MattHi There Matt,Good to see you on BP.I've done a lot of these BRRR's or refi's for clients and myself and yes appraisers tend to be very very conservative on refinances.Reason being, on purchases, a new contract signed between buyer and seller assuming no distress is considered "market value," so appraisers are able to stretch an appraisal around 10-15% in some cases when conducting appraisals on purchases.This is a stark difference from refinances where they go out to the market and generally look at:- comps with 1/4 quarter mile (1/2, 3/4, and 1 full mile if no comps within 1/4, 1/2, etc distances)- most recent sold properties are used only and pending sales (not completed yet) is given 2nd class consideration- consideration is given to properties of the same title size, lot size, square footage, condition of the property and otherI've often seen that upgrades and rehabs dont always give you the adjustment you (as in buyers) often want so when judging if you should do the work to improve the property its important to look at "value," through the lense of an appraiser.I've spent 80k before and got 100k more in appraisal and at the same time I've also spent 65k and got 30k.

There is a comp nearby that is less square footage, and over $40k over the contract price listed in the appraisal.

Based on that experience, it seemed like its just better to go about building a new one according to the specs of current housing trends and get maximum rent for the square footage.

You have to have a frost footing, if you are pouring 4-5 feet of concrete, adding a few more feet gives you livable square footage.

Same square footage, but no garage.

Also try to research and compare square footage of each property. 

Apparently that means that because of the sq footage of the lot you could build 3 units +.5.

This gives you an idea of the direction of that market.If you are a flipper, it is more important to know the values, the neighborhoods from Street to Street, the average days on market (today, last 6 months, last year, etc), the average price per square foot for each size (they change as you go bigger or smaller in square footage), the schools.Notice some of the items are the same but the ultimate info for flips is DOM, Values, and individual neighborhoods.I know what my market is doing each month and I track it plus I drive it constantly.

If you look at expenses for heat- look at it against the square footage heated.

Square square footage of the house is irrelevant.