Anonymous wrote:Here is my experience: the appraiser skipped houses really close to ours because he wanted similar square footage. He found others within 5 miles or so, including one o/s the beltway. We are inside the beltway. Anyway, You will get no credit for being on a quiet street or for backing up to a park. Well, at least if you appraiser is like ours. I think it is ridiculous.
But the appraiser will give you credit for renovated kitchen, deck, basement - assuming the comps don't have those things.
For example, If a comp has no basement and sold for $600,000, then the appraiser may make the comp value $629,250 (that is assuming you have 1,950 s.f. in basement and the appraiser uses $15 per s.f.)
our appraiser used $15 per s.f. for basements and $45 per s.f. for upper levels.
our appraiser added only $7,500 to comps that didn't have a renovated kitchen. He also added $5,000 to comps that didn't have a deck and $5,000 to comps that didn't have a fireplace. He added $15,000 to comps that were rated in worse condition than ours. Finally, he added $5,000 (I think) to comps that had one less bathroom than ours.
House C sounds like a comp our appraiser would have used. Unfortunately, he probably would have used the nearby houses you mention.
our appraisal came in too low
