Appraisal Inaccurately reported? Has it ever happened to you?

[Roc Pilon]

I just purchased a single family home in the downtown area of where I live. I purchased it because when I drove by and spoke with the realtor the cost for what was being sold seemed so crazily low I had my offer in that day and accepted the following day. Here's where it gets interesting...

The property is a .16 acre

5 bedroom/2 bathroom 2000sqft SFH + a vacant lot next to it (included)

It is zoned for office/commercial building.

Purchased: $235,000 

Appraised: $235,000

I didn't think anything of this at the time. I was like, sweet, right on the money... Then i started looking around the area of what else was for sale.. There is a small house thats a 3/1 around the corner for sale for $245k and all the comps on my appraisal were old or reflecting that of a 2/1 or a 3/1.

Things weren't adding up and when I went back to my appraisal it showed 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom for my property. The assessors office showed this on the city records as well... And the taxes reflect that of a 2/1.

Im wondering if my assessor, appraiser, etc are just looking at this property as a 2/1 because thats what the city is showing meanwhile its quite clearly a 5/2 (there is 2 bedrooms upstairs, 1 on the main, and 2 in the basement - the appraiser showed all these rooms in their sketch on the appraisal but still omitted 2 rooms for the numbers.)

A 5/2 in that area when its accurately reported would be worth between 300-350k by my calculations which is why I ask. Seems like poor recording/reporting may have just created 50-150k worth of equity in this property. Any thoughts?

[Jeff C.]

@Roc Pilon It's possible that there were unpermitted additions made to the property, and that's why the city shows the house as a 2/1. Appraisers will generally not assign value to unpermitted additions. Bedrooms below grade may not be legal bedrooms if they don't have 2 means of egress. This of course is variable by local building codes and I have no idea what they are where you are. I've definitely seen inaccuracies on appraisals, but there's no way your appraiser simply "missed" 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.