Let's hope an appraiser eventually responds to this. There are plenty who lurk here.

August 2007. My buyer under contract gets a low appraisal done with bad comps and missing data. The listing agent calls the appraiser and points out the mistakes and the appraiser adjusted. The house was a steal.

No coercion, no harassment, nothing unethical, just an appraiser that could not see the obvious until it was pointed out. By obvious I mean he missed the water view ($$$) and used comps from a different neighborhood that did not have a community pool, clubhouse or boat ramp. There were comps available in this neighborhood, he just didn't find them. All the stuff he missed were exactly the reasons the buyers only wanted to be in this neighborhood. They wouldn't consider a neighborhood without a boat ramp and pool.

The appraiser was new to the area, less than a year, and sells real estate. Some appraisers know what they are doing and some don't.

you have option buyer to switch the lender but I don't think that the other appraiser will come up with much different price, lenders become pretty conservative. So on this case you just need to renegotiate the price or just keep it.

Lurk? I utilized this site to help me understand the methods brokers/agents use when selling and buying properties for their clients. I feel this information is helpfully in my current position. So I take offense to that term :-)

Yes, I'm an appraiser and thought I would respond to this thread. First, I'm not defending the appraisal for the property in question; however, I'm defending some of the misconception noted here. So let try to address these concerns one at a time.

hbinc200
You purchased the property as a flip and "completely renovated" the property, correct? Explain the renovations, berber carpet, ceramic tile or the cheapest carpeting at Home Depot? solid surface countertops or the cheapest ones at Home Depot? High end kitchen and bath cabinets or once again the cheapest ones at Home Depot. I find the term renovated highly subjective. Please understand I'm not questioning you but trying to understand the type of materials you put into this flip. You pulled comps prior to listing the property and your range was 195,000 - 200,000, not in the shape of your property, correct? If this statement were true than these comps you pulled wouldn't be comparables sales. Were your comparables over 6 months old? Were they located within the same townhome community as the subject or at least from a competitive neighborhood located within close proximity to your property? Is your property located in a declining market? You state the buyers agreed to pay 208,000, correct? What was the original list price, days on market, were there concessions involved, etc? This information may shed more light if known. These questions are just a drop in the hat for what an appraiser will have to address while forming his/her opinion of value.

Now, with all this said, I ask that you step back and try to look at this property not from your shoes but from an objective perspective. ie: the appraiser :-) I'm sure the appraiser is well aware the property was under contract for 208,000 and I’m certain that the appraiser knows everyone in this transaction (seller, buyer, broker/agent, mortgage broker) is going to be pissed at him/her when they receive the report with an appraised value of 185,000. So don't you think the appraisers report is going to be well supported? IMO, if I’m appraising a property under contract and my opinion of value is 23,000 under the contract price I’m going to make sure I’ve address everything under the sun about this report.

Super Realtor
"They generally don't appraise more on the cosmetics."
What do you mean by this comment? Please define "cosmetics"? As long as the item isn't personal property than I try my best to find a market reaction to any updates, extras and/or amenities. However, if there is no supporting data than per USPAP I can not make an adjustment of these items. It’s not that we don't want to, it’s the lack of data available. ex: That 25,000 pool your client just put in 2 years ago would probably be lucky to get a market reaction of at least half that amount. DISCLAIMER: ever market is different and I’m not suggesting a pool in your market would or would not generate its full value. :-)

As for providing the appraiser with "better" comps that he/she didn't utilize in the report isn't a big deal in my opinion. Trust me, appraisers get these requests all the time from mortgage brokers wanting a higher value. Personally, I will always listen to the listing agent if they want to provide me additional comparable sales for review. As long as the agent is respectful when they contact me to discuss these comps than I have no problem working through their concerns. Yes, no one is perfect and I have been known to miss a sale or two in my time an appraiser; however, personally, I pride myself on utilizing every method available to locate comparable sales in my market. I think agents can be vital to me producing a creditable report. I can’t tell you how many times an agent doesn’t want to talk me about one of their recent sales. For example: an agent scolded me today because I called her while “she was at the beauty shop” and told me to call back tomorrow. ha ha This might be food for thought the next time an appraiser calls you about one your previous sales.

I‘m in the process of getting my sales person license because I would like to know more about what you all do, so I plan on lurking on a regular basis.

Don't be offended by the term "lurk". In the world of forums, someone who observes without participating is called a lurker. I mostly lurk and was offended by this term at first but now I like the idea of lurking.