Well, the government has taken over the lending institutions guidelines and consequently many, thousands of appraisals in the San Bernardino counties all over are coming in way under list price.
What bothers me the most is that buyers are seeking homes and are perfectly content paying the price the listing agent placed on the home. A lender will schedule an appraisal, sometimes 3-4 weeks into the sales process and suddenly the appraisal will come back and it’s $30,000 – $150,000 UNDER the list price. We agents have gone to great lengths to properly price the property taking all comparable sales into consideration. We strive to put a listing price on the home that we feel our comps will support and then the appraisal comes in so far under that that we are forced to try to dispute this.
Wells Fargo Bank and Omni Bank are two of the lenders I have found that are extremely low with their appraisals. The sad part is that you can send your comparables to try to dispute their figure and it almost NEVER reverses their opinion.
What we need to be aware of is that an appraisal is really “an opinion” most of the time based on the comparables the appraiser chooses. Now I had one recently that had a sale across the street – the most recent comp I might add, but even after I gave her to full MLS printout, she failed to use this comp on her report. Instead she went 1.06-1.26 miles away and out of the particular development and even though ALL the comps on her report actually supported the price, she brought the appraisal in $42,000 under list price. When I listed the property I had many calls, an almost instant sale and a buyer with 40% down payment and STILL, the appriaser brought it in that low.
What I am questioning is WHY? Why are they doing this? I need an explanation and I hope our government will quickly get involved and loosen their new guidelines. It’s almost as if appraisers are forced to bring their numbers in very low. I need to know why and I hope all realtors will get involved in this fight as I am bound and determined to change this and soon! This is completely unacceptable and MUST change or our industry is in the gutter. Please realtors, let me know what you have experienced and together, lets fight this nonsense. I have been a realtor for 38 years and almost always list exactly where the price belongs but the appraisal comes in and it’s WAY off. Let’s work toward changing this madness. Please comment and post your experiences so we can begin the process to change this. I know this is going on all over both San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties so where are you and how is it going in YOUR market. Thanks for reading.