real estate value question

[PyroGuy]

Pyro, I am positive that the appraiser will not be appearing on jdcat's behaf for $250.00. It isn't that the appraiser doesn't want to stand behid his work. It is just that when jdcat engaged the appraiser it was for a report and not testimony. Testimony could run into several hundred dollars in additional fees for the appraiser's time.

Actually, Tman....yes she will if needed.

Before I had an appraisal done, I explained what it was for and told her that she might (probably not) be asked explain in a court how she came up with value....I asked if she would be willing to do that. Her response was "If I put my name on it, I'll show up if needed to verify it"....and for no extra cost. I asked her about that.

I guess, since I live in Florida, I found an appraiser who isn't a "dime a dozen"....

[NewPage]

Actually, Tman....yes she will if needed.

Before I had an appraisal done, I explained what it was for and told her that she might (probably not) be asked explain in a court how she came up with value....I asked if she would be willing to do that. Her response was "If I put my name on it, I'll show up if needed to verify it"....and for no extra cost. I asked her about that.

I guess, since I live in Florida, I found an appraiser who isn't a "dime a dozen"....

Most appraisals reports are subject to limiting conditions, including:

4. The appraiser will not give testimony or appear in court because he or she made an appraisal of the property in question, unless specific arrangements to do so have been made beforehand, or as otherwise required by law.

If she is willing to commit to several hours of extra work for free, she must be hurting for work.

[Tman]

Most appraisals reports are subject to limiting conditions, including:



If she is willing to commit to several hours of extra work for free, she must be hurting for work.

Exactly, it sounds to me like it was a dime a dozen appraiser. The certification Newpage quoted is attached to every report. If this appraiser showed up for free, he/she was only costing themselves money.

[jdcat]

We didn't get filed, glad I didn't hold my breath. This is taking forever! Our attorney did say that if it was a "certain" trustee that he wouldn't file us until the next rotation, so it looks like it'll be a little while longer before filing happens.

I went ahead with the appraisal. I'll have the results Monday. The appraiser asked me if I had any questions so I asked him if real estate values in our area have been affected like other parts of the country and he said definitely not. He added that our appraisal will most likely come in at the same value as 2007 or a little higher.

If we appraise above $107K we will be over our exemption and it looks like that is what's going to happen. Part of me wants to kick myself for having this done because I could have tried to get away with the $100K guess and maybe gotten away with it, but this is a FEDERAL proceeding and that scares the stuffing out of me. No way am I messing around with trying to get away with it.

Anyhow...I guess if we come out over our exemption this will make us an asset case? I don't believe the appraisal will come back any higher than
$110K (keeping my fingers crossed) so we may end up with a few thousand we can't exempt. What happens in that scenario?

[NewPage]

Are you able to see/find the sales price histories of other homes similar to yours nearby?

[jdcat]

Somewhat. I've checked our local county assessor site and it will list the sales history for some homes but not all of them. I couldn't find one that was near the same age as ours. I found one that was one year older with the same square footage and it tax assessed at $106K and for some reason ours is tax assessing at $128K and the other home is on a corner lot! It makes no sense.

I've checked zillow for homes the same age and size but the sale prices varied to much. I took about 5 of the homes that seemed to match the closest and averaged the prices and came out to around $125K. But none of them were as old as ours so I was going by location and square footage only.

[LadyInTheRed]

jdcat,

Can you cancel the appraisal? If your attorney was comfortable filing without a current appraisal using the lower value, why not give it a try? If the trustee asks you how you arrived at the value, tell him. If he or the creditor objects, then you can decide whether it's worth it to pay for the appraisal. Even if the appraiser started the work, he may be willing to take a lower amount and credit that to a future appraisal if you decide to get one later.

[jdcat]

I did consider canceling the appraisal because my attorney seemed comfortable going ahead without one but I just have this nagging feeling that I shouldn't let this slide. The appraisal is already completed and he's been paid. I just hope I haven't created a huge problem for us and our chapter 7.

[justbroke]

So long as the value comes in where expected, it's not going to be any problem. Short of sworn testimony of an expert, it's the better assessment of value over most other sources.

[jdcat]

And that's why I went ahead with it. I feel good knowing I did my best to be as accurate as possible.

Now if the value will just come in as expected!

[jdcat]

I'm gonna cry or crawl under a rock. Our house appraised for $125K. That puts us over our exemption by $18K.

[jdcat]

The ironic thing is that this house needs way over $18K in repairs. All of the electrical is home made, grandpa put it in himself years ago and he was no electrician. The chimney in the attic is crumbling and when it rains we get water in the attic and down inside the walls through the center of the house.

We get water that comes up through the basement floor when we get a hard rain so we also have a mold problem which gets worse in the summer when it gets humid. Actually the whole basement needs to be sealed. Most of the plaster walls are crumbling and some of the walls are missing and are covered by faux brick and wood paneling so we don't have to look at it.

The wood floor in the dining room is splintering. The vinyl siding was never finished. We have an old barn out back the size of two story two car garage that literally sways with a strong wind. We haven't torn it down because we use it for storage.

There is just a lot of work that needs to be done. We sometimes think it would be better to dump this place because of the shape it's in but we stay because we can't afford a newer house the same size. We either stay and pay less than $700 a month or we rent for more and have a lot less space.

I wonder if documenting the shape of this place with photos and maybe even some written estimates would help us deter the trustee from wanting to sell.

[jdcat]

I'm considering having a home inspection done now.

I can scrape up the money for this. I just don't know if this would hold any weight with a trustee.

[newbie2]

I'm considering having a home inspection done now.

I can scrape up the money for this. I just don't know if this would hold any weight with a trustee.

It may help. If the trustee can see that it needs $X amount in repairs to fetch the appraisal price they may back off on it. (Repairs + Realtor Commission + any other closing costs may not equal money for the unsecureds.)

[LadyInTheRed]

Did the appraiser take the needed repairs into account? He should.