Who boy. sheesh!
Ms. Smith,
My sympathies. You have not even given the forum an adequate description of what you observed as to the level of completion regarding the space over the garage and here we have all the arm chair experts deciding what it was.
I just received a call from an irate lender <...... snip..... >
Did you post "lender" when you should have been posting mortgage broker?
<... snip....> , says underwriting kicked my report and I killed their loan unless I change my wording. I wrote....
"There is a recently completed, permitted 32'x32' garage with concrete slab flooring, power, painted fire resistant siding, and metal roofing. There is an area above the garage, which is set to be a second home of approximately 1,536 square feet. The area was noted, however not counted in this appraisal report, as it is not completed or permitted. The garage feature in the subject home is not typical for the area; as most homes do not have garages. In the sales comparison process a minimal garage adjustment was made."
Ok, I spot what I consider two mistakes right off. First, you can't just declare you did not consider the unfinished space due to lack of completion and permits.
Your job is to reflect the market, or the EA's or HC's agreed to with your client, not your own reasons for dodging finding out if the market says that space has value even in it's current condition. If your client had been informed prior to your completion of the assignment of the situation, and a different SOW used a HC or EA "
the unfinished portion has no value," could have been used depending on the intended use of the appraisal report. I am assuming you failed to prove the market would give it no value AND you never consulted with your client regarding an alteration in the agreed SOW. If I am correct, you blew it. If not, then this is just for others to read and consider.
Second, just because having a garage is atypical of the market area you assumned it had minimal market value? Ms. Smith, THAT is called a complex appraisal assignment, not proof the market would give the garage little value justifying a "
minimal" adjustment. I hope you proved what you stated and did not just toss some small adjustment at it because you couldn't find comparable sales with garages.
The above said, I fully support your factual reporting of what you observed. I have no idea what level of finish you found, it may have been very apparent they were building a second residence on the real property. Not knowing the level of finish and the entire situation, I feel some posters are off base saying what they would have done. It just makes them sound like they would intentionally have sidestepped the issue to kiss their client's ***. So I commend you on your fortitude.
They want me to remove the part about the unfinished room. I was only reporting what I had seen on the property as I do in every report; I had no intention of "killing" a loan. Now I am left with a very unhappy lender (one who will no doubt switch to another appraiser after this), and a felling of frustration. I only disclosed what I observed and what was told to me by the home owner.
Welcome to the ranks of those appraisers with spines. It is a tough and proud group. Though obviously a dying breed. No, nobody wants the truth anymore. It has become about who can lie the best via omission or other methods.
Is there anything I can do to help appease the underwriter and the lender without doing what they are asking? I'm not about to remove wording from my report ... but is there some way to ad an addenda that more clearly states what I said without killing a loan?
The loan is not your responsibility. USPAP and your other state appraisal administrative rules are. Don't feel guilty, don't allow yourself to be intimidated. Any actually good appraiser looses clients. Only Skippy keeps all the mortgage brokers.
I was not speculating when I stated second home. The verbage acutally came directly from the homeowners mouth, " ....this area is going to be our second home, once we complete it; that's what this loan will be for, to complete the home and get it permitted." She said she was not sure what she was going to do with the original home... keep it for her mother, split the lot (which is feasible/legal/possible) or rent it out.
Golly gee, then the land is NOT at it's highest and best use now is it? If splitting the lot into two separate lots and houses is feasible, legal, and possible are you saying there is no market to do that? You DID use the word "
feasible" above did you not? What did your report say? I would expect that to have killed any loan too, along with anything else these days. Again, sounds like a complex appraisal to me. Hope you considered that and the affect on land value.
I did submit photos, both of the interior and exterior of the garage. I did not submit photos of the area above the garage because I did not weight this feature in the report. Should I have submitted interior shots of this area?
Since when do we not 100% disclose everything about a property that should be disclosed? If you are going to properly describe it, why not provide photos of it? Sometimes it is MORE important to provide photos of the issues versus photos of all the non-issues. Mortgage brokers who want sanitation of all appraisal reports be damned.
Your client could have it worse. Tell em I could be their appraiser! Offer to let em post their complaint here in this thread. I look forward to pounding them into submission for you...
Webbed.
