Got a copy of my house appraisal

[ez]

My house appraised for enough to do everything I wanted with my refi, but now that I am looking at the actual appraisal I think it should have appraised for more. I live on a very unique street with beautiful large private lots and water views. I think there are like 17 houses. However, its been over 2 years since any of the houses sold so nothing could be used for comparisons. 2 years ago, the house next door to me sold for 234,000. The front of my neighborhood is older and more modest. The back actually has $1,000,000 homes on the river. We are toward the back, but he used homes in the front for the comparisons, and sales that are from 1 year ago. Homes that are 20-30 years older than mine, but he did not account for age differences. Anyway, it appraised for 200,000, we paid 136 for it 8 years ago. Now today, I see a neighbor 2 houses down has listed her house for sale, same size house but we have a pool and our lot is like 3x the size of hers because she is on the end of the street tucked in the back. She is asking 269,000. Wow, now that is really making me think my appraisal was way off. How reliable are appraisals really, I'd be interested in any comments, stories anyone might have.

 

[one_cat]

I've seen them work both ways. I had an appraisal that I thought was way low, however the last one came in a little above what I expected. The rules for appraisals are quite rigid, an appraiser can lose his license for making an appraisal that he cannot back up. He also needs to have real comps to appraise with. Not only in the area if possible but the same type of house. It can be very frustrating - not only for you but also for the appraiser.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

what I have seen is that the appraisals miraculously are enough to cover the loan but not a lot over. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that the bank can pick which appraisal company they want to use

 

[one_cat]

Alex you may have something there. We hired our own last time. We needed 220,000 to cover the lone + 20%. He came out at 258,000 which was enough to give us a nice line of credit. Both other appraisals I thought were low and were hired by the lender.

 

[ez]

That is interesting, because the houses he used for comparison are anything but the same type of house as mine, but then again my home was custom built and is one of a kind. I have delivered mail in the neighborhood and have actually stepped inside the homes he used. Especially 2 of the 4,well, you can imagine being 20 years older, they feel smaller and darker. My house is very modern with huge windows, soaring ceilings and skylights with a very open floorplan
I agree with you guys...I think if I sold my house for 245,000 tomorrow, it would miraculously appraise for that amount, appreciating 45,000 in 2 weeks! This appraiser was hired by the bank, and like I said, even if it had appraised for more, I wouldn't have taken out a larger loan, so on that level it does not matter.Here is what he wrote: The comparables used were the best available ,very similar in location and appeal.Due to there similarities, equal consideration was given to all sales.Due to the very stable nature of the subjects immediate area it was necessary to use sales that were older than desired.
In his defense, the appraisser was a very nice guy, and it was obviously hard for him to find truly similar comps. I'm sure he is very competent and did ihis best. But it does make ya wonder!

 

[Talking Hands]

EZ you don't want an appraisal much more than what you want for the loan. If it is too mcuh higher the local government can up your assessment for taxes.
As to the home that is listed for so much more. That is purely what the owner wants and may in no way reflect the actual amount the house is worth.

 

[TimeforMe]

We recently re-financed our home and hence got an appraisal. We live in a very affluent town, however, our neighborhood is one of the older ones and less "desirable". Our appraisal did come in way over what our loan amount is and $120,000 more than last August -- although we did put an addition on, it was nowhere near that much. I think appraisers try to take everything into consideration, including that there are not many properties similar so comparisons are not always available. I'm not sure how the real estate market is in your area, but where I live they are through the roof. There are so many variables to consider, it's hard to know if it was fair or not.

 

[ez]

Well the real estate market in my area is doing well, but not going thru the roof as in some locations. The mean income down here is just too low to warrant that kind of growth.
As far as my neighbors house goes, yeah, it seems like shes asking alot, we will all be very, very interested to see what she ends up with. Another neighbor says if she gets anywhere near that, shes also gonna sell her house and go live with her mother-in-law till the bottom falls out of the market!