Keep Your Closing Date – Appraisal Issues
It’s very important to keep your closing date to many buyers, especially new buyers who are already nervous about their first home purchase. We have some things to know and watch for that can help you keep your closing date on schedule so your transaction goes smoothly. Surprisingly, your home appraiser has enough power with appraisal to keep your closing date at bay for weeks. If the appraiser comes in with a less than agreed upon price, you will be responsible to make up the financial difference out of your own pocket. In many cases, the seller will lower the price to the appraised value so the sale can go through as planned. To be fully prepared, here are all the ins and outs of the appraisal process help keep your closing date on track.
Tips to Keep Your Closing Date on Track
No Control - There’s not much you can do to control the appraisal process. This step is completely hands off to the buyer. Each appraiser has strict guidelines that have to follow that have been set in place by lenders and Fannie Mae. They use a national and local database that all secondary market appraisals go into for their reports. This database is used to see past appraisals and market data to help them confirm their findings and help them to be as accurate as possible.
Even though you have no control in this process, this step does benefit you as the buyer. It helps prevent appraisal fraud and it helps prevent sellers from pricing their homes above market value to inflate real estate sales.
Get to Know the Neighborhood – Don’t take the seller’s word for the value of the home. You can do your own research to see what other homes in the same neighborhood or same area are have recently sold for. This will give you an idea if the home is priced right for appraisal or not. You can check recent sales on www.Trulia.com, which is an excellent resource for recent home sales and home values. You can also ask your loan officer or real estate agent to check the value of homes in that area too. This can help you keep your closing date. While you cannot request a specific appraiser to value the home for you, you can request an experienced and local appraiser to handle the appraisal.
Communication – You can ask your real estate agent if they would be willing and available to meet the appraiser at the property during the appraisal to help justify the purchase price of the property. Your agent’s communication with the appraiser can help you keep your closing date by knowing if there will be any issues or concerns beforehand.
Low Appraisal Reasons – In some cases the property may need to appraise for more than what the appraiser is appraising it for. If you have specific knowledge of the area that could affect the value of a property, let the appraiser know before he goes to the property so he can factor that into his report. Some issues that may cause a low appraisal:
* Quickly increasing home sales in the past six months may not show up yet. Double check this price increase and sales improvement.
* The home you want has an amazing view that no other house in the area has.
* Not enough adequate comps in your close area; appraiser used comps from a less desirable area.
* Your home has high-end landscaping or an in-ground pool.
*You home has a finished basement with bedrooms and bathroom.
Appraisal Copy – You as the buyer have every right to a copy of the appraisal report. If you feel the appraisal is not where you need or want it to be, ask for a copy of the report so can carefully look it over. If you find any errors or omission in the report, you can ask the appraiser to correct them. Hopefully, this will lead to the appraisal being where you need it to be and you can keep your closing date.
These tips to help keep your closing date are brought to you by: Tom and Bev Herring, buying and selling Tulsa Real Estate, Broken Arrow Real Estate, Jenks Real Estate, Bixby Real Estate and Owasso Real Estate as well as Keystone Lake Real Estate, Berryhill and Sand Springs Real Estate.
Also posted at: http://tomandbev.info/2016/02/07/keep-your-closing-date-appraisal-issues/
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