I received an interesting call from an appraiser yesterday regarding one of my closed listings.  The appraiser wanted to know if there were any concessions made to the buyer.  He told me that he now is instructed to contact each Realtor and ask.  This is a good sign, but what if I lied, or what if I am so busy that I can’t remember, and just make it up?  

I know what a concession is, typically it is when the seller goes over and above board for the buyer  The buyer and seller each have closing costs such as escrow and title fees, often if the buyer is short of closing costs the seller may pay a portion of the buyer's closing costs.  Typically the seller receives more in the selling price to make up for this concession.

I just couldn’t help myself, I had to know what the appraiser considered a concession to be.  I had to prolong the conversation and ask, “But what is a seller concession”?  He said “any concession”, so I told him that the buyer conducted an inspection of the home and accepted ALL of the defects EXCEPT the cracked chimney (cracked brick chimneys are fairly common in Los Angeles homes). 

The estimate for the chimney repair was $13,000 and the seller agreed to credit the buyer through escrow $6,000 – BUT the escrow check was made payable to the chimney contractor.  How is this a concession? Doesn’t the buyer have the right to expect that the chimney will not be a hazard?  The appraiser I spoke with didn’t see it that way (probably because he is “operating” under instructions) and is noting it as a concession to the buyer, just as if the seller paid the buyer’s closing costs.

I am sorry, I even brought it up to the appraiser, because now the lender is going to “act” as if we sold for $6,000 less than we actually did and this will further undermine and pollute the comps.  Do you think the $6,000 check payable to to the chimney contractor was a buyer concession?