Mooney6959

I'm building a new home and the financing bank had an appraisal done.

The "livable" square footage of the house is 2691 but the appraiser documented 2799. All comps, even a couple in my floorplan, show the correct "livable" square footage.
The appraisal shows a good value for my home.
I contacted the bank and pointed this error out to them and my mortgage broker is refusing to call the appraiser out on the error saying that the margin of error is too low. The way I look at it is that it's flat out wrong.

Should I fight with them about this, or am I just finding something to be concerned about for no reason?

autobaun70

If the tax man gets it wrong, contest it. Won't matter if its just for financing purposes.

mikefloyd

Am I missing something? The "error" would seem to be to your benefit; why is this a problem and have you asked the appraiser why the difference?

Rolandt03

the only thing the appraisal is doing, is garuanting that the house being built is not valued at less than the total loan. meaning they dont want to loan out more money than the house will be worth.

Mooney6959

Since the bank hired the appraiser, they're not at liberty to discuss it with me directly.
I agree, that it would be to my advantage, but I am really concerned with accuracy here.
...or maybe I'm just being overly-anal today.

triplenet

Overly - Anal

The County appraiser will most likely go off the actual building plans to determine square footage ...

I am guessing btw - dont know that for sure ... but they are not going off your "lenders appraisal" ...

svu

For your financing probably does not matter.
Did the appraiser measure it or look at the building permit ?
i once had a house where a two story high 400 sf room. Was on the tax rolls as 800 sf. Id get it corrected before you get an erroneous property tax bill.

Mooney6959

Cool. Thank you everyone. I agree, this isn't worth the argument and is really more trivial than I'm making it.

As I was getting into this, I was really starting to wonder if this battle was more in my head than anything.
The pre-move stress is starting to set in, I guess.

KBH

The appraiser may have walked off and took measurements off the outside walls and the architect took them off the inside floor area. Either/or, it's not worth worrying about.

mikefloyd

You want real stress try considering what this virus is doing to the value of the home as it's being built. Actually as long as you don't plan on selling it shouldn't be an issue.

Lorne Greene

Every time I have ever had an appraisal they always asked what the price was as they wanted to make sure that it was being appraised for more than the value of the selling price. I don't even know why they bother doing them, it just seems like a box that has to be checked.

Mooney6959

Actually, that's why I was demanding accuracy. If it came back lower than negotiated price, I was going to hit the builder for a discount.
I feel it's holding it's value anyway. We won't sell before the next 5 years anyway.

Mooney6959

I felt the same way. The appraisal shows the purchase price. I was like, well what's the point of finding the value when he has that as a baseline?

Rolandt03

This! an appraisal is strictly the lender protecting his investment!

TimC2520

Actually, if it's a sale, the appraiser is required to "review and comment on" the sales agreement so naturally he/she will always know what the sale price is. Believe it or not, it is physically impossible for us to even send the completed appraisal to the lender/AMC, whomever, if we have not reviewed the sales agreement as it results in a UAD "hardstop" and the software won't allow it to be delivered. There is always so much misinformation in these appraisal posts it cracks me up. Disclosure: State certified for over 25 years and have close to 6,000 appraisals completed with my signature on them.

Wicked Awesome

Moon6959 - What is the source for your 'actual' square footage number? There can be a difference between a builder's floor plan or tax roll number and an 'as built' measurement. Residential appraisers should be physically measuring the house, while brokers typically rely on the tax rolls or builders floor plans. Don't slam the appraiser for doing his or her job - they may be correct.

RyanL11

Actually it will from a financing process, when we built our home, we quickly learned that sq ft mattered. Banks don't care about how well finished your home is, they want to see comparable sq ft/ cost to other homes that have sold in your area.

Boat Hound

Are you really that bored? I have plenty that needs to be done if you're looking for something to do. There is no consequence to this.

Kenny Powers

did the appraiser do his measurements from the outside of the house?

RyanL11

Are you financing the build through a construction loan?