We are doing a re-fi, and the outcome of the appraisal doesn’t really affect that.

However, our San Anselmo home appraised at $940,000 with comps in other neighborhoods, no size or number of bedrooms on the appraisal. In San Anselmo a tear down goes for $600,000. The guy saw our beautiful new kitchen and loved it….I know it must be hard with the low number of sales, but his number is an INSULT. And he charged us $500.

Is there another reason to be concerned with the low appraisal? A friend has a house in Fairfax, and it appraised at $960,000 the same day. She says generally they are so far out in the boonies that the values are much lower.

Any advice or consolation?

Being right is the booby prize – getting the refi is what you set out to do … so do your refi and take the insult of the lousy, low, expensive, insulting appraisal as a cost of doing business these days. Other than the obvious emotional damage, there is no reason to be concerned about the low appraisal if it doesn’t, as you state, affect the outcome. The appraisal is not a record and your home will not go to jail.

Posted by:Tom Verkozen