Stuart Isett for The New York TimesStan Humphries, Zillow.com’s chief economist.
Paul Sullivan writes about the daunting, frustrating world of real estate appraisals in his Wealth Matters column this week. He writes from personal experience, after getting two different appraisals on his Florida condominium, neither of which made sense to him.
But as he notes, appraisals seemed equally arbitrary back in 2005 and 2006, as the housing market was going up. The problem is that appraisals are crucial in the refinancing process — an appraisal that finds you have less than 20 percent equity in your house may mean you’ll be rejected.
Appraisal experts offered homeowners several suggestions that may help demystify the process, including walking with the appraiser through your house and reviewing a copy of the appraiser’s report afterward.
Tell us some of your stories below about the appraisal process. And we welcome any advice you can offer.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=5199523eb2c8f45acd5ed952886e2cb9
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