How the Appraiser Killed My Closing
This is not a story about a low appraisal. Rather, this is the story of how an unprofessional appraiser can kill a short sale closing.
Today, I am supposed to attend the closing for some wonderful first-time home buyers who are purchasing their home as part of a short sale. We received the short sale approval and everything is in place to close on this home...except the appraisal. We were given the standard 30 days to close once the short sale approval letter was given. The appraisal was ordered immediately. (I know... the buyers could have ordered it prior to receiving approval, but these buyers chose to wait after understanding all of their options.) That is when the lack of professionalism became apparent.
The appraiser took the full two weeks to inspect the property to collect the data for her report. That would not have been a problem, however, she took over two weeks to submit her appraisal to the bank. Emails were sent. Calls were made. The urgency of a prompt response was conveyed due to the fact that the short sale approval had a hard stop date of November 9....today. All emails and calls were either ignored, or received a quick response stating that this appraisal was "next on the list." We finally received the appraisal yesterday...the day before closing. This also would have been manageable except for one tiny little thing. The appraisal report mentioned a swimming pool. The underwriter wondered why there was no photo of the pool. There is a good reason there was no photo....THERE IS NO SWIMMING POOL!
The appraisal has been sent back to the appraiser with the request that she correct the report. At this point, I am think that the chances that she will turn these changes around in a timely fashion are slim to none. And there are no guarantees that the lender for the seller is going to extend the short sale approval (it is a giant monster mega bank, after all).
The sad thing is that these first time buyers have found the perfect home for their family. They were getting excited about being in their own home for Thanksgiving. The lack of professionalism of this appraiser has real consequences for this sweet family if we are unable to get an extension for the short sale approval.
How the Appraiser Killed My Closing
