Refinance requires permanent heat source - Help!

[Henry D Griffith]

Greetings - I'm in the middle of refinancing my primary residence. The home has a wood fireplace in the basement, and electric radiant heat upstairs. However my appraiser listed the home as needing a "Primary heat source in the basement, as the fireplace alone devalues the property." So now I have to do some work for this refinance. 

First I'm aggravated by this, as the basement (although partially finished) has no bedrooms anyway. My mortgage lender is telling me to simply install electric baseboard heat, and that will suffice as long as they're wall mounted and not portable. But I have a few questions....

1. Will a wall mounted 110v unit pass (One that plugs into a wall outlet and not hard wired- but is still wall mounted, and not portable)

2. Do I need one in every room of the basement, or just the living spaces? ( I have an unfinished utility room, as well as an office with no egress windows, so it's not actually a living space) 

3. Here is a link for what I was going to go with. Im not concerned about the cost of usage, as Im honestly never going to use them. I simply want to get this refinance completed asap.  I prefer my fireplace and get free lumber anyway. 

https://www.amazon.com/Heat-Storm-HS-1500-PHX-WIFI-Infrared-Heater/dp/B07JXRWJ8D/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&keywords=120v%2Bplug%2Bin%2Bbaseboard%2Bheater&qid=1586794398&sr=8-23&th=1

Any advise would be very helpful. Thanks!

[Joseph J DiFranco]

Great questions.  Responses here would be good, and I'm not really sure of the correct answer.  However, what you install will likely have to be reinspected by the appraiser.  I would tell the lender to talk it over with the appraiser and give you a final answer, before any money is spent.  Best of luck.

[Henry D Griffith]

Originally posted by @Joseph J DiFranco:

Great questions.  Responses here would be good, and I'm not really sure of the correct answer.  However, what you install will likely have to be reinspected by the appraiser.  I would tell the lender to talk it over with the appraiser and give you a final answer, before any money is spent.  Best of luck.

I've reached out to my lender, and awaiting a response. I'm hoping I can use wall mounted units. If I have to purchase multiple that isn't an issue. However if they must be hard wired in, thats going to be a massive pain in the rear. Running electrical across my basement does not sound like my idea of a fun weekend. 

[CJ M.]

@Henry D Griffith

I'm no expert, but the electrical would not scare me. Just outsource it, I would not think the cost would be that extensive.

[Henry D Griffith]

Originally posted by @CJ M.:

@Henry D Griffith

I'm no expert, but the electrical would not scare me. Just outsource it, I would not think the cost would be that extensive.

 Electrical doesnt scare me to do it myself (I usually do). But its across a finished basement, and the location & running of wiring across the span of the home is not something I look forward to. Lol. 

[Matt M.]

@Henry D Griffith

Permanent means permanent (and hard wired)

[Tim Johnson]

i had an FHA loan this year and the exact same thing happened. They allowed us to install hard wired electric baseboard heat and then the appraiser signed off

[Henry D Griffith]

Originally posted by @Matt M.:

@Henry D Griffith

Permanent means permanent (and hard wired)

 Damn. This is going to get annoying. Why do appraisers have to be such a pain in the rear. I was really hoping to avoid running power across my entire finished basement for a dedicated circuit. 

[Filipe Pereira]

Primary heat source would be a permanent heat source (hard wired). Plug ins would be removable, obviously. I can't imagine that being sufficient. 

Ultimately your appraiser is going to call the shots here, so don't piss him or her off too much. ;) 

Report back once you have an email response, I'm curious as to which route this goes!

[Marcos Torres]

Just encountered the same issue on my first property. Loan fell through due to no permanent heat source. It's a crawl space foundation though and I have run electric on my own on this type. I'm thinking about putting in this baseboard heater to get the loan approved....or get a hard money loan which would probably cost more in the end.