Appraisal Woes!
I guess in the grand scheme of things I should probably count my blessings because in all my years of selling real estate I can count on one hand the number of times I have had a really bad appraisal. However, the most recent occurrence has to be the worst. There were more mistakes and implications of issues than there were statements of fact. The appraiser spent a grand total of maybe ten minutes at this property, (the seller was there) and he apparently didn’t like the property so he tore it apart. He didn’t even value it to his own comps, I think he pulled a number out of a hat and wrote it down. Needless to say, the lender has ordered a second appraisal on the property.
How in the world do you get rid of bad appraisers in a market? There are some in my market that should lose their licenses. I am convinced that they absolutely despise what they do for a living and deliberately undervalue so as not to be held accountable if they are ever audited.
However, wouldn’t it seem that deliberately undervaluing property is equally as bad as overvaluing it? It seems these few see themselves as the Gods of value in our area and are determined to keep values from accelerating even though they are in actuality doing so. When their appraisals are reviewed and in some cases a second appraisal ordered to disprove their work, why isn’t this being noted somewhere. Shouldn’t the HVCC be monitoring complaints and call backs for bad appraisals? Apparently no one is paying much attention since bad appraisers are still out there doing business and still being assigned to value properties.
I know there isn’t much to be said about this post because every agent deals with poor appraisals from time to time. It is sure frustrating though when I am held to a high standard and yet those who are supposed to be part of the team of professionals who get sales closed are messing things up just because they can.
Rant over, have a great weekend everyone.
Sandra Paulow, Associate Broker, GRI, SFR, REALTOR®
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