Remember the listing I had on Saticoy with the street to street lot?  The first time it sold, I came across the cranky appraiser,  the one who would not even look at comparables I wanted to provide.  As much of this home’s value was derived from  the large street to street lot (possible subdivision) I suspected that the appraisal would come in low.  We didn’t want the buyer to be out of pocket for the appraisal fee so the buyer attempted to switch lenders in order to have a different appraiser.

But due to a question of owner occupancy the other lender required 25% down. The lender didn't believe that the buyer was going to occupy the home because the square footage was ten feet smaller  than his existing home.  Didn’t matter that the lot was over 16,000 square feet.   Apparently, we still haven’t returned to common sense lending.

Saticoy, Round 2:  Sold it a second time, again for full price.  This time the appraiser did meet with me and allowed  me to offer comparables, BUT the appraisal still came in low.  We sold for $260,000 and the appraisal came in at $225,000.  So what is a property worth?  … What two different buyers are willing to pay or the appraised value?



We had a back up cash offer for $250,000.  But the seller was reluctant to start a third escrow, so the seller agreed to reduce the price to the existing buyer to $250,000.  The buyer accepted and we are finally closing escrow today. 

Related Posts:  What is a real estate comp?
A lesson in appraisal rebuttal 
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Appraisal problems becoming common in Los Angeles