Home Refinance Question

[James H.]

We bought our home a year ago in Far North Dallas with cash.  In our neighborhood (+/- a mile), I have not seen a single home sit on the market for more than a month since we have been here.  Prices have certainly increased too.

We just applied for a home equity loan.  The appraisal came back stating that the expected time from market to sell in this area of Dallas is 3 to 6 months and that values are declining.  A quick check of Realtor.com or Zillow shows that this cannot be true.

The value came back at 2% more than we purchased the home for a year ago and 10% under the Zillow estimate.

What could be going on here?  

[Chris L.]

Zillow by no means is an accurate gauge for anything and their zestimates should be taken with a grain of salt. You need to double check the comps that were used in the appraisal and make sure there are not any others that may be more appropriate or favorable. Appraisers are on the side of protecting the bank but are supposed to render honest and fair opinions. If you have doubts about the appraisal, interview a couple listing agents and get their opinions on value and market conditions. If you have no intention on listing the house instead of wasting an agents time with a fake listing appointment you could hire a realtor to do a BPO (Broker Price Opinion) which should only cost about $50 and should provide you with enough information to see if the appraiser was way off. If you find substantial evidence to the contrary you could try to present it to the bank but I have rarely ever seen an appraiser make adjustments. You could try a different lender and see if you get a different appraisal amount also. Numbers don't lie. It should be very easy for a competent Realtor to give you all the data necessary to render your own opinion but it will not change how much the bank is willing to lend :-) Hope that helps! Cheers!