Here's what you can do when your home doesn't appraise.
When you sell your home and the buyer is getting a mortgage, their bank will send an appraiser to make sure the buyer is making a safe investment by not overpaying for the house.
It is the listing agent's job to supply the appraiser with comparable sold homes. Appraisers do their own research but most appreciate a little help especially if they are not familiar with the Lindenhurst real estate market.
Sometimes the home will not appraise and the appraiser will be adamant about their findings even though the sold home comparables they were supplied with are accurate. They are letting their ego get in the way in a case like this. Below are things you can do to try and resolve and under-appraisal:
- Ask the buyer to give you the difference. Most times this does not happen because the buyer looks at it as overpaying for the home but it is worth asking.
- Meet the buyer halfway and split the difference. This is something to seriously consider especially if your home has been on the market six months or more and never had an offer previously.
- Reduce the accepted offer price to meet the appraised price. Again, if your home has been on the market for six months or more, this would be a smart thing to do.
- If the appraisal came in low due to repairs, the buyer can look into changing his mortgage to a FHA 203K (rehabilitation mortgage). This is when the buyer can get money to do the repairs and the deal is saved. It's a win-win since now the buyer will not have to take cash out of pocket to make the required repairs.
If the buyer doesn't have the money to meet you halfway, then give you the difference and you do not lower your price to the appraised price, your buyer will walk away.
Luckily, I have not come across low appraisals, and my clients have never been in this situation. I'm knocking on wood for that and for meeting appraisers that do not have an ego.
