Appraisal for refinance: connection to actual value

[Anonymous]

We just had our home appraised as we refinanced our mortgage and are wondering how accurate the value provided was in terms of what we could actually get. We were pleasantly surprised by ours.

[Anonymous]

It totally depends on the appraiser. I'm pretty good with DC values. Want to tell us the details of your house (location, type, size) and see what we think its likely worth.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine did the same - got an appraisal, refinanced, and then put her house on the market for the same price as the appraisal (arlington). Her house is in a hot neighborhood where things move fast, but she didnt get any offers, and eventually pulled the house off of the market.

[Anonymous]

Appraisers are all over the map. We are selling and buying a new house. We weren't worried at all about our house appraising (based on recent comps) and were a bit concerned about the one we were buying (fewer comps). Ours came in low and the house we're buying came in high. Go figure. Look at your appraisers comps (they should be in the report) and see if you agree with his judgment about what was really comparable. If you're familiar with the neighborhood, you may have a better feel for the finer gradations in location, etc.

[Anonymous]

About a year ago, we got an appraisal for a refinance that ended up being $50,000 less than what we sold the house for a few months later. We recently refinanced our new house and I think the appraisal was way higher than what we could sell the house for.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We reviewed the comps in detail and we think they're quite fair. We were very concerned about getting a lowball appraisal because we'd heard of people getting what seemed like below market awful values (the pendulum swinging the other way basically, after the madness before the fall). We were afraid our house would be hard to value because the neighborhood is very, very mixed in terms of type of housing. There are new McMansions, 20-30 year old colonials (which we own), and then some 1940s and 1950s small brick uggers. The appraiser did find comps we thought were applicable to us and I was happily surprised for what they went for (and recently). We're in the FC part of Fairfax County. Definitely things are selling for more than they did last year.

[Anonymous]

OP again. By FC I meant Falls Church.