We closed! Appraisal for new house came in under etc.

10 years ago

So we closed on Tuesday! Yey! So here we are in our temporary rental which is 45 minutes from home. It's not too bad though. We are super close to shopping and my mother in law lives just minutes away.

It took us two 26 foot foot trucks and about 4 seperate trips by car to get the rest of the little things left in the garage, but now we are all moved in and ALMOST settled. There are still plenty of boxes around, but we managed to put a lot of them away in closets so we have them available when we are ready to move to the new house.

Anyway... the bank called yesterday and said the appraisal of the new house came in 10K under. He said we can either ask the seller to come down in price or accept it and write a letter to the bank that we understand the appraisal came in lower than our purchase price. Honestly we don't really care. It's a great house and I think the appraisals still haven't caught up with the value increases in the area yet. I spoke to our realtor and she said it doesn't hurt to ask so she will see if she can get them to at least split the difference with us and adjust the purchase price down by 5K. Like I said, it really doesn't matter to us. We are putting 50% down and in the grand scheme of things 10K over 30 years really isn't a big deal. I even told my realtor that maybe we shouldn't even say anything, but she wants to try. I guess we shall see what happens.

I CAN'T WAIT TO CLOSE ON THE NEW HOUSE!!!

Would you say anything is the appraisal came in 10K under?

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Comments (9)

egbar
10 years ago
worth trying, they will probably be worried that you will not buy the house at all if they don't come down. let us know what happens and show us pictures of the new house once you have had time to settle in. best wishes
kirkhall
10 years ago
The thing holding back prices right now isn't the market. It is the appraisers.

Good luck.
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chispa
10 years ago
What percentage of the contract price is the $10k? Was that 10k on a 300k purchase or 1.2 mill purchase ... that will determine if it is worth negotiating with the sellers.
ShanaMaiya
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks everyone! It's 10K on a $425K purchase.
nosoccermom
10 years ago
Surely, the financing is not in jeopardy. What kind of contingencies did you have in your contract?
ShanaMaiya
Original Author
10 years ago
No, the financing isn't in jeopardy at all and there is nothing in our contract referring to the appraisal. Our realtor called last night and said the seller's realtor got pissy with her when she asked about them coming down in price. She said they won't budge. The seller's realtor ALSO said that they have two other couples waiting to pounce on the property. That irked me. I felt like she was threatening us. I didn't expect them to come down in price, but by that reaction I guess they aren't worried at all. To think we were jumping through hoops with our buyer because we were afraid she would walk away. Maybe we don't know how to play this "real estate game" too well?!
nosoccermom
10 years ago
If a certain amount for the appraisal wasn't a contingency, under what circumstances could you walk away from the buy without losing your earnest money? Inspection? I'm afraid, but It doesn't sound to me like you have any justification to ask for a lowering of the price. In my area, which right now is booming, appraisals come in lower than sales prices all the time because appraisers are super careful and haven't caught up yet. In fact, it could well be that the house has already increased in value since your offer was accepted.

Think of it this way: It would be like the seller asking you to pay more because there may now be a back-up buyer who actually would offer more than what you paid. You obviously wouldn't agree to that either. Or if the appraisal had come in higher than agreed-upon purchase price, you wouldn't pay more, either.

As you say, you like the new house, and in the scheme of things, it doesn't really matter too much.

I'm just curious why your realtor thought "it was worth a try."
kirkhall
10 years ago
I'm also curious why you had an appraisal at all. If you weren't financing a majority of the purchase, did the bank really need an appraisal to okay your "small" loan for a "larger" house?
ShanaMaiya
Original Author
10 years ago
Did the bank NEED to do an appraisal? I couldn't tell you. It's probably just a way for them to get more money.