Home appraisal; is appraiser wrong?

March 5th, 2010 | by admin |

A year ago we checked into refinancing our 2nd mortgage and had to go through a new appraisal. Our home was appraised at $225k 6 years prior, but this appraiser is telling us that it has dropped down to $185k which is an 18% decrease in value. From all the websites I’ve looked at, in WI property has, on average, dropped in value by about 1 or 1.5%; not 18%. Could this appraiser be way off? There are no foreclosures in our neighborhood or area to bring values down that much either. I’m worried now as we’re going to try this year to combine both of our mortgages and need it to appraise at $190k at least to do it. Our property taxe assesement is at $204k w/ the fair market value listed at $235k; which to me is way off, but you can’t tell the assessors that. Do you think the first appraiser could have been way off? We have done some improvements since first appraisal at $225k 6 yrs ago, but nothing has gotten bad to justify the $40k drop??

This is the first I have heard of any state missing the real estate crash. It does not sound correct, the appraiser is likely spot on. Your tax essessments mean nothing in regards to the appraisal.

Have a real estate agent give you a comp report, you will find out that houses in your area are selling for less then you think they do.

  1. 4 Responses to “Home appraisal; is appraiser wrong?”

  2. By Designer~Wife on Mar 5, 2010 | Reply

    They could be basically correct – Bank appraisers do have a tendency to under-value though, to protect the banks, so another appraiser may very well do the same thing if they are working for the mortgage company.

    If you tell them what you need it to appraise for, as long as it is realistic, they will usually try to work with you though.

    We just received our assessment and our property value dropped by just over 22% in 1 year…..This economy sucks. I’m just glad we have no plans on moving anytime soon.
    References :

  3. By curious on Mar 5, 2010 | Reply

    That’s the market these days. Home prices have dropped due to the economy. That’s why it’s a good time to buy, bad time to sell. You could get it appraised again by someone else to see if there’s a difference/if a mistake was made, but I bet the two won’t be far off from each other.
    References :

  4. By golferwhoworks on Mar 5, 2010 | Reply

    appraiser have become ultra conservative over the last 3 years and are scared of getting on a list of banned appraisers. So every home in their eyes is down in value. Thanks to Congress even loan officers cannot talk to these guys any longer to even give them a list of your upgrades in a home or even suggest what you think the value may be. In fact we do not even know who is doing the appraisal until it comes back that it is complete. Every one has been down and in most cases can absolutely kill a purchase or refinance in the hardest of ways
    References :

  5. By Janet P on Mar 5, 2010 | Reply

    This is the first I have heard of any state missing the real estate crash. It does not sound correct, the appraiser is likely spot on. Your tax essessments mean nothing in regards to the appraisal.

    Have a real estate agent give you a comp report, you will find out that houses in your area are selling for less then you think they do.
    References :

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