appraisal report came in lower than purchase price (for sale, credit) - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

luckyshoes · 08-06-2009, 09:29 AM

First up, it is not your problem what the seller paid for the house in 2004. And a house is worth NOTHING until you sell it and the check in hand.

The listing agent should not know your financials. That is just wrong and who ever told the agent those details was wrong. If it was your mortgage rep, then he doesn't deserve your business. How are you supposed to negotiate properly if the listing agent knows your financials? Where is your buyers agent on all of this?

Of course the mortgage rep was leaning on you to up the number from the appraisers. He wants the deal to go through too. Oh and the listing agent and her husband will give cherry-picked comps to the appraiser? How generous of them! (sarcasm)

You have a whole host of players here acting poorly in their own best interest, not yours. Remember that. Including your buyers agent I suspect.

You and your husband need to decide what you are willing to pay for the house, with this appraisal information in hand. You were willing to pay 540. Now you have some new information. Now what are you willing to pay? Ignore all the noise from the crowds that have their best interests in mind. The answer may be that you are willing to pay more than the appraisal and that is fine. Or not and maybe now it is a new number. Pick that number and stick with it. It is all about what the house is worth to you. Good luck.

P.S. Never tell anyone including your own buyers agent what your top price that you can pay is! They use it against you. The price you are willing to pay for any given house is what that house is worth to you, not what you have set your top price at.

armx · 08-06-2009, 09:32 AM

I like Lusitan's view also but I was just a little more compromising .. because homes in my experince are selling at 10% below 2004 prices which hits your $540 number perfectly. So another 2.5% down would be a good deal ... and I won't get into the guessing game of whether market is looking up or not..

luckyshoes · 08-06-2009, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lusitan

The seller will not be able to sell his house above the appraised value.

Nobody else will buy the house at a price higher than a major, professional bank like BOFA's appraisal value. Why should you? The seller will lower his price to meet the appraisal, if not he's a fool; but better him to be a fool than you.

I agree. These agents, reps and sellers deserve for the whole deal to fall, and this buyer to hire a new agent and mortgage rep. And then the sellers will be looking at re-listing probably at 499 if they are lucky.

armx · 08-06-2009, 09:36 AM

Luckyshoes:

I think we have given OP all the options but s/he has to show some decision-making fortitude!!

luckyshoes · 08-06-2009, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by armx

Luckyshoes:

I think we have given OP all the options but s/he has to show some decision-making fortitude!!

Yes, that is true! and I'm sure she will.

sweetpotato, let us know what you decide to do!

Liz555 · 08-06-2009, 09:46 AM

If I am following your story correctly, it all sounds so fishy to me.. Lusitan makes ALOT of good points. If the seller already had 1 deal fall through (? #1...why?), then the sellers didn't WANT to do the deal to happen at 540k (yet DID...? #2) & everyone is scarmbling to MAKE it happen at this price??? If the sellers weren't happy at the 540K price to begin with, why on EARTH are they scrambling so hard to keep the deal together at this price ANYWAY? You'd think, by now, they'd just want to walk away from it & look for bigger fish. The whole thing is a little strange & incestous to me. It sounds to me that the sellers maybe really needing to sell for some reason (or else why all the scrambling, why the considerable low price acceptance right off the bat, why the 1st deal fall through). Things that make you go hummmm. Buyer beware (be smart & beware).

luckyshoes · 08-06-2009, 09:53 AM

Just one more point on not telling your max price to anyone...

We lowballed a house almost two years ago, offering 500K which was 100K below their list. Oh yeah. And the sellers rejected it outright. And the listing agent insulted us, and said why were we even looking at houses for 600 when we could only afford 500, because clearly we were trash. On and on. What a professional! ha ha

So we walked.

Anyway, then we ended up buying a house for 650 K. Well, our buyers agent nearly fell off the chair. She was all like, "I thought you could only afford 500 after you put that lowball in!" No, you stupid ass, THAT house was only worth 500 to us.

In the end, someone ended up buying the house we lowballed for 550K, 50K more that we were willing to give for it. It just wasn't worth 550 to us.

luckyshoes · 08-06-2009, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liz555

If I am following your story correctly, it all sounds so fishy to me.. Lusitan makes ALOT of good points. If the seller already had 1 deal fall through (? #1...why?), then the sellers didn't WANT to do the deal to happen at 540k (yet DID...? #2) & everyone is scarmbling to MAKE it happen at this price??? If the sellers weren't happy at the 540K price to begin with, why on EARTH are they scrambling so hard to keep the deal together at this price ANYWAY? You'd think, by now, they'd just want to walk away from it & look for bigger fish. The whole thing is a little strange & incestous to me. It sounds to me that the sellers maybe really needing to sell for some reason (or else why all the scrambling, why the considerable low price acceptance right off the bat, why the 1st deal fall through). Things that make you go hummmm. Buyer beware (be smart & beware).

Because these sellers are probably gone nuts and have lost touch with all rational thought over the fact they paid 600K for this house only five years ago and have lost all of their down payment and may be underwater.

elflord1973 · 08-06-2009, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpotato

my real estate agent knew my top price and tried to push me above it for this house. we were in contract on another house for 540k that fell through because that house had a problem with its foundation (basement wall leaning out). this new house we are purchasing listed at 585k and we put in an offer within days of it coming onto the market (just a few days after our former deal fell through). seller didn't want to give it to us for 540k since she purchased for 600k in 2004, plus we put in an offer so quickly.
i don't understand why our listing agent knows our financials. my mortgage rep spoke to her before me about the appraisal report. the listing agent is good friends with my agent. the listing agent's husband happens also to be an appraiser and submitted a report to my mortgage rep to help with the reconsideration. bofa's appraiser valued the house at 510k, which my mortgage rep agreed was probably on the conservative side. he spoke with the listing agent last friday who said she'd give him comps to raise the value, and her husband submitted a report for reconsideration valuing the house at 521k. (this is the exact number we need to get the mortgage we need to make it happen.)
sorry for the flood of info, but i'm just not sure if this is happening the way it should, and if we're way overpaying. i don't mind if we're overpaying by a little since we love the house, but i don't want to be stupid.

It seems to me that your buyers agent was downright negligent.

The way this whole thing was handled -- more or less allowing the seller to dictate the terms, accepting the sellers comps at face value, etc, led me to suspect that you didn't even have a buyers agent.

Fortunately, you have some new material to negotiate with. Unfortunately, you need to take charge of it yourself, as it seems pretty clear that your buyers agent isn't interested in doing anything more than taking the money and running.

If you're happy with the place, you should go ahead with the deal, but make sure you use the information to your advantage.

Best of luck!

Liz555 · 08-06-2009, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckyshoes

Because these sellers are probably gone nuts and have lost touch with all rational thought over the fact they paid 600K for this house only five years ago and have lost all of their down payment and may be underwater.

Ha ha ha ha....wouldn't be the 1st time (& unfortunately, not the last)