Any of you Fine Folks in Real Estate? Appraisal Complexities

[lenapesadie]

@FjordBCRF

all said 2 bathroom on either Zillow or Realtor.com, no additional half bath. The report said they were all the 2.5.

You’ve relayed this to the realtor? Realtor / agent may have already looked or is expecting such details to be reviewed as part of the appeal. Realtor is keeping the bank in the loop too?

I’m more familiar with sfr homes. If that was my appraisal on a sfr; I’d want the bathroom/comp situation verified and explored. Again, not as familiar with townhomes, but would expect the extra porcelain to be accounted for still… I’m not gonna touch the basement issue. It’s entirely possible you got a sub par appraisal. Certainly you have provided me with more quantifiable concerns than 80% of my customers.

I feel like I should put some sort of disclaimer here about I’m just a random stranger on the interwebz

Keep us posted and jingles for a good outcome

[FjordBCRF]

Yep realtor knows! And he’s in contact with the bank. He was irked because they didn’t compare apples to apples so I think this was on his radar prior to me digging into it more.

Glad that it sounds like this is a valid concern too. Again, we have the cash if needed to come out of pocket and I feel a little better about that if it ends up being the case that the appraisal was a dud. Hopefully some sort of amendment will be made. Having to wait the weekend sucks. We have our movers booked for the 6th and can get a full refund on the down payment (couple hundred) for that if we cancel a week ahead of time. So hopefully we will know how things shake out sometime next week. Getting down to the wire stresses me out extra.

Jingles are much appreciated.

[lenapesadie]

It sounds like you have a competent real estate agent; a boon for sure.

Jingle jingle jingle

Closing (and associated) deadlines are incredibly stressful. It’s the biggest transaction most people will ever make. Drop dead dates we say.

[frugalannie]

Gosh all I can say is that when we’ve gotten comps from appraisers (for refi, twice) they come with all the comps listed and described in detail. There’s a standard layout they use with a photo at the top, an overall description and then a line by line listing of features sort of similar to an assessor’s card. The same features of our house were enumerated in the next column (ie: number of baths, half baths etc) and then a plus or minus dollar amount for adjustment in a final column. That gets added up to show the difference in our home’s value compared to the comp. it backs up the appraiser’s final conclusion.

Did you not get that level of detail? Maybe it isn’t done in your area?

[FjordBCRF]

There is that level of detail, just in the case of the bathrooms it looks like it might be incorrect based on what I saw for those addresses looking them up myself online. These are cookie cutter houses so there really isnt that much difference, but the extra half bath is one of them. That and the fact that they didn’t consider ANY recent comps and noted there were none, but there are. That is the bigger issue in this case it seems.

[eightpondfarm]

i am a seller. Until the real estate market popped i wasn’t sure i wanted to sell. So i selected a price above past comps. I have received FOUR offers, all at what re agent told me ‘going rate’ ought to be. I declined all four without considering a counter. In my situation, i am selling only because the market is high. If i get my price, i’ll gladly sell. If i do not, i’ll keep the house and someday maybe use it to house a caretaker next door to me. Either way i’m good. But i won’t consider lowering my price.

[Equibrit]

Get on your County Tax Assessor’s website, which should list more recent sales and prices. Then ask the appraiser why he did not use up to date information.

[OnAMission]

This might be a long shot, but sometimes realtor.com does not pull the listing information correctly. I’ve had it happen myself in which a house with 2.5 bathrooms was listed with only 2 on realtor.com. I had to re-enter the listing on our MLS and re-save it before it would use it correctly. You could see if your agent ever showed those houses or contact their listing agents to verify since it very much affects the comps.

My experience with appraisals/assessments is in line with lenapesadie. Our tax assessor’s office has a value that is nowhere near market value and is usually updated about six months post-real estate transfer certificate. Our assessor’s office doesn’t ask or care what property has sold for; our state is a non-disclosure state so the purchase price is not public information, though any mortgages are recorded with the county. This is also why Zillow doesn’t work for all states; it doesn’t know what property sells for here unless the buyers authorize and share that information so Zillow is having to make educated guesses. Our appraisers usually mine the sold comps as recent as possible from our MLS service which lists the sale price, date, type of sale (cash, conventional, etc) and any concessions given. As with most things real estate, things are different from one state to the next.

