We could scrap half of the laws in place and utilize technology so much better to help customers as an industry (speaking as a direct lender).I’m doing almost all of my company’s closings without external appraisals because it’s taking months to get them back.

That mistake aside, what would you do if you needed to come up quick with roughly $300K with no time for an appraisal and closing only a couple weeks away?

Here is what I am seeing in the Gatlinburg market:  The buyers generally right now are "all cash", and they are waiving inspections and appraisals so that they can get a deal done quickly. 

When your offer is accepted then it'll go to underwriting and have appraisal done.

It appraised for $425k, I did a cash out, got a check for $170k, and the property still cash flows $2k/month.

I am having trouble understanding how to appropriately evaluate the property's value - is it based on the current "market" value, the 2020 tax assessment value of land and improvements, or from a bank appraiser who would be used during the purchasing process?

That means refinance or HELOC will return 75-80% on the appraised value.

I'm not sure it is the best time to buy a new property, but at the same time I may not be able to get a higher appraisal value over the next couple of years than I could right now - depending on what happens with the market. 

Being an appraiser can help your real estate investing business enormously.

We then asked for concessions and seller financing given appraisal fell short from what was expected due to the condition of one of the properties (the 8 unit) How did you finance this deal?