APPRAISAL STANDARDS

By Robin Shapiro

After a house is in contract, the buyer’s mortgage bank has an appraisal of the property. Occasionally, the appraisal comes back low. This can be a threat to the whole deal because the buyer might not be able to obtain a large enough mortgage to buy the house.

In an effort to make appraisals more accurate, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac developed uniform appraisal standards. Here are just a few of these standards:

• Days On the Market – Defines as the total number of continuous days. However, if a property is taken off the market and then relisted, the appraiser will have to count all of the days it has been listed.
• Offering Price – The history of all price changes is considered.
• Condition Of the Property – An overall condition rating must be assigned from a list of categories.
• Construction Quality – The appraiser must rate the construction quality of the house and the quality of all of the comps using a list of six quality levels.

Finally, the appraiser must be randomly assigned, which means that he might not be familiar with the neighborhood. I provide him with recent comps, listings, and neighborhood information to try to help.

If you are looking for a local appraiser, call Richard Hahn at 917-204-3994.

Call me. Love, Robin.