Low Appraisal - Home Next Door Not Used as Comp

[Mike Trzaska]

I just got my appraisal back on the HELOC I was trying to increase to free up additional equity to invest in RE. Unfortunately, my appraisal came in about 40k under what I was expecting and my appeal was just denied. One of the things that dumbfounds me is that the house directly right next door was not used as a comp and transferred 3 weeks ago from nearly $100k higher than our appraised value. It is nearly a replica of our home: same colonial style, same bed/bath count, same square footage, similar renovations. The only difference I could see is that the home is more renovated, but all 3 of our bathrooms have been fully renovated with similar finishes in last 2 years, our kitchen was renovated with very similar quality, mechanical ages all very similar.

Can anyone help wrap my head around why this would not be used as a comp in an appraisal and if you would pay for another appraisal?

Additionally, there are other comps that have sold on our street and next with a similar value so it also shows the house next door was not a fluke.