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Sennheizer
join:2012-05-14

Sennheizer to Jack_in_VA

Member

to Jack_in_VA

Re: Appraisals and Finished Basements

said by Jack_in_VA:

I'll stick with Bank B wanted the business so the Appraiser made the numbers match.

I have a friend in the business and has been for way longer than you and he knows exactly how that works. He spends his time now working for banks examining properties to see if the paper they hold is worth anything near the real value of the home. Most aren't as they were overvalued by appraisers to gain re-financing approvals. Thus the home is upside down and not eligible any relief.

Appraisals should not be subjective to the point of having that much variation and if they do then something is wrong with the appraiser(s).

The law is all bank appraisals have to be done by an INDEPENDENT 3rd party now. Normally they call up a company that will RANDOMLY assign a local appraiser to do the job from their pool of available appraisers. A bank can coach the home owner in how to help the appraiser but the bank has zero influence on the appraiser. A trick they tough me is pick a number you think your place is worth and while the appraiser is there toss out that number a few times in passing just to get it into their head. It doesn't always work but it's worth a shot. I wish appraisals were subject to banks influence these days. I'll drop $1,000 right now if I can get an appraiser who would give me 10% more then the last appraiser so I can drop PMI. I wish it was pre-bubble appraisals but those days are long gone!

alkizmo
join:2007-06-25
Pierrefonds, QC

alkizmo

Member

said by Sennheizer:

A trick they tough me is pick a number you think your place is worth and while the appraiser is there toss out that number a few times in passing just to get it into their head. It doesn't always work but it's worth a shot. I wish appraisals were subject to banks influence these days. I'll drop $1,000 right now if I can get an appraiser who would give me 10% more then the last appraiser so I can drop PMI. I wish it was pre-bubble appraisals but those days are long gone!

Appraisers just compile data for a checklist, take some pictures and then go back to their office to crunch the numbers.

The pictures are just there for the report to justify certain decisions in the evaluation.

Then the data and photos are re-evaluated by a verificator who wasn't there to see if there is anything missing or judgements that aren't justified.

Banks/underwriters have to decide whether to approve or refuse a mortgage request based on the borrower's revenue, credit history, solvability, etc. The property value is just a CAP on the maximum financing allowed.

The bank/underwriter can't also be involved in the valuation of the property as their right of opinion is about the borrower and not the property.

Think of it the other way around, an evaluator cannot influence the decision of the bank/underwriter about their judgement of the borrower. The evaluator has little to know experience has to how to assess a borrower's risk, nor do they have all the financial information. They may have heard about how it works, but that's it.

Same for the bank/underwriter, they may know how an evaluator works, but they probably never saw the house and their opinion is worth even less than the one of a realtor