Finish the Appraisal--It's the Right Thing To Do

With all we realtors must do in this difficult market to get a home under contract, why won't all appraisers establish full value instead of stopping at or slightly above the contract price?? All too often with transactions that the appraised sales price was obviously cut short after reaching the contract terms. I am involved with a home that the seller had paid for an appraisal 8 months, the current appraisal comes in nearly 13% lower!! Area sales actually gained 2.6% in 2007. With unforeseen problems, this "short " appraisal has given us fits as we are now locked into this value as far as the underwriter is concerned. My own CMA done prior to writing the offer was significantly greater than the now current appraisal. With underwriters on high alert for any signs of fraud or misrepresentation, appeal to reason seems to be useless. This has caused sacrifices to be made that should never have been considered. Mind you this was not some uncommon home, it is a pretty straight forward style with adequate comps. The buyer should be getting his money's worth and the people involved ought to be doing the right thing and not the easy thing. There is a bigger picture here.

Real Estate Market Conditions in Greene & Christian County

Sadly, it is a fact of life that we often people or industries get painted with the same incorrect brush. While our real estate market may be down in some areas, it is not the disaster that the national media would lead us to believe. Our two major counties that most realtors work in here show units down by 11% plus but the average price is up 2.9% in Greene County when compared to the same period as last year, and Christian County is off some 15% in sales with average prices virtually unchanged. In both cases days on market have only increased by one week! Think about that—Sales have fallen but prices haven’t!! If 2006 was a record year, is it really that bad of a market to be 11-15% behind?? Sure it is an adjustment but it can’t be a record every year.
I would venture to say when you talk to most realtors about their business they will say it is less, total units sold is off just some 450 units from last year. Calculated thru the end of July, that averages to 2 less sales per day!! I am more inclined to think that the sheer increase in the number of agents over the last 3-4 years has more of an impact on our ability to make a living than anything else (aside from the collapse of the non conforming mortgage market). Too many agents chasing a limited number of opportunities.