martin appraisal service

Our company has been in business for over 26 years, and has completed thousands of appraisals.  This is the first complaint to the Revdex.com that I am aware of after all these years.  After reviewing...

the appraisal report in question, I agree that the roof type was labeled incorrectly and the recent improvements weren't summarized in the report.  These items were in the appraisers work file, but simply weren't typed on the report.     The complaint filed stated the value was not accurate due to the above items not in the report.  The appraisal process includes a visual inspection of each room of the house as well as supporting photos of the rooms.  The pictures showed the improvements made to the house and were factored into the comparable selection.  The comparables selected were good choices for establishing the value for the subject property.  The appraisal requires only three comparables, but an extra comparable was included in the report for supporting data.  The subject is a 42 year old house and was compared to a 40, 34, 12, and 31 year old houses in similar condition relative to the subject.  In selecting these sales it shows the appraiser did factor in the condition and improvements made to the subject since all of the comparables were newer properties.   The complaint regarding not finding the septic system is a non issue since the appraiser is not required to do so, but simply state what kind of system is there and not locate it unless it is a FHA or USDA loan.   The complaint also states that poor customer service was provided.  The correction was requested by the lender regarding the above items to be corrected, and the revisions were made the same day and sent back to the lender.  The lender had no issues with our service, and has been a client of ours for over 20 years.  The appraisal did go through an extensive underwriting review and had no issues.  The lender had no problems with the appraisal, and the refinance of the property was on track for the closing of the loan.     The complaint also states the comparable properties were not like the subject, and the appraiser provided bad judgement on the comparable selection.  If the above statement was true the appraisal would not have made it through very strict underwriting standards.  As appraisers we have multiple items to look for when selecting comparable properties, and the ones used in the report are very representative of the subject.  I was asked as the owner of the company to review the appraisal, and I had no issues with the comparables selected and they were good indicators of value for the property.    In summary the value was not affected by not adding in the recent improvements since they were already factored into the condition and quality of construction rating for the subject property.  All concerns regarding the report were promptly addressed and corrected.  Our goal is to provide a good product and good customer service.  It is unfortunate the homeowner felt we didn't do that on this appraisal, but that can happen on occasion when valuing properties.