Are appraisal "method" numbers a complete farce?

[Johann Jells]

Frankly, my impression of the appraisal process is this: they glance at some comps, instantly decide what they think the value is, then groom all the numbers to support what they decided, doctoring the drawing for sq ft if need be. I thought it was remarkable on a Nov appraisal of my 3 family for $325k that every method of evaluation: rents, rooms, units, GBA and bedrooms, came within a $9k range, less than a 3% variation w just one outlier, replacement being $340k. The joker was he undersized the footage by 20% with measurements so bad it's hard to believe they're accidental, and I held the end of the tape for him.

But the one I just received is a true work of art, his 3 different methods of valuation fall within a 1.3% range of $270k, varying only $3,500! What precision! What obvious nonsense. Not only did this one undermeasure by 15% (he drew the length of the rowhouse off by 7') he didn't even bother to fill in the fields for valuation by unit, room, bedroom and GBA. Does anyone know if it's normal practice for the appraiser to send a flunky to measure and photograph the property? I didn't think so.

So now I have 2 crap appraisals 20% apart, I guess I'll roll the dice again, it'll be worth it if I can refi from a 5.5% 30 year to a 3.125% 15 year. I think I'm going to call Citibank and tell them to reverse the charges, as I didn't get what I paid for. I can easily prove the sq ft measurement, on which most of the appraisal is based, is crap.