Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding a recent relocation appraisal of our home. My husband and I were offered an Appraised Value home deal as part of a relocation package handled by Sirva.
2 appraisals were conducted. One was from very nearby and had a great handle on our area. The other was from further away and did not have a great handle on the intracies of our neighborhood, bypassing many obvious comps. in our neighborhood to go out to a less desirable neighborhood. This included an identical house about 10 houses away that recently sold that I was in and it is IDENTICAL to our home (at least based upon baths/bedrooms/layout, etc.) I am not getting in to any subjective criteria (e.g., decor, appeal, etc. here) Both our realtor and the local appraiser at least took most/all comps. from our neighborhood.
What has us puzzled is that both appraisers did not use a comp. that is 2 doors away from us (in a very densely populated neighborhood -- we can read their sign clearly from our driveway!) The house is nearly identical in design except: 1) we believe our neighbors house is about about 50- 100 sq. feet larger per the plats/appraisers measurements of our home, but about 150 feet larger per public tax records and 2) while both our houses are split level; however, the neighbors have 2 baths up, whereas one of our baths in partially below grade (in the lowest level of our 3 level split.) I would understand this house not being considered a comp. if this bathroom difference alone made a difference, however, most of the other comps. used by both appraisers were identified as 1 1/2 or 2 bedroom homes above grade. So that does not seem to be the case.
The only other reason I suspect they may not have been a comp. is because they have been on the market for about 6 months. Is this a typical exclusion based upon days on market?
Also, we are looking to have our appraisals reviewed/reconsidered/appealed, particularly the work of the appraiser that was from outside of our area. We live in a major metropolitan area and I am sure that there are many other appraisers that meet Sirva's qualifications but apparently Sirva had to go past them to find ones that would do their bidding. That's my second question: how are these appraisals for major relocation companies typically handled. I know that Sirva does not want to own my home, but the results of the appraisals seem almost laughable. We had a refinance appraisal done 5 months earlier that came up with a number 15% higher. I know the market was slow there for a while in our area, but it seems much more is at play here than the 5 months time differential in the market and the understandable differences between the refi. appraisal vs. the relo. appraisal with its 120 days for sale guidelines.
Help! We are very frustrated and admittedly concerned about the integrity of the whole process.
Sorry this is so long.
2 appraisals were conducted. One was from very nearby and had a great handle on our area. The other was from further away and did not have a great handle on the intracies of our neighborhood, bypassing many obvious comps. in our neighborhood to go out to a less desirable neighborhood. This included an identical house about 10 houses away that recently sold that I was in and it is IDENTICAL to our home (at least based upon baths/bedrooms/layout, etc.) I am not getting in to any subjective criteria (e.g., decor, appeal, etc. here) Both our realtor and the local appraiser at least took most/all comps. from our neighborhood.
What has us puzzled is that both appraisers did not use a comp. that is 2 doors away from us (in a very densely populated neighborhood -- we can read their sign clearly from our driveway!) The house is nearly identical in design except: 1) we believe our neighbors house is about about 50- 100 sq. feet larger per the plats/appraisers measurements of our home, but about 150 feet larger per public tax records and 2) while both our houses are split level; however, the neighbors have 2 baths up, whereas one of our baths in partially below grade (in the lowest level of our 3 level split.) I would understand this house not being considered a comp. if this bathroom difference alone made a difference, however, most of the other comps. used by both appraisers were identified as 1 1/2 or 2 bedroom homes above grade. So that does not seem to be the case.
The only other reason I suspect they may not have been a comp. is because they have been on the market for about 6 months. Is this a typical exclusion based upon days on market?
Also, we are looking to have our appraisals reviewed/reconsidered/appealed, particularly the work of the appraiser that was from outside of our area. We live in a major metropolitan area and I am sure that there are many other appraisers that meet Sirva's qualifications but apparently Sirva had to go past them to find ones that would do their bidding. That's my second question: how are these appraisals for major relocation companies typically handled. I know that Sirva does not want to own my home, but the results of the appraisals seem almost laughable. We had a refinance appraisal done 5 months earlier that came up with a number 15% higher. I know the market was slow there for a while in our area, but it seems much more is at play here than the 5 months time differential in the market and the understandable differences between the refi. appraisal vs. the relo. appraisal with its 120 days for sale guidelines.
Help! We are very frustrated and admittedly concerned about the integrity of the whole process.
Sorry this is so long.
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