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I purchased a home several years back but have since added a tremendous value to it, mostly unpermitted upgrades. The county does not know about these upgrades.
If I try to refinance I'm going to have to get an appraisal on the house and it will most likely be significantly higher -- not just because of the market but also because of my unpermitted upgrades being taken into consideration.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Copanut
No. Short answer. That appraisal is only shared with you and the bank.
Agreed.
One main reason for building permits is to add the additional value to your taxes. Unless you do something obvious like add on a room or pool they are not likely to find out until you sell and potential buyers question it. Some cities will have aircraft going around looking for signs of unpermitted work.
The county will get the new deed which has your financed amount on it. If you take cash out with your finance, and you will be financing a much larger number than previous value, that could raise a flag as to why there's such a large number being taken out on the house if it was previously valued much lower than the new financed amount...
Most of these mortgage liens are filed by bored clerks. I seriously doubt that the town clerk will take the time to look up your tax appraisal when they record the new mortgage. In small towns however, it may be a neighbor or someone who has an interest in your property.
In my town, the city clerk records the mortgages whilst the tax appraisals are a separate department. Since the city clerk has no reason to look at tax appraisals, if they did look up the appraisal based on information they learned through their job as clerk, their employment could be terminated.
All in all, I would say the risk is small. How bored are your town clerks?
I'm not sure what you're even talking about, because that it not at all what I was saying. When there is a deed change, the appraisal district knows. The appraisal district gets the notices for homestead exemptions that fall off properties because of sales and Over 65 exemptions, etc. They see every time a house changes hands. The appraisal district can look and see what the deed was recorded as. This has nothing to do with the county clerk people at all.
There is no deed in a refinance. I am reading on my phone so I could have missed something.
Didn't pull permits. Red flag. But it may not even matter. OP, did you add square footage or add a bathroom? The biggest misconception regarding home improvement adding significant value are the owners that re-do a kitchen that cost them $20,000, thinking it adds $20,000 value to the home.
Now, if county records show 2 bathrooms and there are now 4, the appraiser will note two unpermitted bathrooms in the appraisal. The lender could easily require the county approve the improvements.
Or nothing at all will happen regarding permits. But without square footage or another room or such (deck, garage, etc), I think the OP may be in for a disappointment with the appraiser's market value.
There is no deed in a refinance. I am reading on my phone so I could have missed something.
Didn't pull permits. Red flag. But it may not even matter. OP, did you add square footage or add a bathroom? The biggest misconception regarding home improvement adding significant value are the owners that re-do a kitchen that cost them $20,000, thinking it adds $20,000 value to the home.
Now, if county records show 2 bathrooms and there are now 4, the appraiser will note two unpermitted bathrooms in the appraisal. The lender could easily require the county approve the improvements.
Or nothing at all will happen regarding permits. But without square footage or another room or such (deck, garage, etc), I think the OP may be in for a disappointment with the appraiser's market value.
The most substantial renovation I did was take the small master shower and extend it into a spare closet on the other side. Did not add sq feet, just utilized it differently. Now the shower is twice as big -- quite a bit more valuable than had I kept the shower size the same cramped size. I did have to re-route a vent pipe to do that and frame off the other side (plus re-enforce from down below).
Then I re-did another bath but didn't change anything about it other than flooring, shut offs, toilet, vanity, etc.
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