What has been your most effective way to protest low appraisals on homes you have listed?

Leslie, As both a realtor and co-owner of a residential appraisal company, the best approach is appropriate pricing on the front end to avoid having to be concerned with appraisal value. Also, making sure all pertinent update information is available to the appraiser (both cosmetic and mechanical in nature). Appraisers do NOT use price per square foot in calculating value. Value is determined by similarities and differences (pool, lot size and location, square footage of home, number of baths and garages, cosmetic and mechanical updates) to comparable properties through the use of monetary adjustments. That being said, appraisals are of course subjective. I can not tell you how many listing agents my appraisers have contacted for comps in an effort to be proactive to learn that no CMA was ever done on the property or the number of buyer's agents that dispute low appraisals. If you have all your ducks in a row you should not have any issues. To answer your question regarding dispute of low appraised value, I can tell you that, as experts of valuation, none of our appraisers have ever gone back and adjusted value and I would not except any appraiser on one of my properties to do this unless of course there was something they were unaware of (all new mechanicals for example). Darby Grimmett Keller Williams darby@darbygrimmett.com 936-827-9217

Protesting appraisals can be a tricky thing, but I have had success. Make sure you have at least 3 comparables that support the value. Explain to the appraiser that these comparables are worth a look and are the values you used to support your client's contract price. Be careful when going in front of the lender's appraisal review board, they can come in lower than the original appraisal did.

If I have at least 2 really good recent comparables, I share that information with the lender, buyer's agent and the seller. You need to know how appraisers give values to extra items like a 3rd car garage is usually worth $5K, an extra full bath is $5-7K, etc...If I have convincing evidence then we have some leverage with the lender and buyer to make up the difference or have another appraisal done. My seller paid for the 2nd appraisal once and we made value, so they ended up walking away with the correct proceeds they rightly deserved. I have found that AFTER an appraisal has been completed your odds at getting an appraiser to revise it are slim to none, so do your homework before they go out and send it to them if you think there might be an issue.

I have only been successful in one case and that is because the seller was putting on a new roof and the appraiser reconsidered. If you have better comps for the subdivision than they have used you can provide them a list of those homes. However, I have tried, successfully, to be more proactive on the front end and gained these tips from speaking with appraisers. Have the listing agent leave a list of the comps they have used as well as a list of updates and upgrades done in the home. If recent work was done - i.e. new a/c or roof - leave a copy of the receipt. Make them aware if this was a multiple offer situation. When the appraiser schedules, tell the appraiser where these items are located if they would like to use for their reference. Its been much easier to offer assistance to an appraiser than to have them say they were wrong. As for a low appraisal - been there done that. Best of luck!