VA Manufactured Home Appraisal

[Wally Jones]

I've received a request to appraise a manufactured home. Along with the request, the client sent a copy of a VA appraisal done last week. Of course, it was short of the needed value (or else they wouldn't have called me). This is a good client and they aren't asking me to hit a number, just provide the best report I can (like I usually do ) to see if they can get a conventional loan approval.

My question is whether VA guidelines differ substantially from FHA (or Fannie/Freddie) with regard to comp. selection. The appraiser couldn't find any suitable manufactured comparables, so he used three site-built homes and provided an across the board adjustment of -$10,000 for the construction difference. (My initial research has turned up several manufactured comparables. Maybe not the best, but I'm still looking.)

Anyhow, thanks for any help. Yes, if VA doesn't have different guidelines, this one will be sent to the state board and the VA. There are several other major problems with the report.

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

I am not a VA appraiser so I cannot comment on VA Guidelines. But I do have the comments about comparables. It really doesn't matter what a lender's guidelines are regarding whether site built are acceptable or not. What would a prospective buyer of the subject property consider as substitutes for the subject? That is the big question the appraiser has to answer--not will the lender accept two story brick homes with five bedrooms, three baths and a basement as comparables for a one story frame home with two bedrooms, one bath and no basement! Same thing with factory built homes, what does the market in that specific area consider as substitutes?????

 

[Tom McDowell]

"My question is whether VA guidelines differ substantially from FHA (or Fannie/Freddie) with regard to comp. selection."

NO!

The appraiser should have expanded his boundaries to find manufactured homes.

 

[Wally Jones]

Thank you both for the responses. I was pretty sure of the answer. I just hate to see any appraiser, especially a Certified General, become so lazy in their craft as to not even put forth the effort to search for comparable sales. It took about 45 minutes to find 18 manufactured home sales, 10 current listings and four pending contracts within the subject's market. Out of these, five were of similar size, age and acreage. Two were within two miles (this is a rural area) and two more were within four miles. The appraiser used site built sales, all concrete block/stucco, two of the three were more than seven miles away (it's not THAT rural!) and the typical buyer for the subject would most likely not be looking at site built homes.

Thanks again.

 

[Tom McDowell]

The St. Petersburg RLC needs to QR that case.

 

[Wally Jones]

Tom,

The lender will be sending it to them on Monday and the state board will get it later in the week.

 

[Don Clark]

B) This is not necessarily part of the question asked but. VA differs from FHA in that there is no prohibition on financing or refinancing manufactured homes built prior to 1976. However, finding a manufactured home in good enough condition to finance that were built prior to that date is not likely. This is the policy of the Roanoke Region. I can only assume that it is overall VA policy.

 

[Wally Jones]

Don,

Thanks for that point. In this case, underwriting rejected the appraisal due to the large across the board adjustments for the superior construction of site built homes and the client asked the appraiser if she could look again to see if she could find any manufactured comparables. When she said there just weren't any within a 15 mile radius of the subject, the client gave me a call. They lost the VA financing, but I did a new report and it was accepted by a conventional lender.

It's always disappointing to me to see inferior work by any appraiser, but especially a cert. gen. who should at least be able to get the parcel number correct, or find out there are no property taxes due to disability, or correctly identify the foundation type, or actually research the market enough to find a couple of sales down the road from the subject made by the same manufacturer in the same year which sold four months ago. Sigh. You got me going again. Sorry 'bout that!

 

[Tom McDowell]

I just looked at a conventional appraisal on a manufactured home. It was appraised at $186000 for a 1200 square foot 4.5 acre tract with fence and barn in rural SE N.C. I know most of you don't know our market but believe me that is WAY high. The VA appraisal came in at $95,000. The original appraiser is a NC certified general appraiser and carries the SRA designation and has a very low license number which indicates he is not a newbie.