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What does a real estate appraiser look for during an appraisal for a Refi?


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They will come in and take pictures and make an assessment. They will put all that together for the mortgage company and I believe they make a recommendation on appraisal value. The last one we had he asked me what amount I needed on the refi. After I told him he said no problem and hauled ass. They will need inside and outside to take pictures and look.

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14 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Is that a new thing?  I've never had one come inside, but the last one I had was in 2015.

Depends on type of loan and type of property. Drive-bys to prove the home is still there and in good condition can be done especially when an algorithm decides that the value would be easily met. 

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In this real estate market, with so many homes trading off-market/off-MLS/whisper...I don't understand why they don't take those transactions into account.  They're still recorded at the county.  Many, if not most, sellers/buyers will release the final closing doc with sale price (not their personal financing options obviously---that's nobody's business).  So why do they only look at immediate MLS transactions?  That's just insane to me.  What's the rationale behind that?  

It's not done that way with commercial buildings.  Most of the homes in our neighborhood (about 100 houses) in the last 3 years that have traded, have done so off the MLS.  About 10 out of 15.  But they ignore those ten, despite those ten being the norm.  My neighbor that moved in next door about 2 years ago did the letter dropoff thing, paid cash, and closed with no contingencies in 30 days.  There weren't realtors involved on either side.  This is the new normal now in my HOA.  People don't bother with the MLS because it just slows shit up.  

Appraisers in Austin should be able to deal with the new landscape more nimbly instead of sticking with archaic models.  If it's the bank rule, they're losing out on HELOC and credit lines business because of their inability to capture better market data.  Our home wasn't on the MLS when we bought it, so Wells Fargo dragged their feet on our appraisal when trying to see how much the home had appreciated.  I rolled my eyes, "You could start by looking at the fucking closing docs that we signed at your fucking branch, or the financing docs that showed the sale price that you fucking authorized."  /rant

Seriously, how can you get an appraiser to look at off-MLS transactions since that is become far more the norm in markets like AUstin?  

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Real estate appraisal (and business valuation, for that matter) is the biggest bunch of voodoo (that you do) ever.

Automation for 90% of homes makes sense.  The other 10% is totally based upon whatever the hell people are willing to pay.

Lots of subjective stuff at play otherwise -- what number did you have in mind?

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On 8/11/2021 at 5:46 PM, woohorn said:

They took pictures of every room/bathroom/closet and attached them to all the closing paperwork last time I refinanced.

Pretty strange that they didn't look at attic/crawlspace/roof where they could actually find some shit out doh.

An appraisal isn't a home inspection.  They are making an estimate of the market value of the house.  There may be adjustments to the appraisal for noted areas of depreciation (roof, etc.).

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