$100,000 in debt and needing to fix up their home, my clients called me for a refi. They have been loyal clients since 1996 and he is a veteran.
They live in a neighborhood where 2 blocks one way property values are $100,000 lower than their neighborhood because it’s an unincorporated part of the city meaning it is not torrance schools, torrance policy and fire but Los Angeles schools fire and sherriff.
The appraiser gave a value opinion in his report of $550,000 instead of the $600,000 I had estimated. When the report came in, the clients were shocked and upset. They thought for sure that this was the end of the road to financial freedom. They are paying $2500 per month in their monthly consumer debt and desperately needed out from under that.
I looked over the report and sure enough the appraiser had used recent home sales that were in the unincorporated part of Torrance, also called Torrance PO meaning you have a torrance zip code but you’re not in torrance proper. I also looked up all the recent sales and found that he had omitted or skipped 2 recent sales that were around the corner from my clients home and both sales were for over $600,000.
So I wrote up a rebuttal to the appraisal pointing out that the comps used were not in Torrance proper and that there were some that are in torrance that were overlooked.
Within 24 hours I had a new appraisal with a value of $600,000 and we are now closing on their loan.
Sometimes it’s not the loan that is difficult but the ancillary businesses like appraisers that can be the hurdle.