Home Appraisal

Hello Everybody,

I live in Southern Walk 2 car-garage TH with a bump out. I was wondering if anybody in the group did their home appraisal recently?

I am planning to refinance my mortgage, I just wanted to see how the houses are appraised in the neighborhood before starting the process. If the houses are appraised way below my purchase price (back in end of 07), I will definitely not refinance. Knowing the ball-park values will help saving myself about $600 (appraisal fee + application fee + credit check etc.,).

Thanks.

 

have you looked at Zillow.com? It's not the most reliable, but it has some good estimates...especially if there are other houses in the area that have sold recently or are on the market.

You can also check out tax assessments on the Loudoun County parcel database website. Put in your home information and it will allow you to see what homes around you sold for: http://inter1.loudoun.gov/taxadmin/webpdbs2008/disclaimer.aspx

 

I refinanced about 5 months ago..... we ended up having the bank do 2 appraisals... believe it or not $50K difference between the two! FYI both above the county appraisal, the higher one lined up with Zillow

 

I suggest looking at prices of recently sold homes in your neighborhood. Appraisers use these as comps when computing the current value of your home.

 

Arby, it may be worth checking with your current lender to see if an appraisal is necessary. If you refinance through the same bank and your mortgage is eligible for HARP, there is a fast-track process that skips an appraisal entirely, so it is a lot easier to get approval, especially if your home is 'underwater' (i.e. home worth less than the mortgage). The downside is that these HARP refinances are typically not quite as good a rate as you can get on the open market.

 

We have our mortgage through ING---and they offered us a "Rate Renewal", which i believe falls under the HARP program. Basiclaly---we have a 5 year ARM--which was set to expire in 2 years. The "Rate Renew" basically adjusted our rate to a new rate (was 5.5%--now 3.875%)--for a one-time $2500 fee. It doesn't reset our mortgage time line (back to 360 payments)--just adjusts the rate, which reduces interest on each payment. I knocked $425 off my monthly payment--so i make back my 2500 in 6 months.
No paperwork (electronic signatures on the ING website)...it took literally 5 minutes.

 

Here are the latest comparable from my website.

Homes near 21900 Schenley Ter, Broadlands, VA 20148​

In the past 12 months, homes in your area have ranged from $275,411 to $530,000*.
Home Value Report Closest Homes | Most Recent Sales Map# Address Dist. Sale Price Close Date Bed Bath Sq. Ft. Yr. Built
4 21945 Windover Dr 0 $400,000 07/27/2009 N/A 2 3364 2004
7 43186 Arbor Greene Way 0.1 $530,000 08/05/2009 N/A 3 4275 2003
9 21899 Sweet Bay Ter 0.1 $275,411 08/19/2009 N/A 3 3022 2003
10 21934 Windover Dr 0.1 $490,000 08/20/2009 N/A 2 3132 2002
5 21946 Windover Dr 0.1 $432,500 09/30/2009 N/A 2 2854 2004
3 21899 Schenley Ter 0 $310,600 10/09/2009 N/A 2 3004 2004
2 43139 Royal Fern Ter 0 $420,100 11/09/2009 N/A 3 3382 2003
8 21899 Sweet Bay Ter 0.1 $378,000 11/12/2009 N/A 3 3022 2003
1 21882 Schenley Ter 0 $314,000 01/28/2010 N/A 2 3004 2004
6 21893 Sweet Bay Ter 0.1 $430,000 04/30/2010 N/A 3 3382 2003

(This did not cut and paste well)
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* The estimate is based on county records that may be more than six months old and may not include all properties sold in your area.

The home sales data presented above is obtained from public record sources (or estimates, for non-disclosure states) as provided by Onboard Informatics and does not comprise an appraisal or a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). This information should not be used to replace a professional appraisal nor to determine the price of a particular property. N/A = Not Available

Type in your address in the "what's my home worth" tab and you will get the most recent sales.

FYI tax records are often way off and so is Zillow. Appraisers are the best guess but often times there are huge swings in two different appraisers opinion.

The HARP program worked great for me.

I hope that helps!

Thanks,
Steve Campot
Real Estate Broker
www.sgcrealestate.com

 

Wow! 3.875%? SWEET.

 

Also look it over carefully, ours did not even get the number of bedrooms correctly the first time...

Mike

 

Wow! Thank you all so much for your replies. It helped me very much taking my decision.

I am so glad and proud to be living in this community.

 

Is there a recommended refinance company/bank/broker? I know you can save a lot of money depending on who does the refinance, fees, points, et al.

is something like lendingtree.com a service to utilize or not?

thanks.


(and thanks for the timely post on home appraisals)

 

Call your current mortgage company and ask about a HARP refi.

Then call Heather DeVotto at 1st Home Mortgage at 703-517-0406 and compare the two.

Good Luck,
Steve Campot
www.sgcrealestate.com

 

Can you actually refinance through a different mortgage company? I tried the HARP through my current company and they say we don't qualify, even though we are upside down on our mortgage like a lot of people out there. I've been trying for a year to refinance because our ARM is up in Sept. Our mortgage company has been absolutely NO help whatsoever. It's very frustrating to say the least.

 

Thanks. We are considering some consolidation of debt and taking out a little equity.

 

Napper...the HARP program has very specific criterias in addition to being up-side-down. I would contact your bank again and find out why speciafically you dont qualify. If your bank is also "original" current Mortgage Company then they would have all the details. You have to insist sometimes. If you are going through another bank then they cant contact Fannie Mae to find out why you dont qulaify. In addition if you cant get anywhere and if you really want to, you can contact the Customer Support group at Fannie Mae and see why you dont qulaify. The number is 1800 7FANNIE.

 

Thanks for the info. I actually am being told WHY I don't qualify, it's because my current mortgage isn't backed by FannieMae or FreddieMac. To me, it doesn't seem right that only those people are getting help. What about the rest of us?

 

Actually thats correct..to be able to qulaify for the HARP the loan needs to be owned by these 2 companies.

 

We got our appraisal back, $490k, a tad less than we paid for the house back in 2003. I thought backing to trees on two sides of the home would be a selling point but apparently it is now "common" in developments these days according to the appraiser. There weren't any comparable home sales within Broadlands so I'm not sure how far away the homes were used in his analysis.

 

I think appraisers are playing it safe and not counting stuff they would in 2008 when we bought. When we refi'd it was no on the cul de sac, no on backs to trees, back porch with roof/fan/etc same as plain basic deck etc.

Mike