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Hello --
We have just received an appraisal that has the bank, the realtor, and other local market experts' aghast at how low it was. How do you report an appraiser to the Virginia State Board for incompetence, and what options do people generally have for getting a 'second' appraiser to come out and give a second, more competent opinion? Appraisals appear to be a bit subjective and you could really become a victim at the hands of an incompetent appraiser. A CMA pegged the property around $517,000, based on actual sales data from the last six months. The appraiser said $432,000 and the deal is near-dead because of this. Help!!
I had a bad appraiser in Illinois about 10 years ago that did something similar. Ended up appraising the house at $100k less than expected and it nearly killed the deal. It was a re-fi, not a new purchase, so I was very confused. How did my home lose $100k value in what was a very hot housing market in only 12 months? I asked a friend who was a realtor to do a quick market analysis and she agreed, his price was way off. I tried to find somewhere to report him, but eventually lost steam. I called a different bank, got approved, and had a different appraiser out within a week who gave an appraisal more inline with expectations.
Hello --
We have just received an appraisal that has the bank, the realtor, and other local market experts' aghast at how low it was. How do you report an appraiser to the Virginia State Board for incompetence, and what options do people generally have for getting a 'second' appraiser to come out and give a second, more competent opinion? Appraisals appear to be a bit subjective and you could really become a victim at the hands of an incompetent appraiser. A CMA pegged the property around $517,000, based on actual sales data from the last six months. The appraiser said $432,000 and the deal is near-dead because of this. Help!!
The appraiser isn't going to lose his job because his appraisal came in to low to get your deal done. And that's how it should be.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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The bank could ask for an appraisal review.
The agent that did the CMA could have offered the comps they used for the CMA to the appraiser.
The agent should look at the appraisal and see what comps were used and the adjustments for value and see where they differ from the CMA.
I'd agree there is some incompetence here. Which party is the incompetent one remains to be seen.
How does one tell the difference between a hot market and a bubble? I think it's very hard to tell.
It was 10 years ago as I stated. It was quite obvious in retrospect that this particular market was hot and not just a bubble. In any case, it's a non issue because I got a different lender and different appraiser. I simply wanted the OP to know that yeah sometimes they come out with prices that don't make any sense. If you feel strongly that they are wrong, pursue getting a different appraisal.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Everyone thinks there house is worth more than it is, and values can go up or down very quickly. It's easy to blame the appraiser, but they are more careful now about being accurate rather than inflating the value to match the mortgage amount as they did back before the bubble burst.
So who paid for the appraisal? Are you the seller?
I'm familiar with the buyer paying for the appraisal as it is part of the buyer's loan. A good appraiser has pix of all kinds of homes and lots of items re every home he uses as a comparable.
Did you compare the appaiser's comps with the agent's comps?
Generally, realtors know something about an appraiser. For instance, are they so busy that one had to be called in from the big city two hours away. And he could then have a totally different mindset. Don't know why since the comps would be what he works with but I've seen it happen often.
I've known appraisers (and home inspectors) surprisingly off their game because of health issues they didn't even know about yet....mini strokes, beginning alzheimers, big life problems, etc. Some even saying they really did do something when we knew they didn't.
If you are working with a local mortgage broker, that person will know these things too and can arrange for another appraisal. The thing is if you're the seller and the buyer had the appraisal ordered and he paid for it, he may not want to do another one.
On the other hand it may behoove you to do something like this yourself at some point if you are approaching a board with this info.
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