Video Transcription
How Do You Challenge A Low Appraisal?
You know, if you’ve got a low appraisal on your hands, you might be asking yourself, “How do you challenge a low appraisal?” Hi, my name’s Karl Krentzel. I’m the Broker over here at Karl Buys Houses and I’ve been in the real estate business here in Tucson, Arizona for over 23 years as a real estate broker and an agent, and I can tell you there is nothing more frustrating as a homeowner, if you’ve got a low appraisal. I’m going to give you a couple of solid pieces of advice today as to what you can do to help yourself challenge a low appraisal. Go ahead and listen in.
What Happens If The Appraisal Is Lower Than The Offer?
So, first, the first question that comes in typically is, “What happens if the appraisal is lower than the offer?” You know, the first problem typically is when the appraisal comes in, if it’s lower than the offer that you and the buyer have agreed to, then something’s going to have to give because the buyer’s not going to be able to obviously give you more than the bank is going to let them give you. So, in this situation, either you’ve got to come down in your price, which is not what you want to do typically, or you’re going to have to have the bank, the appraiser, see the value that you have. So, that’s the situation you’re faced.
Can You Dispute A Home Appraisal?
So, the second question then comes is, “Can you actually in fact dispute a home appraisal?” And the answer is, very clearly yes. You can clearly go ahead and dispute a home appraisal. The difficulty, however, is how. Now I’ve got six quick steps for you.
First, you want to go ahead and request a copy of the appraisal from your buyers agent, okay. Now, the buyer’s agent is not going to get one automatically. They’re going to have to request one and then they’ll be going ahead and get one from the lender. Second, you want to go ahead and check every single detail. Make sure that your property is notated correctly on the appraisal. If your property is a four bedroom and they’ve got you down as a three, make sure it’s correct.
Request An Appeal
Third, you want to contact the lender and request an appeal. You want to make sure that they understand that you don’t agree with this appraisal and you want to try and see if you can provide some evidence as to why you feel it’s worth more than they say it is.
Provide Updated Comparables And Information
Fourth, you want to have your agent go ahead and provide updated comparables and information. So any information that you discovered that may be incorrect, from the comparables that they provided or from your home the information that they had, you want to go ahead and provide updated information along with updated, comparable so that the agent can demonstrate the value.
Double Check Your Permits
Fifth, you want to make sure everything that you have in your property is permitted. This is a key thing a lot of people don’t always think about. You know, a lot of times you’ll add on to your property, you’ll extend something, and you don’t always get it permitted because you want to avoid the taxes and I get it. But, in this particular circumstance, if you’re getting ready to sell your property, you want to make sure everything is permitted because sometimes an appraiser will go off the tax record as opposed to measuring your property. And finally, you want to go ahead and, sixth, point out the upgrades and the improvements to your property.
Dirty Insider Secret!
Now this can be tricky and I’m going to tell you a little backhand secret that I learned as a real estate agent selling REO properties, these bank owned foreclosures. You know an appraiser is going to call to make an appointment to come out to see your property. Now, being that they are licensed in the multiple listing service, they’re going to have access via the super key box. Now if you tell them that you’ve taken a key box off, that they need to make an appointment with you, then you can physically go out there and meet the appraiser and talk to them while you’re having them see the property.
Now you don’t want to be creepy about this, okay. This can go the wrong way. If you go the wrong way at the end appraiser, then they can definitely dock your property. This can work in the wrong way. So make sure that you just do this the right way, right? Point out any upgrades and improvements that you’ve done, but not in a creepy way. And then, see, are VA appraisals, typically low.
Are VA/FHA Appraisals Typically Low?
This is another question that I typically get, “Are VA appraisals typically low?” VA appraisals and FHA appraisals are a little bit more stringent, let’s say, than a conventional loan might be. But that doesn’t always mean that the values will come in a little bit lower.
Sometimes VA loans in specific can be sensitive depending on the price, on the condition of the contract. Sometimes the borrower, the veteran, the VA borrower will have a funding fee that’s in the contract that the appraiser’s going to want to know about and that can also affect the value. So, not the value, but the amount that the bank will go ahead and lend them, you understand? So anyhow, that’s one thing you’ll want to understand. The three key things that you want to understand about how do you challenge a low home appraisal here in Tucson, Arizona.
Sell Your Tucson Home Fast
Another way you can totally avoid an appraisal is to sell your property via cash. You can sell it in a cash appraisal, or I’m sorry, in a cash transaction, which is what I do here at Karl Buys Houses. If you’ve got a property that you don’t want to go through the hassle of selling traditionally, if you’ve got a property that’s not appraising, if you’ve got a property that you want to just avoid the hassle of a traditional sale and you just want to sell it directly because it needs a lot of work, feel free to give me a call. 520-403-6227.
As I said, I’m a local real estate broker here in town. I own my own company, Karl Buys Houses, and I specialize in working with property, with unwanted homes and I offer cash for properties and I’m able to get you out of your property in no time fast. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you have a powerful day. Bye, bye!