You might call a local real estate broker & get a Broker Price Opinion with print-outs of the comparables-
in my area, this will cost $50-$100-
& get the data to the appraiser.

*After* you close & not before, write letters to your lender's president & CEO & let them know that it's patently ridiculous to assign an appraiser who cannot get the data.

I wish you the best.

Thanks Sylvia - I called a local Realtor and he sent me two comps. It was just the listing with the date sold, dom, and selling price. Is the Broker Price Opinion something different? I'm not sure I want to waste more money at this point.

Would you be willing to have the original guy revise his appraisal?

Even though the appraiser did not seem competent to do your appraisal, if the bank hired him (or even knows about him - ie. approved your hiring him), they might be much more comfortable with an updated 'new and improved verson' of his appraisal than another one you provide from someone else. ('Appraisal shopping' is a well-known 'inflate the value' trick, so repeat appraisals are always suspected.)

Also, by asking him to redo his appraisal (using your new sales comps) gives him a chance to:
a) Fix his own shoddy work (which he knows is shoddy), and
b) Keep the money

Agreed, you won't get a reliable appraisal -- but all of my experience with residential appraisers indicates that you rarely get a reliable indicator of value anyway if your home is anything other than cookie-cutter...

If the original guy can do it, I'm open to it, but I'm not sure it will get any better. When taking the comps I got from the realtor and including one that is pending that is 13 miles away - better than any of his distance wise except for the camp house. I actually get a very reasonable appraisal and that is using his way too low numbers on some things and too high on others.

He put $85/sq ft for new replacement construction. That is laughable as I wish that is what we could build it for. Maybe in his area, but not here. $110/sq ft still low, but at least more reasonable.

I'm not so worried about it being super reliable, but full of blatant lies and not using valid comps and it is violating many of the Appraisal standards.

The bank said to submit a re-buttal and then they have to go to the appraisal management company.

At least there are so many issues with it that it gives me hope we'll get somewhere with it when doing the re-buttal.

OP, are you using a local bank or a big national/regional bank? (I've read newstories that it's mainly the big banks which are using appraisal management companies with out-of-town appraisers.) I know you've probably already sunk a lot of money trying to get your place refinanced, so it might be impractical to try a different bank now.

Yuck -- I'm sorry it's already so far along.

The way it sounds, the process has put the appraiser in the position of having to defend his work, so now, instead of simply (and quietly) being able to say "Thanks - these comps are much better than anything I was able to locate" (in the 2-3 hours his $150 cut of the fee fairly compensates him for) --- Well, now he looks bad to his superiors and has to either eat crow or discredit your comps...

At one point in my career, I used to do some commercial appraisal work related to a specific industry. For this type of appraisal work, in-depth knowledge of the industry was critical, and 'ordinary' appraisal knowledge was insufficient; so in the course of my work, we came across a number of grossly incompetent appraisals. Even though we could show how and why they were wrong, getting them 'ignored' in the minds of the lenders was exceedingly difficult.

The lenders want the appraisal as a CYA document. So ignoring a low appraisal -- even if it's proved to be faulty -- leaves them vulnerable. If the loan were to ever go bad, anyone could point to that [bad] low appraisal and criticize them for making the decision to lend.

Your best bet might be to switch lenders...

The realtor said few have sold similar to mine lately, but there are 2 that were very comparable and within a 10 mile radius that sold in the last 12 months.

In this market a comp that is 12 months old is not really a good comp (if it's closer to 12 months).

Well we got the comps submitted and the bank requested they be added to the appraisal. It appears that he did so grudgingly and really fudged his numbers differently on these than the original ones he did to try to not get the value increased much at all even though these support a much higher value. I'm going to file a complaint on his license. The report is full of errors/lies/inconsistencies.

My husband thinks he has it in for us as he had made a comment to him about we must be rich to be so young and have what we have. No we are not rich and we work hard and are in our low 40's with a young child so maybe he thought we were young. I'm not sure this would be the reason, but it is so odd what he did even with the real comps.

I'm still trying to get back my money, but I keep getting the run around. Going to talk to the bank manager if I can find the time today.

jerzeegirl - well these were closer in dates than the ones he used that were in a different county, different market and MLS, only thing close about them were the size of the house. BTW In this market doesn't apply where we are. The market has stayed the same and there have been no price decreases. Not all areas of the country has tanked.

Sorry to hear that -- He's 'gone defensive' on you and has been backed into a corner.

(And you do look younger than that...)

Is there any state agency you can go to? Don't let him push you into something you cannot and will not accept. go to the bank manager and clarify the problem. Who issues the licensing permits? If you feel he made a inapproate remark, tell his boss. Do not accept this. Most appraisers really do for the bank or lending institutions and it is their job to appraise the house for exactly what the bank really want to loan or lower. they get rebates for this, How do I know? I have too many friends in CA that are agents and/or own their own busineses. They are told, by the companies/banks etc either do it or we will not finance your homes.