I realize that this is late, per the date of your inquiry, but here's some helpful & current information.

As of April 1st, appraisers have many more hurdles to jump when doing their appraisals. In ost cases this includes a new Market Condition addendum; taking into account any "Seller Concessions" on active, pending & closed sales; factoring in short sales, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, etc.; original list price & any revised prices...the list goes on & on.

For new purchases, the appraisals now have to factor in the pricing the entire time the home was listed unless it was off the market for more than 30 days (if I recall correctly). So if the price started at one point & dropped over time, the appraiser has to consider where it originally began & where it wound up selling.

Your appraiser (or rather, the appraiser that the bank hired) should be up-to-date on the most recent requirements. The "list to sell" ratio is something that the appraiser and the bank have to deal with, not you as the homeowner. Appraisers can call Realtors & ask for information on possible comparable sales, but the appraisers also have access to the MLS data, so I'm curious as to why the appraiser is stumped.

You'd also want to let your lender know that the appraiser appears to be having difficulty with the data requested in order to complete the appraisal. This may be a red flag to the lender that this appraiser is possibly missing some pertinent continuing education or is possibly not able to conduct the appraisal in a thorough manner for whatever reasons.

I hope you made it through the process & were able to refinance!

Liz Erickson
Restaino & Associates
(608) 843-3630

Your best bet is to ask a Realtor. With the advent of the foreclosure and short sale influx, there has been somewhat of a skew in the market. A Realtor with experience and knowledge of the area in which you have questions should be your first source for information. If you have questions that need an answer from an experienced agent in Dane County and the Middleton area, please give me a call at 235-5115.

Mike Adler
Restaino and Associates http://www.mikeadler.com

Ratios change as the market changes. To best be informed you can request a Market Snapshot from the link below. You can fill it our for as many areas you may be interested in. You will then receive a free report telling you what houses sold for, what is on the market, days on the market, community information and more! The Snap shot takes only the latest information from the MLS (no more than 3 months) information and puts in a great and easy to read report with graphs and maps. You can receive it monthy until you unsubscribe. Hope this help get you the most accurate up to date information

Rocky,
Just ask a Realtor. It looks like you are from Middleton. The list to sale ratio for homes in Middleton this past year was 96.5% and condos were 97.5% list to sale ratio. If you have another area you would like to know just ask myself or anyone here.

I have never heard an appraiser asking for this before, but with all of the new lending rules it might be a new statistic they are looking for.

Charlie Wills