The Appraisal Station Reviews (%countItem)
The Appraisal Station Rating
Address: 947 E Johnstown Rd Ste 233, Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43230-1851
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Heather N of The Appraisal Station in Westerville did our home appraisal. She came to our home and took pictures, asked very few questions and measured nothing. Her appraisal was surprisingly low. Upon reviewing the appraisal, she listed our square footage as 2148 and it is actually 2448. Upon pointing out her error, she insisted she measured....which she did not. After showing per previous appraisals, our homes floor plan and our county auditors website the then showed up to my property unannounced. She then updated her appraisal to reflect the correct square footage and did not add a single dollar of value to our house. If you look at the home values and the comparables she used, it is clear that the 300 sq. ft. should have added considerable value to the home. She made a mistake, then lied and insisted she didn't make a mistake. I have to PROVE that my house was 2448 and in defiance she refused to adjust the price out of spite, incompetence and vanity. This is the long run, will likely cost me tens of thousands of dollars all because she cannot do math, and cannot admit a mistake. She is grossly incompetent.
Hello
Mr. is unhappy about the value of his appraisal and decided slander was the best route to see if he could bully the appraiser into changing their value.
The appraiser responded to the appropriate parties involved (the lender and the AMC) with an addendum to the appraisal report. Mr. should direct all future communications and correspondence within this transaction to his lender. The appraiser is responsible for answering any and all questions presented to them by the AMC and the lender (their client). There are rules and regulations regarding who to contact if you're unhappy with an appraisal or the process; You should contact your lender, not lash out via public sources.
The following response was made in an addendum to the appraisal report and provided to the lender within days of receiving the complaint. The appraiser is not permitted by law to provide the entire appraisal report to anyone other than their client (the AMC), therefore this response may not make sense unless you’re reading the entire report, or you are an appraiser within this market.
Mr. should retract his slanderous comments and communicate with his lender.
Please contact me with any questions.
Thank you, Heather N
2/18/2019
The appraiser notes several concerns by the owner below.
The appraiser's inspection was 01/23/2019 between 1-11 (the appraiser called on her way per request by the owner).
The owner states the appraiser did not ask questions during the appraisal inspection.
The appraiser gave the owner a two-page property disclosure form to fill out that has 13 questions to answer that includes: improvements/repairs/any information the appraiser might need to arrive at an opinion of value. The owner stated $16,000 in improvements including: concrete patio/interior lights/insulated garage with electrical service/water softener/reverse osmosis system. The owner also stated he might be energy star certified. The appraiser gives the owner the form to fill out to have all information in writing rather than ask questions verbally. The inspection process is to focus mainly on the structure of the home.
The owner states the appraiser’s tools: camera/clip board
The appraiser takes a camera/clip board/inspection sheet/property disclosure form with her at all inspections. The appraiser keeps in her car a measuring wheel (this is not brought into the property due to the wheel being dirty). The appraiser does not measure the interior of the home this is all done from the exterior. While taking the exterior photos the appraiser is also measuring the home with the measuring wheel (the owner may or may not see this unless they are looking out the window.).
The owner stated the above grade sq ft to be 2448
The appraiser's original measurements were 2148. The square footage total for homes with unique upper level living areas depends on the person taking the measurements. Two different real estate professionals (county auditor 2448 sq ft/ appraiser 2148 sq ft) may come up with a wide range in square footage totals all meeting the ANSI measuring guidelines. Instruments such as the wheel, lasers, rounding or open to below areas can widely affect final GLA measurements.
Per request by the client and owner the appraiser went back out to the subject property to remeasure. It is not uncommon for an appraiser's measuring wheel to stick and or jump while measure when the ground is dry (during the appraisal inspection the ground was wet with snow on the ground.). After further review of county auditor and plans/specs provided by the owner, the appraiser agreed with the plans/spec and county auditor thus the report was updated to reflect the blueprint measurements.
An appraisal inspection on a typical home takes approximately 20-25 minutes depending on complexity of the design including: roof lines and bump outs. Per the owner the appraiser was at the property for approximately 40-45 minutes.
The appraiser chooses what she felt are the best comparables within the subject's market area to determine an opinion of value. The best comparables do take into consideration statistical data such as square footage, bedroom count, proximity, etc., but also take into account the condition, quality of materials used, and market appeal. While quality and condition are defined by UAD guidelines, there are still subtle or obvious differences that can still fall under the same UAD definition but represent a very different comparison. Often the more non-statistical characteristics of a property account for a large portion of the weight to determine which comparables best represent the subject's value.
The appraiser notes a total high dollar per square foot sales price of $140.82, a low of $87.18, and a median square foot sales price of $117.02 for the comparables considered. After deducting all value contributions to improvements and land, the GLA adjustment was executed at $25 per square foot, which is the approximate minimal amount for the adjusted dollar per square foot range. The basement square footage adjustment for the subject's neighborhood was found to be roughly less than half of the GLA adjustment, and therefore was placed at $8 per square foot.
The highest "before adjustment" sale in the subject’s market was noted at 224,000 which caps the market.
One sale was 240,000 but was not utilized due to it being non-MLS. Should the lender want that sale considered without terms it could be added to the subject report. The appraiser had originally gone over 12 months to bracket the subject square footage and used all MLS verified sales. The adjusted comparable shows the main driving factor in the subject's market is not sq footage.
