rebuttal letter advice

Rarely does one win this battle.. Your telling a professional he doesn't know his job.. But if you really feel he missed the value, then the only way to win is to show him how you came up with your valuation.. Remember he has submitted his valuation in writing with about 35 pages.. So, if you're going to win, you need to provide him with information he doesn't have. Most appraisal will use sold properties closest to the subject as possible within the last 3 months.. If there is a like model, like features, in the same subdivision, that's the ideal comparable.. If not then he can expand his search, however he will try not to pull other properties that are on the other side of a major street, since subdivisions usually are on one side of a major street or the other, but rarely do they cross.. Also.. You cannot compare a 5000 square foot home to a 2000 square foot home.. And vise versa.. I'm not saying appraiser have ever been wrong before, but writing a letter telling him he doesn't know what he's doing, or you feel your home is worth isn't going to work.. Writing a letter stating that there might have been better, closer, more consistent comparables with your home, and then showing him which one's your referring to might work.. I'm a Broker here in Scottsdale AZ and I only lend in Arizona. If you or someone you know is looking for financing options, feel free to contact me or pass along my information. 480-287-5714 WilliamAcres.com

Hold on a minute. Are you really telling us that you were advised to write a letter of rebuttal but not advised as to what the content of that letter should be? I'm sorry to say, but your mortgage professional should be advising you on what to do. Basically you go out and find comparable home sales that are "more comparable" than the ones included in the appraisal report. Usually you are only going to get a value increase if there is some serious justification for it. If the appraiser used comparable homes that should not have been used then you have a case. However, most people don't really understand what is "more comparable" and how the appraiser goes about creating their report. About 99% of the time these value appeals are a complete waste of time. If you know that similar homes sold more recently for a higher price then you can ask why they were not included in the analysis. I hope this helps.You can email me with any questions at danielhennek@gmail.com

Others have answered this question very well. I agree that your loan officer should be guiding you.

After I stopped laughing, I could only think, Holly Crud, Batman... RUN!!!! Any Mortgage professional worth his/her weight knows that having the customer write a rebuttal letter is worthless. If you truly believe that the number is wrong, than the real question is why? An appraiser is going to look at comparable homes to yours that have sold recently and use the sales prices to help determine the logical value of your home. The only way the appraiser (a trained and licensed professional) is going to adjust a value is if you can provide absolute proof that the properties he used are not fair and accurate comps, and that is a tall order. If you believe that your home is worth more, and you want the appraiser to adjust his value to a higher number, then the only thing you can do is provide additional comps that are closer (or identical) to yours that support your belief. Even then, it is likely that the other comps that he used, instead of the ones that found are going to bear more weight in the analysis. The only time I have ever seen an appraiser willingly increase a value is because between the time he did the research and the appraisal was delivered, additional sales data became available (three arms length sales in the same community, two matched the floor plan of the subject) that supported the higher valuation. The property was re-appraised 3 weeks later and an additional $35k in value was obtained. You need to check out the qualifications of your Mortgage Originator at the National Mortgage Licensing System at www.NMLSConsumerAccess.org ~ Bert Carpenter, The LoansA2z team of NOVA Home Loans ~ NMLS 40586 ~ www.LoansA2z.com 888-889-9950

If you have some recent sales in your subdivision that were not included or they were some errors in the size of your house,etc you should include that in the letter if not you are probably wasting your time.Have you check to see if your loan qualifies for Harp.If you have any other questions you can reach me at mortgages@phoenixglobalmortgage.comRegards.

Sadly, you are very likely fighting a losing battle trying to get an appraisal changed unless you can substantiate it with recent comps that the appraiser missed some how...not likely. Why are you doing this yourself and not your loan officer? You are not being treated very well by being left to your own devices to fight an appraisal value.

I couldn't agree more with the other comments re this post. It's like pushing a boulder up a hill.