GRRR Rant! F'in Appraiser

[DrPizza]

Okay. Had to pay for an appraisal on the farm we're in the process of buying.
We have until Oct 8 to close... afterward, we either forfeit our $500 deposit, or pay a $100 a day penalty
(buying a foreclosed property from a bank - they really emphasized that time was important.)

So, the moron we paid $$ to for the appraisal was dragging his feet. Our real estate broker finally demanded that he send in the appraisal. All he had to do was type it and fax it later that afternoon.

Well, by sheer luck, my wife and father in law were at the property, mowing the lawn (since the other fvcktard - the other real estate agent - didn't care to maintain the lawn - it hadn't been mowed yet this year) And guess who shows up? The appraiser. He must have forgotten the appraisal value between the time he looked at the house and had to type it up.

So, anyway, he gets the appraisal done and sends it in.

But, there's a little flaw: The house has a relatively new roof (2-3 years old), but they installed the flashing wrong and it leaks by the flashing. Minor repair. Appraiser listed it as a $3000 repair. Since this constitutes "major damage to the roof", we cannot get a loan commitment from our current lender. We either have to have a contractor (licensed, insured, etc. since it's not our property) repair the roof or go with another lender who is going to charge a significantly higher interest rate because of the nature of the property.

Yeah, I'd be happy to pay a contractor to do the roof repair... $2-300 tops... we already had an estimate from a relative who works for a construction company (when we looked over everything to get a rough estimate on how much to set aside for repairs). But, that's not an issue. Finding a contractor who has an opening right now is pretty much impossible - to have the closing on time, the roof would need to be repaired like... this week.

Appraiser refuses to back down on his repair estimate.

Gee... if he'd have done his job in a timely fashion, we wouldn't be in a bind now.

Now I have to decide if I'm just going to "illegally" repair the property myself. I don't own it. It's sold "as is." And, I am not entitled to do any work there until I close. It definitely needs to be done, I had planned on doing it myself within a week or two after we closed. It's a 2 hour job, tops. (plus clean-up)

Thanks appraiser guy. :|

 

[amdskip]

Yeah the things like this can really slow up the whole process of buying a house and deadlines suck.

Have a :beer: and chill

 

[Splork]

I know that totally sucks, but what can you do. You're at the mercy of an idiot. If it was me, I'd just fix the damn thing myself and withhold payment to the appraiser.

-sp

 

[43st]

I'd fix it myself.

What are you farming? I'm very close to doing the same thing. I have about 40 acres, I just need to ween myself from the NYC money.

 

[rh71]

Where'd you find appraiser guy ? There's enough competition out there that competent and reputable appraisers should've been hired instead. Our guy sent it in the same day and sent me a full binder on his findings shortly thereafter.

 

[Ogg]

well do it man, quick!!
Thats a small price to pay for finding such an awesome property. Yeah yeah orchard, yeah land for miles.
No no no dont describe it again in all its grandeur, we cant take it, and we dont want to hear about it anymore, we're jealous :Q :|

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Can you use the appraiser and repair estimates to renegotiate on the price? Something like where you actually 3k less, but agree to escrow 3k for roof repair.

 

[DougK62]

I'd find myself a new appraiser. A competent one this time.

 

[DrPizza]

for some reason, I've been led to believe there are only 2 licensed appraisers in my city. (according to my real estate agent)...

One of the agents at my real estate agent's office, and this other guy.

When the bank called to set up an appraiser, they called my real estate agent first - conflict of interest, so they were referred to this other idiot.


Anyway...
As posted in other threads
111.3 acres (40 wooded, the rest pasture/hayfield
includes small section of xmas trees, small fruit orchard, apple trees everywhere
4 bedroom 2 full bath, remodeled kitchen, new family room with vaulted ceilings - all tongue and groove, living room, and dining room.
Very large barn, according to the previous owners, it was on some list to be put on some sort of historic places register or something... 150 years old and the interior is in pretty much mint condition.
quansut building (like a big hangar/garage)
tractor garage, big enough for 5 big tractors, and then some
pond
stream

Gonna grow me some chickens and cows
small garden to start with, possibly add an acre of corn or something
Alfalfa field or something to help the deer out (already have seen quite a few huge deer)
turkeys, pheasants, and peacocks.

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
Can you use the appraiser and repair estimates to renegotiate on the price? Something like where you actually 3k less, but agree to escrow 3k for roof repair.

Why was the appraiser doing an inspection? Would have thought that type of thing would be an inspectors job...

Anyway, as said above, wouldn't that allow you to get out of the contract now because of the damage they found. You could re-neg the contract for additional time, etc. At the worst case you get your money back and screwed out of whatever other things you setup to coordinate this closing, so it still sucks, but, you shouldn't be out cash as part of the contract you are in.

