A
Amberly
Guest
What is the name of your state? What is the name of your state? Maryland
We are selling our townhouse and just found our that it appraised about 4% below the selling price. This strikes me as odd because when we bought it, it appraised for $4000 over our purchase price. I have two questions:
Is it likely that different appraiser might vary 3-4% in his assessment?
It should be noted that we received two offers for our house within a week, one was $4500 above the appraisal price and one was $7500 above appraisal price.) I know in this booming market it is hard for appraisers to find comparables, especially as ours is an end-of-group and one of the more expensive in the neighborhood, but there were a few in our immediate neighborhood that sold for more than our appraised value.
I'm also wondering about whether appraisers look only in the immediate neighborhood for comparables. This strikes me as a potential legal issue, because our development is now mostly African-American while across the commercial strip, in a white neighborhood, the *exact same* Welsh-built townhouses typically sell for $10-20K more. It annoys me that an appraiser can have so much power to keep housing prices down, and I wonder if it is even legal given the implications.
Is an appraiser obligated to look at comparables only in the immediate neighborhood, or could the exact same houses in a nearby neighborhood serve as comparables as well.
Thanks, Amberly
We are selling our townhouse and just found our that it appraised about 4% below the selling price. This strikes me as odd because when we bought it, it appraised for $4000 over our purchase price. I have two questions:
Is it likely that different appraiser might vary 3-4% in his assessment?
It should be noted that we received two offers for our house within a week, one was $4500 above the appraisal price and one was $7500 above appraisal price.) I know in this booming market it is hard for appraisers to find comparables, especially as ours is an end-of-group and one of the more expensive in the neighborhood, but there were a few in our immediate neighborhood that sold for more than our appraised value.
I'm also wondering about whether appraisers look only in the immediate neighborhood for comparables. This strikes me as a potential legal issue, because our development is now mostly African-American while across the commercial strip, in a white neighborhood, the *exact same* Welsh-built townhouses typically sell for $10-20K more. It annoys me that an appraiser can have so much power to keep housing prices down, and I wonder if it is even legal given the implications.
Is an appraiser obligated to look at comparables only in the immediate neighborhood, or could the exact same houses in a nearby neighborhood serve as comparables as well.
Thanks, Amberly