New rules are a nightmare if you are selling a home.
 

Has anyone sold a home since May of 2009????

The new rules on the appraisals are a nightmare.
In the old world the banks use to get their own appraisers who would basicly
come up with a price at or above the agreed upon selling price.

Today - Banks/Loan officers have no direct interaction with the appraisers.
The appraiser you get for a home in (Weymouth for example) could be from
Vermont. It is a round robbin system that randomly assigns appraisers.

A friend of mine had a multi family on the market in Quincy and he had
it under agreement for $382,000.

The appraiser came in at $328,000
You are allowed to challenge/contest (not sure of the wording) the price
the appraiser came up with and only that appraiser can decide if he
will adjust his appraisel figure.

Your agent will submit similar homes in the area and their selling price
to back up your argument that the appraisel should be higher.

My fiend got the appraiser to come up from $328,00 to $337,000.
To sell the house he would have had to drop the agreed upon price
$45,000.

He pulled the house off the market in hopes the market will turn around
and drive the appraisel numbers higher.

I am in the process of selling my parents home.
My realtor told me the home was worth between $334,000 & $359,000
before it went on the market.

I had to lower the price after a couple months and it finally went under
agreement for $332,000 . I agreed to pay $2,350 towards a new roof
(1/2 the cost). The purchase and sale number $329,650

The first appraiser came in with a number of $280,00 which was
unbelievable. The home I am selling is 1712 SF on .60 acres.
A house around the corner that is 1038 sf on .20 acres (both capes)
sold recently for $315,000. The house I am selling is a full dormered
(font & back) cape & the other home is not dormered.
We were only able to get tha appraiser to come up to $288,000 .

The problem was caused by short sales in the neighborhood.
There was a house that was abandoned (pipes burst) that sold for $240,000.
The appraisers only look at the SF & price of the other sales, they do not look at the condition of the home.

The buyer was unable to get a loan because I would not drop my agreed
upon price. The buyer then went with a FHA loan.

FHA loans are still allowed to pick their own appraisers.
The FHA appraiser came in at $331,000
I had to either accept $1,650 less or lose the sale of the home and
start from scratch.

The amount of the down pament has nothing to do with this process.
You cannot get a loan unless the selling price matches or is less than
the appraisers price.

I know little about this process. I am only sharing my experience.

Good Luck if you are selling !

Re: New rules are a nightmare if you are selling a home.
 

I'm in the process of putting my mom's house on the market - thanks for the heads up - made my day. (Not)

Re: New rules are a nightmare if you are selling a home.
 

Yeah we were sweating a sale waiting on the appraisal. It went through fine, but it was definitely a concern. The problem is the appraisers doing this work for the banks need to push through a high volume to make any money, so they just check the comps, take a couple photos, and put a number in, no real work involved. Then you end up with a deflated value for your home based on what really amount to poor comps (foreclosures, places in bad condition, etc). I understand they're trying to avoid people getting upside down in declining markets, but if the buyer wants the place, and the bank is comfortable with the amount of the loan they're giving to the buyer, it seems like a bad idea to have an appraisal nix the whole deal.