How to Avoid Problems With the Appraisal

If you want to avoid issues with appraisals coming in low, do as much as you can to make your appraiser’s job easier.

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Values are rising in our market, but this is causing problems with appraisals coming in low. How can you get past the appraisal without any problems?



Many people don’t know this, but I spent many years as a full-time real estate appraiser around the capital region and the New England area, and I’m still a state-certified general appraiser in New York state. Name the type of property, and I’ve probably appraised it before. 



You have to understand that appraisers are overworked and have to cover many areas they have to become experts in very quickly. Often, we’re seeing appraisers come into areas with which they’re simply not familiar enough. The easier you make an appraiser’s job and the better relationship you have with them, the more likely they’ll give you a favorable result. 

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The easier you make an appraiser’s job, the better your results will be.



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Just the other day I had an appraiser call me about one of my vacant listings. The tax records showed that the home was 65 years old, but in reality, it had burned down 15 or 20 years ago and been replaced with a module. It’s possible the appraiser picked up on that, but most likely they didn’t. They were probably going to list the age incorrectly, keep that error in the appraisal, and produce an evaluation that was not favorable to my client. Obviously, I wanted that appraiser to know the truth as well as the comparables I used when I valued the home so we could get a more favorable result. 



Appraisers don’t want to kill your deal. They just want to give the bank a valuation that’s on the money. In today’s market, that’s a hard thing to do unless they start taking time adjustments. When an appraiser looks back six months for comparable sales and prices in real time are moving forward, they’re the ones holding value down, and that becomes a difficult situation. 



If you have any questions about the appraisal process or you’re interested in joining our team, don’t hesitate to give me a call. I look forward to hearing from you.