What a Crock

As if I didn’t always believe that house appraisers were a complete joke and waste of time and money, this really seals the deal. I’ve bought and sold enough real estate over the past few years to know that regardless of any facts about your house, it is always going to appraise at almost exactly what the buyer offers on the sale. Why the bank needs to send out some useless clown* to come to the house and pretend to be ‘evaluating’ it in order to provide a piece of paper that indeed states it is worth the sale price is beyond me. Oh wait, I know why they do this . . . just so they can sock the buyer with a ridiculous fee.

As you know, we are in the process of refinancing our mortgage. I had to pay $300 for this big important house appraisal. Now, we just bought the house last year. How much can really change? Chances are we didn’t go out of our way to decrease the value of the house. Perhaps we may have made some improvements to increase the value. Yes, the market may have dropped, but the bank should know how much property values dropped per geographical location.

But here’s the best part, I just got a message from my mortgage guy telling me that the appraisal is going to be a ‘drive by.’ A drive by? Are you kidding me? The bank is actually going to make somebody drive all the way to bonnyland to drive by our house? And see WHAT exactly? Will they take the time to drive into our driveways or are they just going to drive down the street and catch the slightest glimpse of our house from behind the trees? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to send them a picture for heaven’s sake? It really irritates me that we have to participate in, play, and pay for this charade. It makes me sick.

*Footnote: I really hope none of my readers know any house appraisers. I’m sure they are nice people. I just personally think their service is valueless.