OP it sounds like your agent has it handled. In this situation I have seen the agent appeal to the appraiser and if that delicate little situation is handled like unicorn feathers so as not to infuriate the appraiser with the slightest suggestion of inaccuracy (we are extremely short on appraisers in my area!) progress can be made. If the value doesn’t move then you and the sellers can negotiate how to meet in the middle if you are both willing. Sounds like you are close!

It IS a big deal; even when this is my job I remember that for our clients this only happens a handful of times in most people’s lives. This time from appraisal to closing can be the most stressful! I always tell people one step at a time, pace yourself!

[eightpondfarm]

can a side-deal be negotiated for the difference? Like a monthly cash payment directly to sell…on top of mortgage payment to the bank?

[FjordBCRF]

My agent is a saint. We’ve been friends since college and this is the third transaction he’s done for me. From what I can gather he seems to do his job very well and seems to like it which is good imo too. He gave us the heads up as soon as we won the bid this could be an issue, and knows the realtor of the sellers too. That realtor was also upfront with the sellers that this could happen so at least it isn’t coming out of left field for anyone. We’re just hoping the appraiser is receptive to the suggestions! The sellers got the appraisal when we did so everyone has had a few days with the weekend to consider outcomes and options while we wait on the appraiser. I’ll be glad when this is put to rest!

[FjordBCRF]

That I don’t know. If our only option is to put a larger amount of cash down to make up the difference, than that’s what we will do since the value of the house seems consistent with the more recent comps. My hope is that the appraisal may be amended as it doesn’t seem to be as accurate as it should be, that would be the best thing to happen at this point, but we will see.

[beowulf]

@OnAMission

Our assessor’s office doesn’t ask or care what property has sold for;

How does your state generate assessed values?

[OnAMission]

I spoke sloppily to the point of being incorrect; the state dept of rev does use the sale price in part but especially in my small county it seems like they are always so far behind as to be irrelevant, especially in our boom lately. In a situation like the OP’s that has to do with current market value our assessed property value really is not accurate enough to apply. I’ve seen people try to buy places for the assessed value they see on our county website but they are quickly laughed away.

Sale price is only part of the equation for MT and until recently it was updated every few years; now it is every two I believe, which still isn’t a quick enough turnaround to be accurate. We have mills and different rates for the type of land. Our taxes are done in arrears as well so it seems like it is always a matter of “catch-up” with our property taxes.

The appraisers that work for the lenders get their information from the MLS.

[beowulf]

Gotcha. I was wondering how your state arrived at their values if they weren’t factoring sales!

The AV will always be behind by the very nature that each new calendar year, they are working off of the previous year’s sales. So yes, they will always lag behind the market. What this means to the taxpayer is that you[g] are paying taxes based on the former year’s sales.

In times of unstable and unprecedented booms, that can be a very good thing for the taxpayer.

[FjordBCRF]

Bit of an unexpected update; still haven’t heard anything back on the amended appraisal but the sellers gave us the minimum cost they would accept and it is 7K less than purchase so that was great news to get tonight. We agreed that was fine regardless of if the appraisal price gets amended or not. With any luck, it does and it’s closer to the original asking price, we will save a few more bucks and come out of pocket less. If not, still less out of pocket which is great. I think everyone has been getting antsy with things.

[FjordBCRF]

Appraisal was amended to the purchase price! While we were thinking it would be nice to get it for a little less, not having to come out of pocket is also nice too.

[lenapesadie]

Super update! That’s so exciting!

[FjordBCRF]

We couldn’t believe it. My dog sitter is a realtor (not mine) and talking with her today, she was shocked they amended it so the appraiser must have really missed the mark.

Glad we’re back to moving along, of course the HOA is taking their sweet time getting back some information do closing date still isn’t concrete, but moving is set for the 11th

[OnAMission]

Excellent news on the appraisal!

Be very careful about scheduling your moving date before your closing date is concrete! Seen that go sideways a few times! Be flexible and ride the wave until closing-congrats!

[FjordBCRF]

Closing is suppose to be the 5th and they are still planning on that but with the HOA, my realtor advised to push the moving date out (we initially had it for the 6th). We had to get them booked or we would have been another several weeks out with how crazy booked they all are! I will be so glad when this is all done. With any luck we will be able to brings kitchen stuff over ourselves and get that sorted before everything else comes over.