Fairness in Appraisals

I moved to Birmingham, Alabama from Chicago, IL last year and quickly found my dream house. I purchased the home for $178,000 in February 2001. When mortgage rates fell, I attempted to refinance and was shocked to learn that the appraised value of my home was only $154,000. When I finally obtained a copy of the appraisal ( I did not receive one at the closing), I found that the appraiser sought out "comps" as far as 4 miles away from my home in order to meet the price of the house. I had no ideal what houses sell for in my area and now am quite certain that the $154K is probably more in line with what is correct. I asked the original appraiser to come out again for the appraisal and, to put it bluntly, he acted very peculiar and did not want to perform the service. I feel like I have been duped. Do I have a claim against the appraiser, or anyone involved in the case? I firmly believe that the mortgage broker and appraiser were in cahoots of some sort to make sure he received his commission. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[HomeGuru]

Hire a review appraiser to appraise your property as of the date of the first appraisal for comparison purposes. Then if the appraised value by market data approach differs by a large amount, let me know.

Just an update...I called the second appraiser (the one who appraised $154K) and he said he could only do a review appraisal if it was requested by a mortgage company. He assured me however that his appraisal was accurate (I think he might have felt offended). I am waiting to hear back from some others I called today.

[HomeGuru]

When I advised you to hire a review appraiser, I meant to hire someone independent and not one of the two that had already appraised your property.