Please contact me with any questions.
Thank you, Heather N
This is my, the complainant's, response to the business's response to Revdex.com Complaint ***.Ms. N is accusing me of slander and bullying. First of all, slander is in spoken form, libel is in written form. I am guilty of neither. And I have no idea how she thinks I am trying to bully her into raising the value of my home. I have moved past my appraisal, I am focused on her lies, unethical business practices and seeing if there is anything illegal in her actions. I will put her name in any forum, public or private, to advise as many people to be wary of doing business with her. She chose this path, not me. In researching the laws and business practices of appraisers, it is clear that they do not like being questioned. They are insulated from those they affect, thus limiting their accountability, which allows someone like Ms. N to exist in the business. Everyone makes mistakes, but professionals will acknowledge it. Ms. N lied on numerous occasions throughout this process. Her jobs requires her to be proficient with number, which she clearly is not.Here are the facts, and I can prove them, and nothing she can say or do will change it.Ms. N did an appraisal of my house on 1-23. Her appraisal came back lower than expected. My lender asked me to review the appraisal and let them know if I take issue with the comps or anything else. Upon reviewing the appraisal, I noticed that she happened to be EXACTLY 300 feet off in her appraisal. I highlight EXACTLY, because it makes her side of the story even less believable. So I contacted the lender and told them. Had Ms. N simply admitted that she made a typographical error, I would have been disappointed with the number and possibly disputed it based upon the comps through my lender, but I would have moved on.However, she did not. She doubled down on the 2148 square feet. Her first lie, was that she measured....which she did not. She did not measure inside....OR OUTSIDE. I watched her in the yard and she had NO measuring tools. It was raining heavily, so that probably contributed to her not doing her job properly. My mother was here and would attest to that. Her 2nd lie was that the auditors website stated I had a finished basement (which it does not) since my basement wasn't finished, she decided to subtract 300 feet. The auditors website shows clearly that there are "0" square feet of finished basement space. So my next questions is why did she arbitrarily subtract 300 sq. ft. ? My basement is 900 square feet, so if the auditors website states it is finished, and if it is not, than my home square footage would be around 1500 square foot (or 1200 by her ridiculous measurements).Additionally, if Ms. N excuse about weather causing her measuring wheel to "skip" causes her to miss EXACTLY 300 square feet, than she should not be in this line of work to begin with (which I totally agree with). However, she didn't use a measuring wheel the first time. Only when she came to my house, unannounced might I add, with a measuring wheel did she finally find the 300 feet she lost in the 1st appraisal. So after I had to spend hours proving my house was the square footage the auditor says and two prior appraisals clearly state, she finally acknowledged her mistake and amended the appraisal.So after she added the 300 square feet, she did not add a dollar of value to the home. In her explanation she stated that none of the comps no longer apply because they are outside the 25% GLA threshold she stated. Well again she is wrong. "COMP" #6 in her original appraisal was 3108 sq. ft. And she had my home at 2148 sq ft. That is a 31% difference, yet she used it. Additionally, once she adjusted my square footage, 2 of the other 5 comps were within the 25% threshold, but she said they were not. So she is now making excuses because she is *** off that we had the nerve to question her integrity, when in fact we were just doing the math because she didn't.Finally, she then said that appraisers have the discretion to take things into consideration such as condition of home, materials used and aesthetics. Again, she fails. All homes used as comps are in my neighborhood and were built within 2 years of each other. All used the same materials, same contractors and their homes are in similar condition. I know these people and know these homes. They don't have more "curb appeal" than mine. By implying that my house is a piece of *** to compensate for her terrible work shows a lack of character.This whole process escalated when she lied. So for her to call me a bully, because I am highlighting her lack of competency, character and honesty is absurd. Or maybe she isn't used to being challenged because appraisers don't seem to have to be accountable. This all started because of her poor choices. I will not retract a single thing I have said. I want to bring as much light as I can to this issue. Not my issue, but her way of doing business. I want to make sure others don't fall victim to her poor job performance. I tried to go through my lender, as she requested, and then instead of admitting a typo, she was hell bent on lying to defend the 2148 ft. Her defense of the 2148 is proof she made a mistake. And now she is trying to tell me that my house was valued at $224,000 at 2148 sq. ft. And it is not worth a penny more at 2448 square feet ???I know what she did and so does she. I don't want her to change the appraisal. She can do whatever she wants, as there is nothing she can do to keep from staying the course on this issue. Since she decided to insult me, I am going to continue to get the word out there about her.
The Appraiser was still working with the AMC and client when the homeowner filed his complaint. Since then, the AMC has asked me to complete a reinspection and new report as the FHA case number has changed. The Appraiser declined to do further work with the home owner. The complaint with the home owner was solely about value. He stated the Appraisers report cost him $30,000 in equity and his rate lock. The Appraiser still conducts work with the AMC and Lender involved.
The appraiser has supplied interior photos (please see attached) of comparables 1-6 to further support that the subject is like the comparables utilized within the appraisal report. The appraiser also notes comparable 6 has superior upgrades per MLS.
Sincerely, Heather N