“He is not a BPO agent, he is a professional appraiser” was what the Bank of America negotiator told me; the subtext obviously being that the latter is better at getting valuation than the former.
Well, regardless of whether he was a professional appraiser or a Realtor, the value was off by more than $70,000 by my valuation. I was shocked: $7,000 off maybe, but over $70,000? I’m no fool, I wasn’t going to challenge this as the appraiser was telling the lender that the house was worth far less than the offer I had in hand. This was going to be truly a win-win situation for my Silicon Valley Short Sale client.
But the valuation was too far off and I needed to understand why it was this way.
I asked that the negotiator provide me with the MLS listing numbers of the comps that the appraiser used to reach his conclusion. I had not seen any recently sold properties that would justify such a low appraisal value. When I’ve asked for comps before, some negotiators would provide them while others would not, so I asked in the nicest manner in which I am capable.
It turns out the appraiser was looking at properties that had one less bedroom, the interior space was off by about 400 square feet. How “professional” can this appraiser be if he was comparing apples with oranges? I cannot believe he was so far off, especially since he visited the property but it was not to my client’s detriment, so I did not raise a fuss.
However, this does raise a new flag for me and for my future practices. I typically did not ask for comps unless there was a reason to look into them, but from now on, I will ask for comps on all BPOs and appraisals and double check them for accuracy.
Steve Mun, Silicon Valley Realtor
www.stevemungroup.com
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