questions about HELOC appraisal amount

[Stephanie Barton]

Okay I've got a question for the professionals out there. My husband and I have applied for a HELOC to help make the down payments on our rental properties that are under contract and to help pay for the updates to the properties. Our house appraised for 157K when we bought it back in 2005, we have since refinanced our house and put it on a 15 year note and only have 92K left to pay off on our mortgage. We estimated our house to be worth around 160K and this is after many renovations that we have done since we have lived here that include: remodeled both living areas and a bathroom, new tile in the other bathroom shower, foundation repair, new A/C and heating unit, new carpet in den, new paint almost throughout, new energy efficient windows, among others. The bank sent an appraiser to our property and per my recent conversation with them estimated our house to be worth 152K. My question for the pros is this, is the appraisal value negotiable??? It's even lower than what Zillow estimates our house to be worth. Also, is it common for interest rates on a HELOC to be above 10%???? Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions. We really need this money to make our down payments on our properties.