Hi Adrienne,

I totally sympathize with your frustration. You can request appraisal review or order a new appraisal, but you will have to bear the cost of that. There is no guarantee they will consider a review, and they select the appraiser, so it may be fruitless, and just result in delays. I have not seen a great degree of success with either of these options. If the contract provides protection for you in the event the home doesn't appraise, you should be able to cancel the deal and receive your deposit back, but your will lose all of the money you have invested so far. Consult your agent or an attorney for advice on that.

If you feel the home is priced right and is a good deal, you may want to come up with the difference. If your personal situation is stable, and you will be able to live in the home for a while, it may be worth it to you. If you could potentially lose your income or find yourself in a position where you have to sell yourself within a year or two, you could end up like your Sellers. Perhaps the Sellers will realize they are going to be dealing with this problem with any Buyer, and they will reduce the price, or maybe each of you could make up a portion of the difference. If you can afford it, and your lender will allow it, maybe the Sellers would take back a small second mortgage.

I am seeing at least half of all contracts experiencing this type of problem. We need to all contact our Senators and Representatives and let them know the difficulties we are having with unfair appraisals. Unrealistic appraisals hurt us all, including the very banks that are benefiting from this "safety net" they are creating for themselves. It is driving the values down, and hurting the economy. Everyone should be wary of lenders offering very low rates, because their underwriting criteria may be extraordinarily stringent. They will not offer something for nothing, and this is the price you will pay for the low rates. Look for lenders who will do a "pencil" appraisal on the front end, so you can determine going in if the property will appraise at contract price.

Good luck to you - I hope you can get this worked out.

Dianne Scott GRI
Broker/Associate
RE/MAX Realty Centre
2754 Dora Avenue
Tavares, FL 32778
352-508-5532 Office
352-267-0724 Cell
DScott@Remax.net http://www.DianneScott.com

Talk with your lender.
You are paying for the appraisal. Ask for a review.
Talk with your Realtor. Did they meet with the appraiser and give them comps?
Does your Realtor think it's worth it?

It is critical with all of these appraisal issues that Realtors take an ACTIVE role in assisting the appraisers.

You can back out, the seller can back, you can request a review of the appraisal, or you can move to another lender and then pay for another appraisal.

Unfortunately since the government got involved in the appraisal process by creating HVCC the appraisals are being done by lower paid, often inexperienced or out of area appraisers.

We are running into this constantly.

What value did your Realtor give you on their CMA?

If it was at least the $89,00 and you feel the home is worth it then it may be worth doing one of the things above.


We are finding that since HVCC started appraisals are often way off the mark and just by moving to a new lender often gets a new appraisal that comes in fine. Often the appraisals being done come up with comps that are not even similar. I am over in Tampa and I have seen appraisals for a home directly on Tampa Bay compared with a home on a pond and other such bogus things.


Sincerely,

Jeff Launiere, P.A.
Real Estate Consultant
Keller Williams Realty
813-469-3163 (Direct)
800-622-0886 (Fax)
mailto:Info@SweetHomeTampa.com
http://www.SweetHomeTampa.com
http://www.SweetHomeTampaBlog.com

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