It is not as simple as you think…

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

Check out my Podcast on “What to do with a Low Appraisal”

If you are thinking that your only options on a low appraisal is to agree or get out, then you would be sadly mistaken! There are a lot of different options that I would consider (and so have my clients) as a win/win on a low appraisal. Let’s consider some scenarios:

1. Scenario 1-The Appraisal Is Just Not Making Sense! So you look at the details and the bedroom count is wrong, the square footage is wrong, the contract price you agreed to is wrong, the Loan Type is wrong (FHA instead of VA or Conventional), the comps are in an area so far away in another city that you are wondering what the heck is going on with this appraiser!! First of all go through everything in detail and make detailed notes and gather your back up to prove your side. Sometimes, an appraiser is going so fast that they miss a Counter Offer or maybe there is a discrepancy in the listing and the county records on the square footage or they just get your file confused with another. Stay calm and request a reconsideration and document all of your findings without using the words “the appraiser was wrong”. Saying the appraiser was wrong will not get you anywhere and they will read everything you submit. So start by saying that you appreciate the time and effort they have put in for your appraisal, but that you noticed that the Contract Price was for $725,000, however, the Counter Offer #3 notes the Contract Price agreed upon as $750,000. Or that you noticed that the loan was for a FHA loan, however, the Buyer will be getting Conventional financing. You get the idea, the more nuanced you can be, the further it will get you.
2. Scenario 2-The Renegotiation! So you have looked through the appraisal and either you agree with the appraisal or the time needed to get a reconsideration done isn’t enough to close on time, or you tried the Reconsideration to no avail; Now is time to Renegotiate! Have the Seller Offer to buy down some of the interest and ask the Buyer to put the down payment partially to the under appraisal portion of the home. This option can be done in conjunction with coming down on price as well, but first find out how much buying down the maximum amount of interest will cost and provide in a return on investment. You must know this FIRST before negotiating a further buy down. If an agent tells you otherwise, ask them about their previous experience doing this, my guess is never or they wouldn’t try to get you down on price first.
3. Scenario 3-Commissionectimy! So sometimes a buyer is only putting the minimum amount down and there isn’t anything that can be done to lower the interest. In addition this works on smaller appraiser issues like $5,000 or so. What I do is tell the Buyer’s agent that I am willing to match them dollar for dollar in reducing the commission to get the deal done, then depending if there is a short fall ask the Seller for the difference. A Seller will be impressed that the two agents are already doing their part to make the deal happen.

So in summary there are a lot of options and they are NOT mutually exclusive. I have done all of these on just one home in some cases and got the deal done! Sometimes, only 1 or 2 of the options get it done, and sometimes both parties have to part ways…but before you do that give it your best shot to get past a low appraisal!!