Benchmark Group performed an appraisal on my home a few weeks ago; on the heels of another appraisal that was done about a month before that; I was deciding between companies to refinance my home. The initial appraisal came in at a good and fair amount with good comps to represent how the appraiser arrived at his number. He was thorough as well as professional, asked questions where he was not clear and acted appropriately. The second appraiser came in at $37K under the initial one and was rather indignant at being questioned. He is roughly 75 years old and could barely get up the stairs. He never asked a question, the pictures he took were not clear or representative of the items looked for, I had to endure his lecture about how he performs 30 foreclosures each month and how the housing market was in such disarray due to Clinton.
So what is my point? I live in a neighborhood that is well maintained and at the peak of the market my home was valued at $292K. His comps made no sense; my home is 18 years old and one of his comps was a home for sale that is 20 years older and has the original floors and kitchen in it. My home has been upgraded all around with granite, marble bathroom floors and many other features. I am not unrealistic and it has lost value however to appraise a home at a rate this deeply undervalues it also does the same for the market and the homes in the area. Maybe the freshly painted walls are common in foreclosures where he claims to spend the majority of his time. I think he needs to retire before he does more damage.
On the other side of things; I have already secured financing with another mortgage company with no mortgage insurance but it's sad that Benchmark Group will be used in future transactions where others don't have options.
I hope this is read by the 360 Appraisal Group in California, the ones who contracted Benchmark because they are getting screwed.
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