your current residence.
Don't know if it was the smooth talking but we were definitely very nice to him, offered him a drink etc!
Thanks for the info Aussie. The termite inspection was clean and the form is in hand already. Our deal is being held up currently b/c the sellers are determining whether or not to make the corrections. As said earlier, there were several additional things that came up on the report but we are only concerned with what may get caught up by FHA.
Are these "unwritten" FHA standards nationwide or down to a regional area? I'm wondering if I should post in a broader forum to get more feedback.
The perceived ball busting of FHA appraisals used to make sellers avoid FHA buyers... not quite an option these days.
Yes, that is our concern but so many people are being forced down this road. Believe me, I wish I wasn't in this situation but being our 1st home and no daddy warbucks in the family, this is what we have to do.
We are trying to make things as easy to understand as possible for the sellers and only focusing on what may become an issue from an FHA perspective. Time will tell.
Thanks for the feedback to this point! Anything else anyone has seen?
I think in a lot of cases the appraiser (FHA or non FHA) works with the lender (maybe affiliated or sister concern etc) to make sure the home appraises to what the lender wants. Our appraisal came in exactly at what the lender wanted. It was an FHA too.
Termite, handrails, outlets, roof, pretty much everything was looked at, we even had a pending CO.... the bottom line is that unless something is in real bad shape it should be alright.
As many said, these days FHA is a predominant option in the current credit crunch era, so homeowners may have to re-condition a few things here and there, maybe good or bad depending on the situation.
Termite, handrails, outlets, roof, pretty much everything was looked at, we even had a pending CO.... the bottom line is that unless something is in real bad shape it should be alright.
This is along the lines of what I was looking for, thanks. What I would really like to know is how in depth do they get with the above mentioned items.
- Roof is in good shape, no concern
- Termites- inspection came back negative for visible areas
- Pending CO - there is a pending CO which is being worked on. Expediter has been assigned so this should be resolved before an issue can arise
- Railings- one missing near the interior stairs. Was said to be addressed before closing, should not be an issue
Outlets- up to 5 outlets are missing GFI's. That's an easy fix. Two outlets (one exterior, one interior) are not grounded therefore, cannot be GFI. Did the appraiser/inspector check the outlets to see if they were grounded and make sure the outlets were GFI's where needed? *This is our biggest concern as the house was built before grounded outlets were required by code. The two outlets mentioned above are not grounded and its not such a simple fix as buying a GFI outlet from a hardware store*
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