Any advice for challenging an appraisal?

[Neil Lorenzini]

I’m hoping someone out there has some experience challenging an appraisal tips with me.

I am pursuing a refinance on a rental to get better terms. I had it appraised earlier this year at 242k but the current appraisal for the new lender only came in at 218k. I need the new one to neon the ballpark of the first.

One of the comps they used is outside of what I would consider to be the relevant geographic district and it was significantly lower per square foot. Also, my property has one more bedroom than many of the other SFRs which is important because it’s is a student area. All of the comps were 2 or 3 bedrooms, whereas mine is a 4 bedroom.

What is the best way to go about challenging this? Do I need to pull the data and information on each of these, or do I just list out some more recent sales comps that I think are pertinent? do I need to write out some form of a letter explaining my reasoning? Since the other appraisal was so recent can I just submit those properties?

Any tips you’ve got would be most appreciated.