How to challenge a Freddie Mac Home Value Explorer Estimate

[Jojo]

I'm going for a HELOC and my credit union used Freddie Mac Home Value Explorer to estimate my home's value. The estimate was about 60% of my homes actual value, and that's being conservative.

Freddie Mac did pull eight good comps. Ignoring the highest and lowest sale prices, the average was $327/sq foot, which is accurate for my area.

However, they vastly misrepresented my home's value. My home started as an 800 sq foot home built in 1939, with a 300 sq foot addition built in 1980 and a 3600 sq foot "addition" my husband and I put on in 2006.

So we have an Effective Year Built of 1993, just going proportionally. It's on the tax records correctly at 4703 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. The Freddie Mac estimate came back saying it was built in 1939 (no Effective Year Built), has only 3 bedrooms, and has only 2 bathrooms.

Based on that they came in at 172/sq foot, just over half of what it should be, with a confidence score of M and a FSD of $0.16.

This undervalued my home by hundreds of thousands of dollars, resulting in the bank lowering what I can borrow unless I fork out the cash for a full appraisal. Any advice?

Thank you!

 

[J Grant]

Looks like you will have to "fork out" for a full appraisal.

 

[BRCJR]

You may have gotten what you paid for. I think they are about $12.50 per report.

 

[Artemis Fowl]

Fork out the cash for a full appraisal.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Yes, tell the lender to get a real appraiser.

 

[chad hampton]

You're just a victim of the current environment in lending. I'm sorry you have to deal with this, very unprofessional. As licensed professionals who are tasked with upholding the highest level of public trust, we have clearly failed you. There is a GSE rep that sometimes posts here, maybe he will apologize to you as well.

Just tell the loan officer at the bank that you want a real appraisal. What you got was most likely an AVM (automated valuation model) and those are typically garbage. Also don't fall for all the other junk products they will try to sell you. And say you will pay the appraiser $500 max - that's all it should cost. Anything above that is a junk fee.

 

[The Bob]

If you really want top dollar, get a black neighbor to stand in for you and tell the appraiser you need ($327x4703) =$1,537,881 to make the deal work. Maybe leave one of those appraisal complaint forms out for him/her to see.

 

[Jojo]

You're just a victim of the current environment in lending. I'm sorry you have to deal with this, very unprofessional. As licensed professionals who are tasked with upholding the highest level of public trust, we have clearly failed you. There is a GSE rep that sometimes posts here, maybe he will apologize to you as well.

Just tell the loan officer at the bank that you want a real appraisal. What you got was most likely an AVM (automated valuation model) and those are typically garbage. Also don't fall for all the other junk products they will try to sell you. And say you will pay the appraiser $500 max - that's all it should cost. Anything above that is a junk fee.

Thanks! I'm very disappointed in my credit union for the ignorance they seem to have in all of this. And thanks for the appraisal cost feedback - we're taking the HELOC to finish prepping to sell, so if that's all it should cost it might be worth the investment. But I'm still going to hold my credit union accountable for blindly using an AVM .

 

[Dublin ohio]

Freddie Mac did pull eight good comps. Ignoring the highest and lowest sale prices, the average was $327/sq foot, which is accurate for my area.

However, they vastly misrepresented my home's value. My home started as an 800 sq foot home built in 1939, with a 300 sq foot addition built in 1980 and a 3600 sq foot "addition" my husband and I put on in 2006.

Based on that they came in at 172/sq foot, just over half of what it should be,

If the "comps" were showing $327 sf but you ended up at $172 sf. Were the "comps" similar in GLA to your home. If not I would not consider them "good comps". Something doesn't make sense,