A reader asks, "I am trying to buy a house. It was a single wide but was rebuilt and doubled in size. When they appraised it 6 years ago they classified it as a house, not a trailer."
"I have went to several websites for a loan and they all tell me that since it started out as a single wide they can’t finance it. I asked why and they said that the VA inspectors might classify it has a trailer and they didn’t want to go through all the work and find out that I can’t get it. So my question is will the VA inspectors disagree with the inspectors from 6 years ago?"
In cases like these, it's impossible to say what a VA fee appraiser might or might not do. There are two simple reasons--one is that every appraisal is different and there may be a variety of issues that affect one property that do not affect another.
It would be misleading to say "the appraiser definitely will" or "the appraiser definitely will not" take a different view of the property than the original VA appraiser did. The second issue has to do with local or state building code. There may be issues unique to that area or state that determine how the appraiser must view the property.
VA loans do have minimum property requirements, but those requirements do not override or overrule state or local building code. If there is a law in place that helps determine the status of a property in these circumstances, it will be observed.
Since the Department of Veterans Affairs does not keep track of all state or local code requirements, it's up to the appraiser to know his or her regulations when making such determinations.
The borrower may have some help available if these issues are common enough--the VA Regional Loan Center (RLC) with jurisdiction in that area may be able to provide some guidance on state or local issues that come up frequently in connection with VA home loans. You can find your VA RLC here: http://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/contact_rlc_info.asp.
Do you have questions about VA home loans? Ask us in the comments section.
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