Iggee002
Home Buyer
Brockway, PA

Hello, my appraiser is insisting that the crawl space be dug to 18 inches. She is adamant about this issue, but it will cost the seller thousands of dollars to fix. He is willing to ventilate it, and extend the opening, but not deepen it. I do not know what to do here. I sent the HUD handbook section that states that this improvement is recommended but not mandated to my underwriter. She does not see a problem because the space is dry, and nothing has happened as a result of its depth in the 60-70 years the house has been there. My underwriter requested that the appraiser remove the statement from the appraisal, and sent the handbook sections along with the request. The appraiser refused, insisting that it is "highly" recommended. The space is around 12 inches on average, and is mostly there for ventallation. My underwriter has contacted FHA with no response as of yet. I will lose lot of non-refundable money due to an issue that is not mandated. Do I have any options or rights? Thanks.