If you recently refinanced

Did you get a new appraisal? We've only been in our house 2 years and the assessed value of our house has dropped significantly. Our home is still worth more than what we owe on our mortgage, but we've also done a lot of work inside the house that would (hopefully) increase the value. Would an appraisal be worth it? We didn't do anything like renovating the kitchen.

Re: If you recently refinanced

I didn't but, I heard that some banks are offering free appraisal. If you are looking to just avoid the appraisal fee.

Re: If you recently refinanced

It was required by the bank and cost us $370 I believe

Re: If you recently refinanced

Thanks. I'm not concerned about the cost of the appraisal since we had to do it when we bought the house. I guess I'm nervous that they'll come back and say it's the same price I'm being told already.

Re: If you recently refinanced

From what I understand (and I could be off on this) the appraisal is based on comprable sales in your neighborhood. They base the homes they choose on size of the house, size of the lot, # of bedrooms, #of bathrooms, # of garages, pool or not, etc.

I don't think updates done (or not done) in the house play too much of a role.


We tried to re-fi in October (paid around $700) and the appraisal came in too low because there was a house on our street that had recently sold.

The house was on a bigger lot with one extra bedroom but the house is EXTREMELY unique. It was completely redone by a single guy and from what I heard from someone who looked at it, it was very "bachelor pad". It is the only contemporary house on a traditional block. Because of all of this it sat on the market for a long time and the price kept dropping. Because of it's proximity it was our #1 comp and distroyed our appraisal.

We are in the process of trying to re-finance now since the rates dropped again and there have been recent home sales more in line with where I thought we should be.

We are refinancing now with Teachers Federal and the appraiser came this morning (fingers crossed!!). The only fee we have paid is an application fee $60 and we won't have another fee until after we get the appraisal.

Good luck!

Re: If you recently refinanced

I am looking into a refi, can anyone reccomend their mortgage broker, we don't have anyone at the moment

Re: If you recently refinanced

I recently looked into refinancing, but didn't take it.

During the application procedure it was determined that we didn't need an appraisal because our mortgage was much less then what they determined our house to be worth.

When I asked how they could determine that over the phone, they said they do what I would say are like comps in the area, and place a generic value on your home.

Re: If you recently refinanced

ours was an electronic appraisel through our bank...they hold our Home Equity line of credit, so they are constantly evaluating our house. It appraised way more than we needed it to sight unseen...

it still cost us i$295 though...

Message edited 9/16/2010 12:10:59 PM.

Re: If you recently refinanced

It was required by my bank.


It was very sad..... we bought 5 years ago, redid the siding, new skylights, new PVC fence, inground pool and the appraisal was STILL $64k less than we paid

Re: If you recently refinanced

Posted by sleepie76

It was required by my bank.


It was very sad..... we bought 5 years ago, redid the siding, new skylights, new PVC fence, inground pool and the appraisal was STILL $64k less than we paid

Re: If you recently refinanced

yes, it was required

Re: If you recently refinanced

Yes we had to have one done.

Re: If you recently refinanced

We did not but we are refinancing with the bank that already holds our mortgage.

Re: If you recently refinanced

Ours will be done on Tuesday. What do they look for? I mean, will they care if I haven't put laundry away?