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7 days away from closing and the appraisal comes back $7 less than our asking price. I get the paperwork on the appraisal from my realtor and find that first, the appraiser did not measure the house correctly (measure over 100 sq ft less than what it should be) and than the comps pulled are no where near in line with our home. Our home is an all brick ranch adn the comps being pulled are 2 story, split level, sold well over 6 months ago (almost a year ago to be exact) and are 3 miles away from our house. My realtor takes action and the appraiser goes back out to remeasure and my realtor also sends the comps that she used. The appraisal comes back with only a $2K adjustment (I'm assuming until I see the paperwork that this is just for the measurement adjustment and no other comps were pulled). It seems that the appraisers have nobody to answer to and now they are messing the sale of my house. I'm just wondering if there is anybody that I can contact to rectify this situation or can I get a 2nd appraisal. There are homes that have sold in the last 6 months that are less than a mile from my home that were not pulled so I am just beside myself as to why they were not used. Still waiting on word from my realtor as to what we can do. Just though somebody may have some insight from here as to what I can do. Not looking for the "just move forward" statement. I want to make sure that this appraiser does not do this to somebody else. We are already taking a loss on this house as we knew we would anyways because of the housing market, but now we are going to lose even more because of the appraisal.
Last edited by ckwyviorka; 06-26-2009 at 12:18 PM..
Reason: added more
I'm really sorry to hear that, I saw a news story the other night about the damn appraisers lately screwing up home sales b/c of some bill (?) introduced by Cuomo in NY (thanks a lot for that one). The NAR is apparently lobbying against it b/c home appraisals are coming in lower than they believe they should, and the appraisers are in many cases not from the region where they are appraising and not using appropriate comps. I hope it gets rectified for you ... our home has been listed since March, and I'm dreading the appraisal process if we ever even get there. Good luck to you. So frustrating.
I'm an appraiser. I can't speak about your home, but the best comps are going to be the ones that sold most recently and are located closest to your home. I don't know where in clt your home is, but 3 miles away is pretty far for comps.
I really don't care too much about ranch, spilt level, 2 story. In this market, with so few sales, I can't get picky. I have to use what's there.
The appraiser may have measured wrong. Appraiser's measurements won't be exact, but they should be with in reason. If he measured 100 SF too low, I wouldn't expect his value to increase more than $3000-$4,000. The $ amt for sf difference isn't the same as the price/sf that your home is being sold for. They are 2 different things.
You are correct that andrew coumo really messed things up with the hvcc. Many appraisers aren't happy with it either. Just think about it, the local brokers that I spent years working to get as a client, were erased overnight as they can't choose the appraiser. They now have to go to large appraisal management companies, ie amc's (many of which are owned by the same banks that you are getting your loan through). Appraisers are also pissed because while your buyer probably paid upwards of $500 for the appraisal, the appraiser was most likely paid $200 or less - the amc/bank took the rest.
It's true that namb and nar are trying to fight this thing, but the large banks love it as collecting their portion of the appraisal fee is another profit center for them. Should be an interesting fight, but in the end, banks usually get what they want.
I'd be interested in the price of your home. Is it listed for 100k or 500k? 7k low on 100k is a lot different than 7k low on 500k. Personally, if I'm within 2% +/- of a sales price, I find a way to meet the sales price. If I'm 10% lower, then there isn't much I can do.
Our home is listed for 140K and the appraiser came back with an appraisal of 133K (2K was added on after the fact because she measured the house wrong). The thing is, if she is going to pull comps, there were 4 or 5 that have sold just in my neighborhood in the last 6-9 months that she could have used, but she went 2-3 miles away from my house and pulled them. I just don't get it. She could have pulled those comps in my neighborhood if she wanted to pull 2 story and split level homes. At this point, I guess there is nothing that we can do. They sent the appraisal for review to the appraisal management company which is located in Minnesota, yep, no where near charlotte and they are letting it stand. It's no where near okay with me, but I guess I just need to lodge a complaint with the NC appraisal board. Just not right to do what this appraiser is doing. I'm just sick to my stomach over it all.
Whoa! But how did you determine that the comps that were used from a year ago where not in your favor vs. those pulled 6 months ago? Something tells me you might be better off with the older ones???
Actually, the homes that have sold right around me over the last 6 months or so have sold around the same as mine or higher. Actually, the one that was pulled from a year ago was actually used as a rental, had no upgrades, original roof, windows, etc. 16 years old and was a little over 2 miles away from my home so it was not helping my cause at all and it was not in the greatest area.
We actually made quite a few concessions so that our home was more appealing to buyers and have found a wonderful buyer for the home now we just have to come to a happy medium to get this done. It is what it is.
As stated there are nightmare issues going on right now with the appraisals due to the newly inacted HVCC.
Everyone on all sides is experiencing major difficulties with the transactions. The banks are making more money on the appraisals, buyers having to pay more than in the past, appraisers making less on them due to the middle man, and so on.
We had an appraiser look at our house in Houston last year before we relocated to Tega Cay. My husband was on the ladder finishing up the new paint job on the exterior of the house when the guy showed up. He actually wrote on his appraisal that the house needed repainting!
You can file a complaint with the appraisal board, but the board will not get involved in value disputes. Appraisals are opinions and nothing more. They will only be interested in whether or not the appraiser's workfile has the proper documentation. And it won't help you out at all in your situation.
I'd let your realtor handle it. I'm sure this is isn't the first time they ever had to deal with an appraisal that came in lower than the purchase price.
If you live in a subd, then there isn't much of a reason to go outside of your subd for comps - there has to be at least 1 sale has occured in your subd in the past 6 month. And there are probably listings. That's another thing - banks want to see active listings as well. And if there are similar listings in your nieghborhood for 130k, I can't say yours is worth 140k (basically).
Even though the appraisal was reviewed by the same amc, it was by a different appraiser. Appraisers aren't employees of the amc, so it isn't like the 2 of them knew each other. The review appraiser should have been a local independent appraiser just like the first. If the review came back ok, then there must be more to the story. I wish there was more I could tell you.
My heart aches for you because we just went through a similar situation in Maryland. We had two appraisals $25K apart. Fortunately FHA decided in our favor. The lower appraiser was from a national company and although I haven't used this information yet I found out she/he wasn't licensed in Maryland and had an extensive criminal background of real estate fraud, foreclosure, etc. with judgements to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. In Maryland you can find this information on line. I'm still investigating and once we finally settle on our home in Indian Trail I'll address it with everyone who will listen to me. But if it's an FHA loan you can check this website to see if the appraiser is FHA approved - https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/appr...0B2FF167A15B5A - I got that website from this wonderful forum. I'll keep good thoughts that everything is resolved for you soon.
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