Americas Home Grant

[Surf Cat]

I wouldn't do anything until I received a copy of the original gift of equity letter which is to be signed by both buyer and seller. You can't just willy-nilly increase the gift amount.

 

[Andee]

So, was this a purchase appraisal? Wasn't the gift of equity notated in the contract?

I've never encountered such a request. This has to be from an AMC.

Yes this is a purchase, no the gift of equity was not in the contract because it wasn't written on a promulgated form or by any type of RE Professional. The transaction is between sisters. I was given the original gift of equity after the report was completed. Now they are coming back with another one that increases the amount, which may be due to the appraisal value coming in higher than the sales price. None of this was in my original Scope of Work, and they have changed that scope so many times that it's not even the same as what I originally accepted.

Yes it was from an AMC BUT it's B of A as the Lender and they are the who is sending over the documents when they feel like it and expecting me to jump through hoops. At one point I had to state something about some Grant that was never part of the original SOW either, and now it's just one more thing, with this being the 7th or 8th revision because they keep asking stupid questions like "Why is the Final Opinion of Value a lot higher than the contract price?"...and they basically asked that twice in two different ways..."Well, Mr Lender, I don't know how they came up with the contract price, I wasn't there, nor did they use any type of RE Professional.", this was before I found out about the gift of equity, the B of A grant money, and the fact that they were sisters.

 

[Andee]

I wouldn't do anything until I received a copy of the original gift of equity letter which is to be signed by both buyer and seller. You can't just willy-nilly increase the gift amount.

I have the original gift of equity, I'm just frustrated because all this is coming about AFTER I completed the report, they didn't bother to tell me that this was a non-arms length transaction and I was just supposed to know that, there was nothing in the contract that stated the buyer and seller were sisters. They never provided the original gift of equity, didn't bother to state there was some type of B of A grant money, and now this...which has all come back after the report was completed. Oh and while I was inspecting the property (the buyer lives in it), she never once said anything about this being purchased from her sister.

 

[Mike Ault]

I have the original gift of equity, I'm just frustrated because all this is coming about AFTER I completed the report, they didn't bother to tell me that this was a non-arms length transaction and I was just supposed to know that, there was nothing in the contract that stated the buyer and seller were sisters. They never provided the original gift of equity, didn't bother to state there was some type of B of A grant money, and now this...which has all come back after the report was completed. Oh and while I was inspecting the property (the buyer lives in it), she never once said anything about this being purchased from her sister.

Of course, and the GSE's have criticized appraisers for 98% of appraisals matching the contract price. They fail to mention how many times the contract price is raised to meet the appraised value. I have never heard that statistic quoted even once, even though they assuredly have that data as well. Years ago I was listening to a Fannie Mae "live meeting" for underwriters & appraisers where those of us who couldn't attend in person had the option to dial into their number & then place our phones on mute while the speaker went over the material. They then had a question-and-answer portion at the end where this exact scenario came up. Some underwriter asked the Fannie Mae rep what the correct procedure was for handling increases in contract price after the appraisal had already been submitted. The answer was, "just have the appraiser change it, after all, they have it in the computer". Not one mention of how appraisers are to document said change. Personally, I would politely curse them under my breath, and then do it (after receiving a properly ratified contract addendum). Just make sure you leave a detailed audit trail in the body of the report so if you are ever reviewed, it will be obvious what changes you made to your report after the original submission, who requested them, and why. Aggravating as hell, however, not a hill worth dying on in my opinion. Live to fight another day.

 

[Tom D]

I have the original gift of equity, I'm just frustrated because all this is coming about AFTER I completed the report, they didn't bother to tell me that this was a non-arms length transaction and I was just supposed to know that, there was nothing in the contract that stated the buyer and seller were sisters. They never provided the original gift of equity, didn't bother to state there was some type of B of A grant money, and now this...which has all come back after the report was completed. Oh and while I was inspecting the property (the buyer lives in it), she never once said anything about this being purchased from her sister.

You seem to have missed things that you should have not missed in the 1st place. You have an agreement without a realtor, the buyer living in the house. You didn't think to ask anyone any question about the agreement and sale price. On the form it says 'i did/did not analyze the agreement of sale'. Seems to me, as per your stips, that you didn't do an analysis. No MLS, higher sale price than appraisal, buyer living in the house. And what did you say about about it not being listed. A lot of clues here, and you asked the buyer or seller what questions. Most of your problems are self inflicted.

But, that's how we learn about appraising sometimes.

Grant money from state or city doesn't affect anything.