Advice Needed, Don't Know Where To Turn

[Meandering]

that's just great... I didn't deceive them and that is my fear. That I am gonna pay for someone else's wrong doing. All I did was buy the house.

Actually,
you didn't just "buy the house"
else you would "own the house" and only the government could take it from you.

You agreed to "buy the house" with an insured mortgage, that you have not yet paid for.

Hence your ownership is secondary to the mortgages.

Aren't you glad you've been refinancing and pulling out your equity?

 

[hastalavista]

Your original question was about liability and how could this have been missed by the appraiser (since you are posting the question on an appraiser forum).
I cannot tell you how it could have been missed.
But as far as liability goes, as others have pointed out and in regard to the appraiser, it is doubtful the appraiser has any liability to you. The appraiser was engaged by a lender for purposes of evaluating the property for a mortgage finance transaction. If there is harm, it is with the lender. Certainly, for any lender who has been replaced by means of refinancing, there is no harm to them. The last lender who is holding the bag has been harmed. Since FHA is also an intended user, the argument is they've been harmed as well.
But the question of you being not being harmed due to the original purchase-transaction appraisal is especially true if, at the time of your original purchase, you made your offer without the appraisal: even though you are not an intended user for the appraiser, you made your offer before an mortgage finance appraisal was completed. So, it was worth what it was to you. There are court cases that set precedence for what I am stating.

Now, here is my advice going forward:
A. Get the engineer to evaluate the property. Find out what needs to be done and get bids on how much it will cost. You should do this whether you make the changes or not; if nothing more than for peace of mind.
B. If you want to get financing at the lowest rates, then complete the modifications that the engineer says must be done and get the final engineering certificate.
C. Contact an attorney and see who, in your original purchase transaction, may be liable for any damages based on what you have discovered as of recently. There may be some liability, but there may not be. An attorney, well versed in real estate and contract law, would be the one who can address this issue.

It is an unfortunate situation; and, yes, that is easy for me to say when you may be out thousands of dollars to make whatever modifications are needed. I'm not dismissing or diminishing that. But the practical advice is as I've outlined above.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Zoner1718]

Your original question was about liability and how could this have been missed by the appraiser (since you are posting the question on an appraiser forum).
I cannot tell you how it could have been missed.
But as far as liability goes, as others have pointed out and in regard to the appraiser, it is doubtful the appraiser has any liability to you. The appraiser was engaged by a lender for purposes of evaluating the property for a mortgage finance transaction. If there is harm, it is with the lender. Certainly, for any lender who has been replaced by means of refinancing, there is no harm to them. The last lender who is holding the bag has been harmed. Since FHA is also an intended user, the argument is they've been harmed as well.
But the question of you being not being harmed due to the original purchase-transaction appraisal is especially true if, at the time of your original purchase, you made your offer without the appraisal: even though you are not an intended user for the appraiser, you made your offer before an mortgage finance appraisal was completed. So, it was worth what it was to you. There are court cases that set precedence for what I am stating.

Now, here is my advice going forward:
A. Get the engineer to evaluate the property. Find out what needs to be done and get bids on how much it will cost. You should do this whether you make the changes or not; if nothing more than for peace of mind.
B. If you want to get financing at the lowest rates, then complete the modifications that the engineer says must be done and get the final engineering certificate.
C. Contact an attorney and see who, in your original purchase transaction, may be liable for any damages based on what you have discovered as of recently. There may be some liability, but there may not be. An attorney, well versed in real estate and contract law, would be the one who can address this issue.

It is an unfortunate situation; and, yes, that is easy for me to say when you may be out thousands of dollars to make whatever modifications are needed. I'm not dismissing or diminishing that. But the practical advise is as I've outlined above.

Best of luck to you!

thank you very much!! And I have not once questioned the appraiser or their liability. Posting on this board cause you guys have had a lot more exposure and experience in the real estate business, and have a ton more knowledge than I do. The lender is responsible for obtaining the certification to write the loan to begin with, but since that lender was shut down, I guess I have just been questioning who else if anyone is responsible. Thanks for all the input thus far guys!

 

[miktay]

You agreed to "buy the house" with an insured mortgage, that you have not yet paid for.
Aren't you glad you've been refinancing and pulling out your equity?

Ouch, Marion.
You're BRUTAL today!

 

[Mr Rex]

FWIW, some of the Engineering certs I have seen say that it is only good for the current transaction and may not be used at a later date.

 

[Zoner1718]

Just to update if anyone is interested. I documented the lack of anchoring. I then performed the anchoring myself. Had an engineer inspect, and he stated that the anchoring I did saved myself a "huge batch of other problems". FOIA got back to me and indeed there was a certification that had been singed off on, which was fraudulent due to my findings. Of course the statute of limitations has run out on the matter, and the engineer that signed off on the original inspection has since passed away. This has been a perfect storm of problems, but I have made it through. Would like to clarify a few things from comments that were made during this thread. I felt attacked at one point when statements were made that I was using my property as a revolving line of credit. This was the first and only refinance that has been performed to gain any money out. The first two were out of my control and not even initiated by me, the third one was to gain a lower interest rate and therefore save money. This last one was to make repairs and improvements to an asphalt driveway. And as far as a manufactured home retaining its value compared to "stick built" homes.... it appraised at 110K when I purchased it and now ten years later has appraised at 150k (it has truly lost much of its value, too bad it's not a "stick built home").

 

[andrew81]

glad its working out

 

[EddieB]

For my market.....,
I’ve never seen manufactured homes selling this high.

 

[Eminent Domain]

For my market.....,
I’ve never seen manufactured homes selling this high.

Your in the wrong part of the state then, because it is crazy around here.

 

[Skeletor]

The cheapest and fastest way is to get a new engineering certification

I am in complete agreement with Glenn Walker, and it sounds like from one of your later posts that you are on that. You are taking the right action because this is a curable problem that will not only solve your current situation but improve your home's marketability when the time comes to sell. Yeah, it will cost you some money but the alternative is much worse. Sorry this happened to you. The whole problem with bad engineering certs is another topic for another day. Anyway, all the best to you and, yeah, just ignore some of the other posters on here. They make massive mountains out of mole hills.