All Forum Posts by: Carlyle Small

So with my latest refinance the appraiser has my property at 300 square foot less than the county shows. My problem is that he is using comps based on the county measurements, and I fully believe this mismeasurement on the county side would apply to the comps as well since this is a planned community with cookie cutter layouts. Short of asking them to verify the square footage for the comps, which they likely wont do, is there any other course of action I can take?

@Mark Sewell This is the truest statement I've seen to date on the Houston market. It's absolutely bananas right now.

@Larry G. Freeney Interesting. I'll DM you.

Is anyone in Houston doing out of area or out of state investing? With the obvious challenge of finding quality property managers, realtors, and construction teams long distance, my thought is that it would make sense for 2 or 3 investors that target similar types of properties to chase this avenue together. Thus giving the long distance support team enough business to support the time investment. Have any investors in Houston joined forces on something like this?

@Ryan Deasy thanks Ryan, good to see there are some wins every now and then

@Aaron F. This is an extremely helpful post. Thanks for tracking down and sharing!

@Tony Castronovo Ouch..that sounds very painful. Kudos for persevering through.

Thanks for input @Steve Morris

@Bennie Leija I never thought to question the experience of the appraiser but that's a good point as well, Thanks

@Kenneth Garrett Thanks I'll inquire with my lender. Actually based on the comps i looked at before the appraisal I was thinking more like 185 but was but being conservative based on what they came back with. Anything over 175k they might be able to make an argument for, but 170K is based on the lowest $/sq ft out of the comps they supplied. If anyone wants to review the appraisal and see if im off base here, I would appreciate it. 

Do you think i would have better luck with the challenge if it fought for the 185k i originally came up with?

@Courtney King Thanks Courtney, I actually did supply them with a packet of comps and repairs/upgrades. They didn't seem too interested in it when I handed it over so I'm wondering if they even reviewed it.

So seasoning period is up and I'm refinancing at the end of the month. Appraisal came back and it's about 3-5k lower than expected. This could be the difference between paying something at closing or not having to. Looking at the comps they used, all the properties were 200+ sq ft smaller than my property except 1. The one other property was 100 sq ft larger and sold for 180k where as mine appraised for 170k. I just did a full rehab, with granite, floors, layout, bathrooms, and some maintenance items so I should be near the top of the comps. Anyone had luck battling the appraisal in a similar situation?