Successfully challenging an appraisal?

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They are protecting the banks interests, not yours. How do you know what it's worth?

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I don't, I'm not an appraiser. It's just if the listing agent continues to be headstrong about it, there won't be a closing on time. I was curious as to how firm they typically are.

Are you buying and selling a house? Looks like a buy. If the appraisal came in lower that helps you. I had a similiar experience. We built our house and bought it from a commercial developer. It was appraised lower then the original contract price. They were pissed. I was happy and wasn't going to pay more(neither was the bank haha). The listing agent/owner finally agreed to the appraised value after a week. If they want the house sold they will agree.

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But the listing agent is threatening a fight

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Listing agent cant do shite... If the seller agrees to sell you the house at the appraised amount, tough titties.

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But the listing agent is threatening a fight.

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I believe the apprasial will be in the system regardless of what they want to do. So any other buyer would see this if your deal falls through. This means the house will sit on the market longer. They would have to get another apprasial, but still the original apprasial will be on the MLS system.

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I just wanted a feeling for how easy/tough it is to fight to get an idea of what the listing agent will do.

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In my case, they came down to the apprasied value. It took them a week or so though to get over it and just make a deal. But they were saying the same things you are. They risk giving up a buyer and having the house sit on the market longer if they dont close the deal with you IMO.

Do it all the time if you've got the comps to warrant.

Edit: If you are buyer, tell agent to notify agent you can pay up to the penny of appraised value, have your agent amend contract price, give the until COB today to accept. No other terms need be changed.

I'm a little confused. If appraisal comes in lower, the Bank will only allow a certain percentage of the value. The rate, underwriting, etc. for this loan are applied to this property, so unless the value drops, the bank will only allow a certain amount. This leaves you with two options:

1. Lower sale price, however, they owners may owe more than what the appraisal says it is worth. Also, the owner's purchase of a new home may have been dependant on the sale of this property and they were approved with a certain percentage down and the lower appraisal makes them ineligible. The realtor probably has both deals.

2. You pay the difference, or ask your realtor to pay the difference. She is the one trying to get you to buy a house above market value.

My suggestion is walk away from the home and the realtor, neither seem to be worth what they are charging.

Sidenote: the reason the underwriter asked for additional comps was because the appraisal was funky, meaning if it was just below value, they usually go with the lower value because it kills the deal. If they asked for more comps, the guy was trying to stretch to get the lower value. Walk away.

LSU Russian said it best are you paying to much for this house. If an underwriter ask for an additional comp it for a reason. the listing agent is taking a hit in paycheck with lower value and it makes her/him look bad becuase they told the seller what the house would appraise for. hold tight and make them lower the sale price

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You really need to ask yourself are you paying too much for the house.

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appraisals are pretty shitty ways of determing worth of a house and the value you are getting with a particular house. Comps are seldom good comps.

I was able to contest the apprasial of my house. The house was FSBO in Southdowns, when the sign went up i called that day, heard the price and made the deal. I was the buyer (paid for the appriasal) so it was for my lending company and me only (FSBO). When my house was apprasied, it was 25K above list price, which I expected. However, I still thought the price was low, I found about 10 to 15 errors in the apprasial - wrong information about foundation, siding, bathrooms, etc. I called the appraiser, talked to him about the errors and his comps. He 'reconsidered' his first try and appraised it at 45K above list. Just have to work with them, its all subjective.