THE APPRAISAL CAP

​by Mark Moore with Fairway Mortgage 

The “appraisal gap” as it’s becoming known, is a real issue with the lack of homes and so many buyers.  Multiple offers are commonplace and so are bidding wars.   Even good appraisers who know the market and understand the actual definition of fair market value are struggling to come up with comparable sales that meet the criteria of the agencies (Fannie, Freddie, FHA, etc).  


Now more than ever, current market data provided to the appraisers can help.   Be sure you have copies available of the multiple offers on your listings, and let the lender know that you have them and are willing to provide to the appraiser.   Also, any recent market information you have that the appraiser might not know about can help.  For example, do the realtors involved know of a similar property that has just closed in the last week or is scheduled to close just before the subject property?   If so, providing that information is another way to help appraisers get the value in this tough market.  
 
Fairway uses a very small rotations of quality appraisers in each area of town.   We attempt to provide enough work to those appraisers to become important to them.   They are a very important part of our team and critical to our success and are graded on accuracy, timeliness, and other factors to determine which appraisers make it into our “elite rotation”.  As a result, we have had very few appraisal issues during this market, and we have become the “bailout” lender for many of the big banks, credit unions, and internet lenders who do not use such a strategy.   


However, with the market pressures (everyone asking for faster and faster appraisal contingencies) this can sometimes force us off the elite panel and into a less trusted group of appraisers to meet the ever-shortening time frames.  If you have a good offer, with a solid local lender, encourage your sellers to give that lender time to get a quality appraiser out to the property.   It will create much less stress and hassle down the road!  Faster isn’t always better!!
 
If you have further questions about this or anything else, we are happy to assist.