Posted on: 26th Jan, 2010 03:45 am
we have been trying to refinance our home and have been denied twice in underwriting. each time a review appraisal of the first appraisal was done. the first time they devalued the original appraisal by $150k by using foreclosure comps in a neighborhood of lesser quality and the second time the lo said the reason we were denied was that the home "is not common or typical to the area" .we live in a rural area and have a modern style home. there are very few homes like ours in the area and they rarely go on the market because they are typically custom designed for their owners. we have had two appraisals done by different companies and both valued the home around $550k. we want to borrow $360k. both said that the home was well suited to the neighborhood with no deficiencies. when i question our last lo he told me that we were the type of customers (perfect credit, good income, equity, etc.) that they want walking in their door and that this was the first time that he had seen anything like this happen. the only reason he said he could imagine why we were being denied was because our home has a flat roof design. are we being blacklisted by rels, fannie, or freddie guidelines because of the architectural style of our home? there is a wide variety of home styles in our area so i have no idea what is “common or typicalâ€. our lo suggested that we go fha, but it will cost us an extra $17k in pmi. what do you suggest we try next?
Welcome to government control of the mortgage industry. New Fannie Mae rules require an appraisal from government approved appraisers. Now, the appraisers don't have any competitive reason to do a good job, and you can't use an appraiser you know is good. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do except keep trying until you get the appraisal you want.