Is it ethical to tell the appraisal how much you need?

[ballzi]

We would like to re-finance our home and get some money out to pay some debts. The bank says our home needs to come in at X amount of dollars. Is it ethical to tell the appraiser beforehand what we need, or would he be insulted? Or should we just keep our mouth shut and hope for the best? Thanks!

 

[AJL118]

As a fellow Floridian, I'm surprised you have any paper equity in your house at all. Maybe one of the lucky ones. The appraiser won't (or shouldn't) listen to you. His job is to determine value for your lender to make its decision on, not make your deal work. You are not his client.

 

[CANative]

Most appraisers are use to borrowers/homeowners telling us these types of things. We've gotten pretty good at letting it go in one ear and out the other.

 

[Lobo Fan]

I think you know the answer already. An appraisal is supposed to be an unbiased opinion of value. Giving your appraiser a target number is not ethical. If your loan officer did it, it would be illegal.

My suggestion is to provide some comparable sales that are similar to your property and that support the value you need. Keep in mind that if there are better, closer, more similar comps that are lower in value then you may be in trouble. Skipping over good comps to get to ones with a higher value is good enough to get an appraiser's license revoked.

It could be that the value you need is very reasonable and well supported. Or it could be completely ridiculous like we used to see back in the heyday. Loan officers would take the payoff of the house, add in the credit card debt and the car loans, arrive at a total then add 20% to get to an 80/20LTV. That is how people ended up with $500,000 loans on a $300,000 property.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

No. In fact, if there is a hint of pressure from eithe the borrower or the lender, in my state it is a crime....No pressure the appraiser. He /she works for the bank and you are NOT the intended user of the report and must obtain your copy through the lender, not the appraiser....and if you attempt to do that, be aware that many appraisers are scared for their license and might actually provide a more pessimistic value in fear of being accused of Kowtowing to the "target"....

 

[Peacemaker]

Some appraisers (the good ones) would be insulted. The bad ones will be happy to know because they can't come up with a number on their own.

 

[Lee Lansford]

We would like to re-finance our home and get some money out to pay some debts. The bank says our home needs to come in at X amount of dollars. Is it ethical to tell the appraiser beforehand what we need, or would he be insulted? Or should we just keep our mouth shut and hope for the best? Thanks!

No, you can tell me.

However, what you tell me will go in one ear and out the other.

 

[HF Mudd]

No - that would represent an unaccptable assignment condition.

I would follow Lobo's advice and do some research on my own if I were you. Zillow.com or realtor.com are good places to start.

 

[panappr]

Do you know the value of your home already? If yes, then you should not be worried.

 

[Ted Martin]

Illegal in my state and I usually return the order for reassignment to another appraiser.