My House Appraised at WHAT?

Question:  Why in the world was the listing agent not aware that the seller had removed the kitchen cabinet doors.  One would think that if there was ongoing communication between the seller and the agent, that something like that would not have happened.

I was an appraiser for many years and better than following us around talking while we are trying to observed a written list of tho amenities that are new, newer, might be missed but there is no excuse for the missing cabinets... an appraiser is only there for a short time and is required to report what he/she sees. If the doors are missing then that is a problem that would have an affect on the value... maybe not $20k of course. 

Appraisers will error on the side of caution right now... but they need to continue to look for value, it is clear. The problem I see coming up is that the good appraisers are pulling in their horns, retiring, and shouldn't be expected to work for 60% of their former fee. What you are getting is newer less experienced appraisers, or older ones that likely added to the problems we see today who will work for bread. If we aren't careful we will end up with no more good appraisers, only beginners that will only exacerbate the problem. If we don't start paying them what they deserve they will go away to the point that we will pay them but they won't be there and it will take a month to get a report back. Management companies should charge a fee but it shouldn't be on the back of the appraiser.

On the other hand if you turned this into a Streamlined "k" to get those cabinets put back together at the cost of the buyer you would also gain a value for loan purposes up to 110% of the "after improved" value appraisal. Therefore you could go back to the appraiser and ask that he modify his/her report to show this appraisal "subject to" the repairs it needs get the value up and then go 110% of that higher value... wow what an idea. The 203k can quite often save your deals...