 

[Homerboy]

new appraiser for sure... with a little "bonus" for quick and timely work.
No reason you cant get another

 

[DrPizza]

well... I'm outta here (school) now. Time to go up to the farm and continue mowing. Hopefully we get a tractor and brushhog this weekend while at a large farm auction. I've gotta get the back 40 hayed to get some weight in the barn. (Old barns were built to have weight in them. Without the weight, they can shift)

But, for now, I'm happily mowing the lawn with a push mower... although it's a pull mower now - impossible to "push" it through the deep stuff (as I said, now mowed this year yet)

 

[DrPizza]

oh, and even if there is another appraiser in this area... that pretty much means forfeiting the first 300 we spent on an appraisal and spending another 300. Every time I turn around, we're writing a check for something such as that. (sold as is causes a few extra fees to be thrust on the buyer)

 

[DrPizza]

Oh, and thank God we don't have to have a survey done on the land... I was curious how much one would cost - I wanted to be accurate where I put the "no trespassing signs" - probably around 3 grand. :Q

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Anyway...
As posted in other threads
111.3 acres (40 wooded, the rest pasture/hayfield
includes small section of xmas trees, small fruit orchard, apple trees everywhere
4 bedroom 2 full bath, remodeled kitchen, new family room with vaulted ceilings - all tongue and groove, living room, and dining room.
Very large barn, according to the previous owners, it was on some list to be put on some sort of historic places register or something... 150 years old and the interior is in pretty much mint condition.
quansut building (like a big hangar/garage)
tractor garage, big enough for 5 big tractors, and then some
pond
stream

Gonna grow me some chickens and cows
small garden to start with, possibly add an acre of corn or something
Alfalfa field or something to help the deer out (already have seen quite a few huge deer)
turkeys, pheasants, and peacocks.

You're awesome! Sorry I didn't see the other mentioned threads. Where are you located? Are you keeping a day job? What about health insurance?

I'm going to try and attend a PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) conference in February for beginning farmers. The land we have can grow Christmas trees quite well as it's mostly mountains. The valley between the two hills has a nice stream and some flatter fertile areas.

 

[DrPizza]

Wow, I was going to check out a local sustainable agriculture thing in this area.
I'm also considering building some windmills... great physics project... and power my house (at least partially) with them. (I should definitely be able to at least power the barn)

After I left school, I went and checked out furnaces... so far, I'm leaning toward coal. Extremely fuel efficient (around 90% for the model I was looking at). I'd rather have a dual fuel furnace: coal and wood, but I'm not sure what I'll find.

 

[axelfox]

Make sure time is of the essence is put in the K. That way, if you go to court, that should help you.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
for some reason, I've been led to believe there are only 2 licensed appraisers in my city. (according to my real estate agent)...

One of the agents at my real estate agent's office, and this other guy.

When the bank called to set up an appraiser, they called my real estate agent first - conflict of interest, so they were referred to this other idiot.


Anyway...
As posted in other threads
111.3 acres (40 wooded, the rest pasture/hayfield
includes small section of xmas trees, small fruit orchard, apple trees everywhere
4 bedroom 2 full bath, remodeled kitchen, new family room with vaulted ceilings - all tongue and groove, living room, and dining room.
Very large barn, according to the previous owners, it was on some list to be put on some sort of historic places register or something... 150 years old and the interior is in pretty much mint condition.
quansut building (like a big hangar/garage)
tractor garage, big enough for 5 big tractors, and then some
pond
stream

Gonna grow me some chickens and cows
small garden to start with, possibly add an acre of corn or something
Alfalfa field or something to help the deer out (already have seen quite a few huge deer)
turkeys, pheasants, and peacocks.

Damn, reading that just makes me giddy all over.. I really want to live in a place like this.

 

[Goosemaster]

was it you that was complaining that "they" didn't pay you enough as a math teacher.....farms aren't exactly cheap...especially in NY.

As for the appraiser, so you have any legal grounds with which to file a complaint ?

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
was it you that was complaining that "they" didn't pay you enough as a math teacher.....farms aren't exactly cheap...especially in NY.

As for the appraiser, so you have any legal grounds with which to file a complaint ?

Nope. I've never complained about my salary. But I've stated in the past that if I left teaching, with my college grades and abilities, I'd be able to command a higher salary in the open market.
Nonetheless, I love teaching and doubt I'd want to leave the field.


Anyway, "farms aren't exactly cheap... especially in NY"... depends on where in NY.
Read the list above again... 111.3 acres, house, barn, storage garage thing, tractor garage
40 acres are timber (right now valued in the low teens - should be worth a bit more in 5 or 10 years, especially as the cherry trees get larger)

Anyways, 90K

plus, until I start raising cows... I've got 30 recently reseeded acres - great hay. Do you have any idea how many bails of hay that is?? Thousands. (of the rectangular bails)... at over a dollar a bail, that means I get a little extra income (that'll pay for the tractor in 1 year)

 

[PanzerIV]

Damn, DrPizza, everytime I see that price I turn all green...must be envy. Seriously, you found a great deal I just wouldn't want to deal with those winters. Best of luck to you.