Would really appreciate some professional insight on a recent appraisal for an FHA refinance with cash out. Totally respect the appraiser and their valuation process for our property however they assigned an $8 per sq ft GLA for the 812 additional feet in our home over their identified primary comparable house five doors down. Is $8 per sq ft a fairly standard GLA valuation? In looking at other posts by appraisers in this forum I am seeing values more like $10-12 for unfinished space and $30-50 for finished sq footage.
Both houses were considered in good condition and we were credited for our additional bedroom and bathroom. All sq footage in both homes are finished. Appraiser made the following notation, “the home is not over built or super adequate for the area and the larger than typical GLA is not felt to impact marketability or appeal”.
In my reply to the lender I included the following: Please note that the lowest per square footage rate for all comparables in the appraisal was $82.31 per square foot. Based on the appraisers valuation of our property, which happens to be 104 sq ft smaller than the $82.31 comparable (which doesn’t have a garage and ours has a 2 1/2 car garage), ours is only valued at $68.41 per sq ft. I haven’t seen anything listed at that low of a square footage price in our area or nearby cities unless the property was in need of significant repairs.
We recently had an offer for $220k on our home and the bank originally said they estimated our house to appraise around $218k, so we were really surprised by the $202,500 appraisal value, especially with all the updates we have done ($20k) in the past 10 years. We paid $198,500 in 2002 and the market here is better now than it was then.
Please tell me if this appraisal value seems fair and if not do you have suggestions for any action we can take. Additional comparisons didn’t help because they were chosen from a nearby city where the houses are valued lower due to the school system, and the appraiser use the same eight dollars per square foot GLA as well as the same nearby house as the primary comparison. Nothing changed. Thanks to all who respond.
Both houses were considered in good condition and we were credited for our additional bedroom and bathroom. All sq footage in both homes are finished. Appraiser made the following notation, “the home is not over built or super adequate for the area and the larger than typical GLA is not felt to impact marketability or appeal”.
In my reply to the lender I included the following: Please note that the lowest per square footage rate for all comparables in the appraisal was $82.31 per square foot. Based on the appraisers valuation of our property, which happens to be 104 sq ft smaller than the $82.31 comparable (which doesn’t have a garage and ours has a 2 1/2 car garage), ours is only valued at $68.41 per sq ft. I haven’t seen anything listed at that low of a square footage price in our area or nearby cities unless the property was in need of significant repairs.
We recently had an offer for $220k on our home and the bank originally said they estimated our house to appraise around $218k, so we were really surprised by the $202,500 appraisal value, especially with all the updates we have done ($20k) in the past 10 years. We paid $198,500 in 2002 and the market here is better now than it was then.
Please tell me if this appraisal value seems fair and if not do you have suggestions for any action we can take. Additional comparisons didn’t help because they were chosen from a nearby city where the houses are valued lower due to the school system, and the appraiser use the same eight dollars per square foot GLA as well as the same nearby house as the primary comparison. Nothing changed. Thanks to all who respond.
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