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?