I'm a bit dumbfounded at the moment and need some help. I've recieved a clarification on a very unique property in my area. The home is a little two bedroom, 1 bath slab surrounded by a few trailer homes and one other shanty that needs serious help. If you travel but 1500 feet down the road the construction and quality of the homes makes a dramatic jump with attached garages, fenced backyards, full basements, vinyl siding, bigger yards, etc. No other place in the city or township is like this that I can find.

So I kept my comps within a year but I had to go much further out (out of the city area) to find similar construction and similar surroundings. They were handily rejected and was told that this home appraised by two different appraisers for $135,000. When the market peaked it sold for $70,000 and more recently in similar condition to what it is now sold for $49,999. The representative from the BPO company didn't agree with the appraisals either and asked me to stay close. So I did but I warned them I would have to back further because this is such a unique area. Again, rejected even with a slightly moderate raise in value.

I am refusing to compromise on my values as I do not want my name attached to anything that I don't believe in but it feels almost like they are trying to do that without saying it. How do you handle such unique houses and situations?

What company is this? I would tell them this property does not conform to the neighborhood. It sounds like they know this though. We can't pull comps out of a hat, can we?

tell them what Makin'Money said, you can't pull'm out of a hat--or give it back, shrug it off as bad experience, you'll sleep better tonite

No we can't, you have to have an appraiser's license to do that. :p :rolleyes:

Tell 'em you've clarified it twice, we all know that properties worth $135,000 don't sell for $70,000 and they can close the order and pay you. I'd be prepared to loose the fee, but I'd ask for it anyway. I wouldn't invest any more time trying to get whatever it is they want.

What company was/is it?

Ok i had a similar situation,here is what you do.
Ask for the comps the appraiser used to hit the 135k then look them up to see what they were comparing to.

I had this issue in a gated lakefront community,the appraiser used comps on the lake and the subject was nto making a 100k difference in my bpo and the appraisal,i explained to the am and documented the reasons why and they accepted and paid me.

Why not just value the land by itself in the area and then value the home seperately to similar comps or find a 3/1 instead of a 2/1 and deduct the cost of the additional rooms.

good luck

Here, Here, Super Realtor - You've definitely got the right idea.

I had the same type of thing happen to me a little over a month ago with CC.

This was for a property I valued at 560K and the appraiser came in at 640K. They wanted to know if I would have valued it the same with his comps.

That's where the fun began...

I got the appraisal and searched out the comps that were used. Turns out my main listed comp, which was very similar to the subject property and happened to be right next door, was his main Sold comp-Only it had never sold! It had been on the market for 6 months, expired, been off of the market for 2 months and then relisted. It had only been back on the market for 3 days when I used it.

After that it continued to digress...many, many "exaggerations" on his part, including changing sale dates and prices, using the wrong photos for comps and then some.

I sent every bit of history and detailed explanation on the variances from the truth, on his part. The only thing he did not do was make up a comp - I really thought I was gonna find one of those, too - maybe next time.

Sorry, if I seem to have a tad bit of glee over calling someone out for outright fraud, but before I dug deeper, I was beginning to doubt my own opinion. Originally, I was going to look at the appraisal to see if I could see where he was coming from and maybe justify "His" value --- NOT!!!

Anyways, it felt good, because I did a good job and found a fraud and kept my own reputation in good standing - even if it meant, for the time involved, I probably made nothing on that one. It was well worth it!

Best of luck BPO Pro! Get those comps and find out where the appraiser is coming from and explain to the company where he should have been going to in the first place!

Have a Great One!!!

Jen

I've seen the comps and it is a crock. It is CC that I am dealing with on this one. I'm logging comparison pictures of the comps the appraisers used to prove my point since I am unsure if they had seen them, they only told me over the phone the comps. If they can draw a legit comparison from the subject to the comps then so be it but I won't stand by it. Hell, they've already changed the wording and numbers on a previous BPO of mine anyway......maybe my numbers are too low for them to really fudge with.

More than anything else though I'm steamed about this kind of blantant BS that some appraisers are putting out there. I hear sellers tell me their house appraised for "x" and I am wondering where in the hell they got that number from and who in the hell gave it to them....then trying to explain that an appraised value is not the same as market value or better yet, the buyer's perceived value and those numbers can vary drastically with these crappy appraisals......

alright...i'm done ranting. thank you for all of your help. i appreciate it.

On second thought... top of the mornin' to ya.

(A long rant was edited...mama said if you can't say nothin' nice...)

Remember that the "O" in BPO stands for "Opinion" - your opinion. It looks like you might be in a situation where you can finish the transaction with your fee or your integrity, but not both.

Just an update on this one....
I didn't compromise my values and in the end one of the reps admitted that they thought the appraiseer was a "little" overly zealous. My value was accurate. Woo! Hoo! ... but I knew that.

Check was sent out yesterday (maybe?), can't remember. Anyway, thanks for all of the help....I would have loved to have heard that rant Gary.

The "B" stands for broker and most of the people doing these BPO's are not. So don't overuse the "O" if your not a "B".

Just an offshoot of Real Deal's comment, I wonder how many states allow salespeople to do BPOs. In Indiana, only brokers can do them. Maybe that's why I get a lot of orders because there is a limited number of people doing them.