I was working with an awesome lender who got me through the lending process faster than anyone that I've ever worked with. All that was left to do was get the appraisal...
I figured, no problem, home is custom built, 8 years old, in great shape with tons of upgrades and extras. I met this "appraiser" at the house and she took all of 15 minutes to get what she needed.
Next day, the lender calls in shock, I mean she was literally in shook. The house which had been appraised in the past 24 months at 250k came back at 200K. I looked over the appraisal and couldn't figure out what was wrong except that the square footage of the house was off but that shouldn't be a big deal. So the lender figures up the wrong square footage at $62 per sf and voila, there's my 200K. She does note the appraiser did mention the newly remodeled kitchen (including new granite, cabinets and appliances) but also deducts $50 dollars because there is some wood rot at the bottom of a trellis on the porch. It actually cost me $65 to fix it, but what's a few dollars at this point!
I looked closer and noticed that the acreage was also wrong. No problem, called the lender, she's going to get the square footage on the house and the acreage fixed.
Then I realized that it wasn't the house that was listed at 200K but the house, 3 /-, manicured acres with about 30 trees and 15K in professional mature landscaping and River Stone Paving. But then it gets better.
The fully self contained 24 x 42 "workshop" is actually a fully self contained, professionally finished out apartment for my son. There is also a 10 x 27 barn with two stalls and a tack room. The property is newly fenced and cross fenced. Finally, there is a 10 x 10 x 16 foot fully enclosed gazebo standing 8 ft behind the house that she decided was "portable" and declined to include it in the notes or the survey. I'm thinking that I would have to have a crane to move that thing if I moved, not to mention the crater in the yard. But, I'm getting off the subject...
The square footage problems with the house and land would have fixed the entire problem but she 1. Agreed to change the acreage but did not add any value 2. Refused to even consider the TWO different documents showing the correct sq ft of the house, because SHE measured it.
My son's apartment, the barn and the spa/gazebo/landscaping cost nearly 50K but she decided they were worth a total of $7500. For everything.
The lender told me not to worry, she had to file appeals all of the time, etc. The answer she got was a big fat, too bad, who are you questioning, I'm a strong, independent, woman, hear me roar. I'm not changing anything. (by the way, I am also a professional woman)
The lender now says that she will not use her again but it's a little too late for me. I had to get new lender and pay for a new appraisal which came in at 225K. Which made perfect sense since I have over 250K in it but the market is in the dump. I can understand being conservative when doing the appraisal but the refusal to correct the problems and file a blatantly incorrect appraisal is unprofessional and self serving. The lender and I both believe that she did not want to go back in and redo it because she would have to admit that she was wrong.
Oh, well, live and learn. DO NOT let your lender use this woman. My original lender was Hunter Financial Group and Nena Wallace was great. This wasn't her fault.
0 comments