I could see a new kitchen, repaired plumbing and new flooring adding $20K in value. The time frame isn't so important; the work you did is.

Is $170K still less than comps of sold houses without the amount of work remaining that yours has?

Well, isn't that what happens when people flip houses? The value goes up, frequently quite dramatically.

What counts is how the new and improved house compares to houses that sold for around 170K.

I'm doing my best to rustle up comps. So far, there aren't many. I printed out three from the assessor's website and drove by. One, I absolutely can't figure out; it looks awful and sold for $208 in May, this year. It has about the same square footage and a pool. Ours also has a pool.

The other looks very nice and has a new roof. It has less sq.ft, no pool and sold for $160 in June, this year.

The last one I found is around the corner, but in the same subdivision. Looks great, but sold a year ago for $110.

It's a blue collar neighborhood and RE data shows price per sq/ft hovering around $86. To get $170, we'd need $98 per.

I admit I am just baffled at the vast differences in appraisals. There seems to be no consistent do-this, don't-do-that as far as bringing up value.

You don't need to answer, but did you intend to flip the house?

Do you know what they looked like inside when they actually sold? You could also check on redfin, search by sold. It will tell you listing price and sold price. And usually has the listing photos (sometimes you can see them when you click on the clickable sold link under property history.

Also, I don't think you can use a 1-year old sale as comp unless there aren't any sales at all within a certain distance of your property. Sometimes it can also be a sale 'not at arms length' or a foreclosure.

nosoccermom, thanks for that tip! I hadn't thought of that. I looked on zillow, thinking they have a resource for 'sold' but didn't find anything.

rrah, sometimes I wonder where my posts go in GW! I don't see my answer, but no, we did not intend to flip. We bought it and very shortly realized it was a big mistake. Having a buyer fall out of the sky was incredibly serendipitous, but trying to make this pigpen over has been very expensive. My worry is that what we're doing may not make an ounce of difference to an appraiser.

One thing about appraisals is that they don't make a judgement about style or taste. You get x dollars for fresh paint. It doesn't matter whether your paint is neutral beige or fuchsia pink and neon yellow. Same with things like carpets and tile.

Alot of your value is based on square footage, number of bedrooms and number of bathrooms. Smaller variations are made for differences in finishes and overall state of repair. A major defect - needs roof, furnace, etc. - is deducted at average replacement cost.

The last one I found is around the corner, but in the same subdivision. Looks great, but sold a year ago for $110.

Wouldn't that one have been used as a comp when you bought?

I don't think that house would be used. My understanding is, that with the fluidity of the market, only sales in the last 6 months count.

pixie_lou, that's what worries me. That's why I quit painting. I cancelled a painter who wanted $1K to just paint a living room and four bedrooms.

I'm just on edge. It's to be appraised next week.

Here we are in September and the house was only appraised last Thursday. I'm not a very happy camper because I feel the buyer's agent pushed us to do much more than necessary for an 'as is' sale. And.... we still do not know the appraised value! I don't remember waiting this long on prior sales. It is supposed to close on the 15th and I'm not thinking that's going to happen.

It's back and it's good. Over the sales price, in fact. I'm thankful that we can proceed with the sale, but more than a bit irritated at being pushed to overdo an as-is sale. How would you feel about using this realtor to sell your house?

Do you mind saying what it appraised at?

I thought 'as-is' meant that the seller wasn't going to do anything to the house.

I think you were nervous about it not selling/appraising so you did what you now view as unnecessary work.
Just enjoy the sale and move on.

needinfo001, I have not seen it on paper, but the realtor told me, reluctantly, that it is $175K. I asked him to get us a copy.

marti8a, that's my understanding, too. When the realtor brought the buyers over, they said they wanted to finish everything that we had started. I gave him a price based on that understanding which would recoup our costs to date. He suggested the higher price and then said, well, the lender requires this and the lender requires that, so we complied. Lots more $$$$$.

cmarlin20, I view a lot of the work we put into the house as unnecessary for an as-is sale and appraisal. I'm the one who put the brakes on and told him, "We're done." We're going to close and "move on" but I resent being pushed into spending money on improvements that we didn't need to do. That's why I'm chary of letting him represent us when - if ever - we get around to selling the house we're in.

Are you considering the buyer's agent to represent you when you sell your house? Sounds like he negotiates the best deal for his clients. What about your agent? Where was s/he during all that? Or was it one and the same?

On the other hand, you successfully sold the house. You now also have a good idea about what value is added by non-structural improvements. This should help you when you're ready to sell your current house.

