Rodkin on Appraisal Disputes

Dennis -

Thank you for talking about this as most people do not understand that with all of the new federal regulations, Broker's like myself, as well as homeowners need to be educated on this process since it changes almost hourly. I recently assisted a neighbor in his dispute because he tried to refinance and the appraisal came back so out of line, he would of had to pay $12,000 at closing to refi. The likelihood of disputes being overturned is only about 10% of the appraisals out there according to the banking industry. Though one must also understand that a refi appraisal is not indicative of a sale appraisal, the latter is typically much higher. A bank is certainly going to fight tooth and nail to keep you at 6% than drop you to 3.4% on a refi, though on a new purchase they will fight for the higher loan value with the lower interest rates. Opposite of how we got into this mess. A good thing for your readers to know as well is, just as you may not be able to refinance because of that lower value, there is a huge advantage to appeal your property taxes with that value since you own that appraisal.