Help me understand appraisals

[Jessica G.]

The DFW market is insane right now, completely different now than it was even three or four months ago. Inventory is extremely low and prices are getting higher weekly in nice middle-class neighborhoods. Everything decent is selling immediately with multiple offers and over asking price. I have a friend who got eight offers in 36 hours on her $140,000 home in a good school district.

However, when dealing with appraisers and some RE agents, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Are they not aware of what's happening around them? Am I just not realistic?

ISSUE NO. 1

I emailed a Realtor last month to see what she thought a 1,440 sf SFR we own would sell for in mid-May when the lease is up and we put in new flooring, appliances, and counters. She replied with a list of comps from our subdivision, all from 2013. The oldest was a year old and the newest was four months old. (Houses just aren't getting listed lately.)

She said our house was worth $95 per square foot and she would love to list it for us at $138,000. I replied that that seemed low, considering very similar 3/2s within 1/4-1/2 mile of us (different subdivisions, but extremely comparable) had been selling for about $108 per sf in the last couple of months.

She sent a very indignant reply, saying she would list it for whatever we wanted, but the appraiser would look at the same comps as she did and then our buyer wouldn't be able to get financing.

I was pretty annoyed and haven't replied to her yet. In the meantime, houses in and near our subdivision are selling in days with multiple offers Listings for 50-year-old houses with no updating are at $108+ per sf.

ISSUE NO. 2

Our personal residence is a 2,200 sf 4/3/2 in a nice neighborhood with great schools. We bought it in 2011 as a short sale for $150,000. The average comps from the last three months in our subdivision (about seven houses) are $91-$100 per sf, which puts us comfortably over $200,000.

We decided to refinance because we could pull some cash out while still lowering our payment with a better interest rate.

The appraisal came in at $180,000. The appraiser said he based the appraisal mostly on a house with the same floorplan on the same street, which sold in AUGUST 2013 while listed at $185,000 (he dropped us $5,000 because we don't have a pool).

He noted that he called the listing agents for recently sold comps, and they all told him they sold within days with multiple offers for above listing price. (They didn't give him a sold price because Texas is a non-disclosure state.)

On the very next page, he noted that prices in our neighborhood are "stable" so he felt comfortable using the August 2013 comp.

So what's going on? Any advice? I'm feeling really nervous about selling the house now if appraisers are this out of touch with what's happening in DFW.