Sometimes you have to go to the top of the Food Chain to get things done!
Dave's loan was almost closed. The only thing that the underwriter still needed was for the appraiser to re-inspect the home to show that the FHA required "deferred maintenance" was rectified. Dave had just finished having a contractor repair all of the required items the appraiser noted on her initial appraisal inspection. Some of the repairs were as follows: Peeling Paint, missing hand rails on the stairs, and rotting wood on the soffit etc.
The appraisal reinspection was ordered as soon as we were notified that the work was completed. The appraiser completed the report and stated that the wood rot on the soffit was not fixed. She snapped a photo 10 feet away and sent it in with the report. I quickly notified the borrower of this issue. He stated that there was no rotting wood where the appraiser noted that all rotting soffit was already replaced in other areas of the home, this was just peeling paint that was showing exposed wood. I asked him to provide a letter from the contractor stating that this was not rotting wood. I provided the letter to the underwriter, who then wanted the appraiser to make a note, rightly so, in her report stating that she was unable to determine if it was rotting wood and to have an expert/contractor inspect it, hence where the letter from the contractor came in.
The appraiser decided to use this as an opportunity to become a home inspector. The appraiser took a more zoomed in photo of the area in question and stated that in order to determine wood rot's presence you must use a probe which doesn't' appear to have been used by the contractor. Now, I am no contractor and I am no appraiser, but there was now a battle going on between the appraiser and the contractor as to who was right and who was wrong and all parties were losing the war.
I had enough of the back and forth with the appraiser and nothing was getting accomplished. I decided to call the lead contact at the specific AMC (appraisal management company) where this appraiser was hired to ask them for assistance. They quickly jumped in to help and had the matter resolved within a matter of hours and we are closing tomorrow. The moral of the story was not whether this was rotting wood or not, but rather learning how to solve a problem for the greater good of the client and other affiliated parties. Sometimes that requires going to the top of the food chain.
Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease!
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