Calling all real estate appraisers!

You didn't know the exact size when you bought it?

That should have been an obvious between 0.42 and 1.81 acres. Are you in a rural area or subdivision? You are going to have to get a survey done.

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Did they even go out to the property?

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Yes they did. They had no reason to doubt the validity of the .42 acre. That's the number it was at the time of the appraisal. I don't think they "missed" anything. I think the number changed after the appraisal.

Can any real estate appraisers answer the question in the OP?

My house and pond are over 50 years old. County appraisers have been coming here every 4 years like clock work. This is the first time an appraiser "realized" I have a pond in spite of having to drive past it to get to my house.

One year the country appraisers tried to claim I had added onto my house, which never happened. Fortunately we had a recent appraisal and had past paperwork from the county to verify the house was the same size then as it was before I bought it.

Basically, many appraisers seem to be giant idiots at best and corrupt at worst.

Keep all paperwork from appraisals as long as you live where you live.

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You may find an appraiser who accounts for it and says your house is worth more on a $/SF basis and thinks your house is worth significantly more than the original appraisal.

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Any idea where to find one of these? I need a 12k increase in appraisal value and I can be done with PMI.

An appraisal is an OPINION on value.

Have you talked to the tax assessor to see if the legal description has changed as far as acreage?

just confirmed that appraisers are still worthless

thanks

I spoke with property tax assessor responsible for my neighborhood and the guy who did the appraisal when I was purchasing the home.

The both said essentially the same thing, which was nothing. They said that the .42 acre was wrong. When the county went to do it's property appraisal check (presumably because I had just purchased the home), the realized the error and scored it at 1.8 acres. The appraiser was slightly embarrassed when I called him, he said he should've caught it, but he just typically uses whatever information is out there.

I suppose I knew that it was always more than .42. That number always seemed small to me. I guess I just assumed the county would have had the number right. My house is 65 years old. I've got no clue how long they had the plat size wrong for.

2 asides:

- The appraiser looked at a comp for me when I called him. He said that judged off that first comp that my home appraisal value would increase (enough to take off the PMI)

- He basically also said if I refinanced with a certain broker who used him as the appraiser that my home would most definitely have a high enough appraisal to drop the PMI. What a sham. I would take him up on this offer, but I'm locked into a good rate and the costs of doing a refi would probably negate dropping the PMI. I'm just going to request PMI cancellation through my current mortgage provider and hope they pick an appraiser that gives my home the value it needs.

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What does the legal description on your deed say? That's what you own, no matter what the tax assessor say

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It doesn't give any physical descriptions.

It just says that I own Lot X in Neighborhood Y in Division Z.

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The appraiser was slightly embarrassed when I called him, he said he should've caught it, but he just typically uses whatever information is out there.

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He basically also said if I refinanced with a certain broker who used him as the appraiser that my home would most definitely have a high enough appraisal to drop the PMI. What a sham.

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Home appraisal game still crooked. Got it.