Refinancing a FHA -- appraisal issues

[Stephen Dee]

HI, 

I've got a 2 unit property. It's actually a single family house with a detached garage and an apartment above the garage. I've owned it for a little more than 4 years. I bought it for 202,000 and it appraised for 216,000. Which was close to the tax assessed value of 218,000. I currently have a 30 year FHA loan at 5%. I was living at the property until about 6 months ago. I have since moved out and fully rented it. I attempted to refinance it a few months before I decided to move out with a conventional loan. I wanted to get away from the mortgage insurance and reduce the interest rate. At the time, the appraisal came back lower than when I bought it 4 years earlier (202,000= New appraised value). I was surprised by this decrease. I have done a full renovation to the apt due to flood damage and various upgrades to the house. I never expected to see a large jump in my appraised value. But I did expect a 5k-15k increase based on the work.

My question is two fold. 

1)How do I go about finding Comps? I read the article on BP and the websites listed didn't have a value for my property. I believe because I live in a rural area. Zillow was the only one which has a value and it is WAY over inflated. How would you go about checking the value of your property?  Would you ever hire your own appraiser, separate from the bank? 

2) The tax assessor visited the property after the work was done because I pulled permits. But my tenant at the time, didn't let him enter the apt because I wasn't there. He told the assessor it was just normal repairs, nothing really changed. In reality, it was a major facelift. The apt looks 100 times better than it did originally. I later saw the assessment was lower at 202,000. Would the tax assessor's valuation bias the bank appraiser? Would it make any sense to call the tax assessor back to the property? I realize I open myself up to an increase in taxes. What are the chances and increase in the tax assessor's value would help to increase the bank assessor's value? 

Any opinions or information would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks

Steve