"Bakkster, touring car driver" (Bakkster)
03/06/2014 at 16:35 • Filed to: None
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"Bakkster, touring car driver" (Bakkster)
03/06/2014 at 16:35 • Filed to: None | 1
| 10 |
Split level rant follows...
My wife and I are getting our split level house appraised for a refi. Being a split level, only the upper floor is considered living space, downstairs is technically a basement (even though it contains the master bedroom and is finished aside from the furnace and laundary room). I understand that's how it works, and I'm fine with it overall.
So the house is basically 1000sqft upstairs, 100sqft downstairs with 850 of it being furnished for 1800sqft of furnished area. So generally, you would think they'd compare to other similar split level homes? Nope, first 'comparable' is a 1400sqft single floor with one fewer bedroom. Their adjustment? That home was worth more by having 400sqft and a bedroom less because it's all above grade.
Next two comps were split levels, but with different layouts. The first had 500 fewer sqft (100 of which above grade) and one less bedroom. They adjusted its price up just 5% and was the cheapest comparable. The final comp had 200sqft more above grade, but 400sqft less below. Also one bedroom less, but it did have an extra half bath. Despite having less space that was considered $4k more valuable than ours. Average those three together, and we get a crappy appraised value, below what we expected.
What really grinds my gears though, is the two comparables they gave lower priority. Both of those houses had the identical square footage above grade to ours, a bit less below grade, and either the same or fewer beds and baths. After adjustments they were right where we expected the appraisal to be. So why weren't they used? They were 6 month old sales, and even though they had been adjusted to compensate for the change in housing values, they were considered less relevant for the appraisal.
Seriously? Identical houses with an easy adjustment for home values, and they ignore those in favor of crappy corrections for square footage biased against my house? This is so stupid.
/rant
TheBaron2112
> Bakkster, touring car driver
03/06/2014 at 16:44 |
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Doesn't a lower appraisal make your property taxes go down?
I rent, so I have no idea how this works.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> TheBaron2112
03/06/2014 at 16:48 |
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It can, but if you put a lot of work into a house and apply for an equity loan, you might not get what you expect. Plus if you're looking to sell a home, then you obviously want the higher value.
Party-vi
> Bakkster, touring car driver
03/06/2014 at 16:50 |
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I feel you. Buying a house late last year we got the appraisal in but the bank didn't like the comps used. Never mind this house had significant additions compared to other houses and the comps they used far from similar to ours. Luckily when the appraisal returned the value listed was just barely over our purchase price but it had still dropped a few thousand. Fuckers.
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Bakkster, touring car driver
> TheBaron2112
03/06/2014 at 16:55 |
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We're refinancing to get equity out of the house and to have 80% equity so we don't have to pay mortgage insurance. We want the value to be higher so we can get more cash out.
jariten1781
> Bakkster, touring car driver
03/06/2014 at 16:57 |
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Do you live in a neighborhood with lots of short-sales/foreclosures recently? They always screw everyone else in the area when people do that.
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Party-vi
> Bakkster, touring car driver
03/06/2014 at 17:14 |
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Is there the option to buy out your mortgage insurance? I took that option up-front and it dropped my monthly payment by quite a bit. I was also under the impression that mortgage insurance was only for when you had less that 20% equity in a home.
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Bakkster, touring car driver
> jariten1781
03/06/2014 at 18:34 |
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Nope. Condition of the house and all that was fine, they just picked the wrong comparables.
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Bakkster, touring car driver
> Party-vi
03/06/2014 at 18:35 |
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Yup, we're refinancing to reach our 20%. The plan was to pull out equity to cover the brand new roof on the house as well.
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Party-vi
> Bakkster, touring car driver
03/07/2014 at 08:14 |
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I see. How long have you been in the place? I'm guessing I'd need 5 years to get close to 20%.
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Bakkster, touring car driver
> Party-vi
03/07/2014 at 09:03 |
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About 4 years, but we bought it as a short sale, done a ton of work to it (roof, electrical), and the market has improved.