Help! Appraisal came in $100,000 too low!

[TheXman]

Thanks Denis,
That makes more sense to me now. I appreciate the straight answers, you've been a wealth of information.
Josh

 

[MKBURNETT]

Zillow lumps all properties within a certain area radius from the subject and does the square foot method logically that should be done for commercial property and not houses. When I checked zillow they used for my house - attached duplex style homes, stacked low income condominiums, and the one and only million dollar home on my street. My home is nothing of the 3 categories. Zillow also uses new listings which are not closed completed sales. In CA homeowners go to their real estate agent to get comps before they get the appraisal for the loan to see what values are doing directly in the neighborhood. You can also ask and pay for a new appraisal that the bank directly hires an Indepent Certified Appraiser who is competent in your market area. And you can go to public records and look up sales yourself to counter the value in the appraisal. USPAP does not let us review another appraiser that has been done for loan purposes, only the lender - the actual Client and owner of the appraisal can do that. You the homeowner are not the client. Don't have the new appraiser you hire look at that appraiser as you are putting him in a bad position. He can do a whole new appraisal on the same date but as pointed, you can not use this to give to the lender, and by new and old laws, the lender can not accept it. The only thing you can do with a new private appraisal is you can pull the sales comparable from it for the rebuttal of your current bank appraisal value.

 

[TheXman]

OK, I posted this on another thread, but here are the results of the revised appraisal:
Four out of the six comps were replaced (the same four that I challenged as not being very good comps), including the two active listings. Here are the new comps along with their sale price, adjusted sale price, and date of sale.
comp sale price adjusted sale price date sold
1 $575,000 $589,520 7-21-10
2 $515,000 $544,075 7-23-10
3 $610,000 $610,000 6-22-10
4 $576,000 $563,845 5-14-10
comps 5 and 6 are current listings still on the market. The adjusted sale prices for these two homes include a 2% negative adjustment to account for the fact that they are not yet sold.
5 listed at $550,000 $545,545 N/A
6 listed at $575,000 $551,565 N/A

From these comps, the appraiser settled on a value of $550,00 for our home.

 

[Winds]

"...hoping that I'm too stupid to realize that I've been had."

An appraiser has absolutly no reason at all to take advantage of anyone. They are getting paid regardless of the final opinion of value. No one intentionally screwed you.