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How do I fight a bad appraisal?

Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 02:15 am
i need some advice. i am trying to refinance my home and i determined that my home should be worth $600,000 to $620,000 based on both zillow and the most recent sales within my immediate neighborhood. i was hoping to get at least $600,000 for the value because i was going to pay the remaining balance down to $480,000. i can pay a little more, but not an extra $72,000! i noticed that the appraiser listed six comps. five were adjusted to account for differences in features, number of rooms, square footage, etc. and ranged in value between $510,400 and $563,845. one was not adjusted at all even though it was 78 sq ft smaller (should have been adjusted up $4290 based on$55/sq ft that the appraiser used to adjust the other comps). it sold for only $510,000. now, can anyone explain how my house appraised at the same exact value of the very lowest comp? i challenged the appraisal on the basis that only the lowest comp was used and that other, closer comps should have been used. the two closest comps were both 0.08 mi. from my house and had adjusted comp values of $563,845 and $544,075 (the two highest because we live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the area). the other four were all 0.47 mi. or further from our home and had adjusted comp values between $510,000 and $524,575. given all of this information and more (including half a dozen other potential comps worth considerably more than $510,000) the appraiser refused to change his appraisal or consider any other closer comps. he supposedly factored in all of the comps to differing degrees based on which ones he thought were most like our home, but since our house appraised not one penny above the lowest valued comp, this is, by definition, a lie! i feel like i have been defrauded and that the appraiser either made a major mistake which he is refusing to correct even after it was brought to his attention or he is trying to justify the lowest possible value in my home and hoping that i'm too stupid to realize that i've been had. how do i go about getting this corrected? should i contact american appraisal group (they hired this guy), should i contact the appraiser directly, or is there some sort of watchdog agency that i can appeal to so that someone can correct this blatant incompetency? i guess the other options would be to try to have the credit card company reverse the charge or sue the appraiser for incompetence or malicious intent. i have other problems with how the appraisal was done, but i think this post is long enough.
thanks, josh
Hi Josh,

This is a common problem due to the HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct).

You can read more about it here:"www.appraisalpress.com/news/hvcc/"

Yes, contact American Appraisal Group and go at them armed with the comps you feel are the most appropriate for your home. You also need to do some checking to see if the appraiser is from your immediate area, if not the appraisal should be redone/replaced by an appraiser that is from/familiar with your area.

[Link deactivated as per forum rules. Thanks.]
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 06:00 am
Hi John,
Thanks for the reply! Yes the guy is from Aptos (1 hour away). That was another problem I had with him along with the fact that he spent less than 15 minutes at our house and only about 6 of that was inside.
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 08:33 am
Josh,

You're welcome.

that's what I thought. Definitely call the appraisal management company and if that doesn't work you may want to consider either having a second appraisal done or try a new lender. By the way, your loan officer really should be working on this for you.
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 08:44 am
I merely wished to officially say "Hi there" to everyone here. In my opinion , that this appears like an unusually appealing place to be online.

I cannot wait to begin. Do you have any sort of guidance for someone in the beginning stages? Any certain section that you would advise more versus others to begin?

I want to to share with you a quote that i have often found to be tremendously motivational in order to start formal introductions:

"Never believe in mirrors or newspapers. ~Tom Stoppard"
Greetings,
Mark
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 11:10 am
He was working with us on this, supposedly he raised our issues to American Appraisal Group and offered other comps and was shot down. He says he tried, but can't do anything else. Unfortunately, I was never given a reason for why only the lowest comp was given all the weight, and neither was my loan officer, but I have no way of knowing how much of this is true.
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 01:50 pm
Josh,

Are you working with a broker or a big bank?
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 02:22 pm
We're working with Surepoint Lending (through LendingTree).
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 02:53 pm
I've never heard of them so they must be a broker/correspondent lender.

You may need to try another lender or see if you can get another appraisal.

What type of loan are you doing?
Posted on: 19th Oct, 2010 03:35 pm
We had a 30 year fixed rate loan locked in at 4.375%, but that was before the devastating appraisal.
Posted on: 20th Oct, 2010 02:29 am
One other question, how long should the appraiser spend at the residence in order to make an accurate assessment of the value?
Posted on: 20th Oct, 2010 05:26 am
are you doing an FHA or conventional 30 year fixed?

I would think the appraiser should have been there at least 20+ minutes depending on the size of your home.
Posted on: 20th Oct, 2010 07:08 am
It's a conventional 30 year fixed. We owe too much on the house to qualify for any of the federal programs.
Posted on: 20th Oct, 2010 01:43 pm
what did the appraised value come in at and how much do you owe?
Posted on: 20th Oct, 2010 01:51 pm
The first appraisal came in at $510,000. We still owe $516,000, but were going to pay it down to $480,000 to get to 20% equity in a house which we think is worth about $600,000. I did talk the AMC into going back to the appraiser and asking him to revisit the appraisal as I was able to convince the AMC that the appraisal has errors in it.
Posted on: 22nd Oct, 2010 05:28 am
Hi joshuaxanderson,

If you had convinced AMC that the appraisal had errors, then it's good for you. Then, you can ask them to appraise your property once again in order to let you know the value of the property.

Thanks
Posted on: 23rd Oct, 2010 12:24 am
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