Since the buyer paid for the appraisal, the buyer can choose whether or not to share the appraisal with you.

Yes, I know that, pixie_lou; I'm just not in the mood to be toyed with.

nosoccermom, I may yet file a complaint against the realtor who represented us when we bought the house. (That's all in the thread "Flipping by Default" over in Home Decor.) The realtor representing the buyers wants to help us find the next house (I can barely think about another house right now!) and sell ours. You make a good point; I think I'm just at the end of any shred of patience and I'm exhausted from this ordeal. I may change my mind about him. Heaven knows, I didn't do a good job of picking the one who sold us this pig-in-a-poke.

"Heaven knows, I didn't do a good job of picking the one who sold us this pig-in-a-poke."
No one forced you to make repairs... (which was probably the reason why it appraised so well anyhow)
No one forced you to buy this home... you made both of these decisions yourselves. If you are a "victim", you are one of your own doing.
You do realize that you are possibly looking at capital gains tax for not living there for more than two years?

Yes, we made the mistake of buying the house. What you don't know is the exceedingly poor advice we got from the realtor, the worst of which was "you don't need an inspector; it's all just a racket". My OH has no backbone to speak of and he let himself be led into a deal we could not get out of, even when we realized our mistake.

And, actually, we were 'forced' to make repairs in order for the buyer to obtain their loan. We did go above and beyond what we needed to do, partly because we're both sticklers for doing 'what's right'.

I'm not a "victim" and didn't mean to ever imply that. I'm actually rather feisty, assertive and don't like people who pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

And, yes, we know we'll need a tax attorney to figure that out.

If it helps, it sounds like you have lots of receipts and might get to take some loss on your return.

If your agent advised you to not get an inspection, then yes, you were misrepresented.

There's only capital gains if you make a profit, so keep every single one of your receipts for repairs and improvements as well as fees/commissions associated with buying and selling.

I understand that you are completely fed up with this whole experience. It sounded like a complete nightmare. However, once this is behind you, things will look up again. I always ask my kids, "What did we learn from this?" And, who knows, the current buyer's agent may be good when he's representing you.

I think we can cross capital gains off the list; we did lose money on the deal. Have a stack of receipts to prove it. For four months, all we did is spend money. Too bad I can't be compensated for the medication it took to keep me going. :)

And, actually, we were 'forced' to make repairs in order for the buyer to obtain their loan.

Couldn't you have said no and then the sale would not go through to those people? Wasn't that an option?

dekeoboe, it's a long sad story, but having this buyer turn up when the house was not on the market was a saving grace. We had just closed several weeks prior when we got a call out of the blue from this realtor. The purchase was a mistake on our part, aided and abetted by our trusted (no longer) realtor. I suspect she knew this buyer (a relative of both seller and listing realtor) was in the wings, actually in the process of qualifying, and hurried/locked us into a fast deal. We didn't know any of this until the buyer's realtor told us.

We will be so happy - not really happy but relieved - when it closes, perhaps we can begin to recover emotionally, physically and financially. My UNhappiness stems not only from our realtor's infidelity, but their realtor's constant pushing us to do more and more when the buyers wanted the house as-is and to finish it themselves.

Having a bit of a freakout here. Perhaps it's needless concern, but....

The offer was written and accepted early August with a closing date of Sept. 15. Appraisal came back Sept. 9. Escrow agent had us sign papers Sept. 12. Later that same day, we got an addendum by e-mail, changing COE to "on or before 9-24".

We had been assured that the loan had been approved. When asked on the 12th why the extension, the realtor said underwriter needed more documents. That was the same answer he gave me yesterday. You would think the lender had secured an underwriter prior to a COE. This is not making me feel warm and fuzzy. Any thoughts?

The underwriter is employed by the lender and reviews the documents to make sure that an investor will accept the loan package. Could be something minor (or major).

Here is a link that might be useful: underwriting documents

A few of our mortgage closings were delayed from the original date for paperwork - once for the appraisal, which I knew they already had. I suspect the mortgage company just needed more time to get their ducks in a row, maybe to get an official record of info they already had, for their internal compliance. For example, we needed to send copies of our tax returns, which they used to approve the loan, but they didn't schedule the closing until they had received some kind of confirmation of the data from the IRS.

I remember it was frustrating, but I wouldn't freak out over it.

Thanks, Cercis141 and nosoccermom; I'm trying be be positive because I **positively** want this deal to close! I thought the paperwork would never end when we bought this house, but when the close date rolled around, it closed - on the date. I think the underwriter asked for one more document the day before, but that was it. Crossing fingers.