Assassination of Real Estate Deals through Low-Ball Appraisals

Barbara Corcoran Outlining Issues with Real Estate Appraisals on the Today Show 9/12/2012

Low Real Estate Appraisals have become a commonplace thorn in the side of buyers and sellers alike, and finally drawing the attention of the main stream media via the Today Show thanks to our gal Barbara Corcoran. Although, we may not always see eye-to-eye with Barb, she hit the ball out of the park with this one. 

Here is a snapshot of the many factors contributing to the lack of talent in the Appraisal industry. We all know the housing bubble was caused by inflated housing prices, backed by crooked Real Estate Appraisers in cahoots with lenders to determine values over a scotch on the rocks and a handshake.  Cut to the bubble bursting, when state and federal legislators had their hand in a “solution” in an effort to “protect” the consumer. This has backfired greatly and has resulted in giant Appraisal houses employing less-experienced robots passed off as Appraisers in lieu of a local expert.

Most cities including Portland have seen a massive uptick in the Real Estate market, due to an increase in buyers, short supply of inventory, and record-low interest rates. The problem? Appraisals are based on past home sales in the last six months to a year including short sales and foreclosures, which common sense would tell you, does not accurately reflect the values of today’s market. When the Appraisal comes in low, the buyer is then turned off, and the lender is not willing to complete the loan at the agreed upon price. Deal Breaker!

The lack of talent in the Appraisal industry is single handedly contributing to major chaos to over one-third of Real Estate transactions, and is crippling the housing recovery. Be sure to protect yourself by providing the Appraiser data on your local Real Estate market, verifying that the square footage and housing stats are correct in Appraisal, ask to have short sales and bank owned properties eliminated from the comparable properties, and if worse comes to worst, pay for a new Appraisal. It helps to have a Real Estate Agent that has your back as well, and will go to bat for you when they know the Appraisal comes in too low.

Steve Roesch
Principal Broker
PDX Home Group
Keller Williams Realty Professionals
Steve@PDXHomeGroup.com
503.318.6351 direct/text
www.pdxhomegroup.com