Tag Archive for: appraisals

Don’t Finish Your Basement (or Garage or Patio) IF…

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“Your godda***d appraiser only gave $7,500 to my basement after I spent 85,000 f**king dollars finishing it! Go f*** yourself!” So said a borrower to me years ago after he […]Read More

6 Reasons Why Refis Are SO MUCH EASIER Than Purchases

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We often see borrowers who are reluctant to refinance into a lower rate – even when the new loan will be “no cost” and save them hundreds of dollars every […]Read More

Holy High Appraisal Fees, Batman! Please Warn Clients!

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Economist Milton Friedman famously said, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” (meaning that it is always caused by increases in the supply of money) But, when it comes […]Read More

Are Lenders Obligated To Share Appraisals?

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We often pay for purchase appraisals upfront on behalf of clients for a few reasons. Rush Fees: We pay a large rush fee that we don’t charge our clients and […]Read More

The Need For Speed; 14-Day Closes; Appraisals Remain The Problem

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14-DAY CLOSES ARE BACK! We are bringing our 14 Day Closes back in full force now, but with certain caveats. We cannot close the following transactions in 14 days: (1) […]Read More

Correlating to Borrower With Lower Score; Paying Over Appraised Value; Not Referencing Inspections

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Here are a few quick reminders. CORRELATING TO BORROWER WITH THE LOWEST CREDIT SCORE We received negative feedback from a frustrated borrower last week b/c we correlated our interest rate […]Read More

Appraiser Shortage Makes 14 Day Close Impossible; “Exterior Only” And “Desktop” Does Not Help

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The shortage of qualified appraisers is worse than ever for several reasons: Demand exceeds supply. The continued surge in both refinance and purchase transactions has created a situation where the […]Read More

Appraisers Can’t Ignore Low Comparable Sales; Agents Should Not Either

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APPRAISALS COMING IN UNDER CONTRACT PRICE B/C MARKET’S SO HOT We are seeing appraisals come in under contract price more frequently than normal again b/c the market is so hot […]Read More

Valuing An In-Law Unit Or An ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit)

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I touched on this last year a few times but am getting questions again because so many people have built Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) as a result of the COVID […]Read More

Comparable Sales Appraisers Can’t Use; Appraisal Reviews

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Hot markets foster appraisal issues – every time. This is b/c aggressive buyers in multiple bid situations frequently offer to pay far more for a property than what closed comparable […]Read More

4 Things to Know About VA Home Appraisals

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VA home loans are one of the most common mortgage options among military members in California. The VA loan program offers 100% financing, which means you could buy a home with no down payment. This is a very popular option throughout all of California as we have such a large number of military personal.Read More

Appraisals: Cosmetic vs. Structural Issues; Why Appraisers Often Don’t Call Out Cosmetic Issues

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We recently had a purchase involving an older property and the buyers were concerned because the appraiser did not call out a broken window pane and some torn floor coverings. […]Read More

When Appraisers Are Right (Which Is Often)

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We have an excellent pool of hand-picked appraisers that I tout often as a competitive edge. I tout them often b/c we used to get burned all the time when […]Read More

5 Bold Predictions For The Post COVID-19 World; COVID-19 Updates; Reason to Refi

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Forbes Publisher, Rich Karlgaard, published 5 Bold Predictions for the Post COVID-19 World. He imagined what we might see by the Spring of 2021 and predicted the following: A rebounding […]Read More