Blog Category: hvcc

screw

Ask About The Appraiser, Or Get Screwed: Part II

I blogged just a few days ago about how a client chose an online lender instead of me. And that lender sent an appraiser to the client’s home who was not local to the marketplace. The appraised value ended up coming in low enough that the client had to pay $45,000 out of pocket to pay the loan down. I am not sure how spending $45,000 in cash Read More

long and winding road

Buying A Home In Falls Church VA And The Appraiser Comes From Cumberland MD?

Is it a problem when buying a home In Falls Church VA and the appraiser comes from Cumberland MD? I am working on an interesting loan that will make for a good case study someday, and I think homebuyers and Realtors will find it interesting too.

I am doing a loan for a homebuyer to buy a single family detached home in Falls Church, Virginia. The sales price was a little over $500,000 and the new loan is a Conventional Fixed rate 80% loan-to-value loan, which of course means we are subject to the HVCC rules. So I ordered the appraisal from the bank’s Appraisal Management Company (AMC).

For once, the appraiser was local, from Falls Church, VA so we all figured this appraiser would know the local marketplace and that we would be getting an accurate and fair appraisal. But the appraisal came in several weeks later at a price approximately $35,000 lower than the sales price. The seller was angry, the Realtors were upset, and the buyer was confused. Read More

old shoe

Is The Old Lady In The Shoe Real?

Is The Old Lady In The Shoe Real? How would you appraise her shoe home? An appraisal is thought by most consumers to be an exact valuation of the home they are purchasing or refinancing. The reality is that there is no such thing as exactly valuing a home. A home is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. And since different people are willing to pay different prices, the real value is hard to pin down. Read More