I was refinancing without closing cost and the appraisal of my house (dated 2/23/12) came in at $515K. Much too low. The loan fell through. I went with two other brokers and an appraisal (dated 3/21/12) valued the house at $587K. An other appraisal (dated 4/4/12) valued the house at $595K. I have refinanced. However I had to pay closing cost of $3500. The first appraiser compared my house with a fixer up being sold closed by. He did a bad job. How can I claim the closing cost from him?Thanks, Walter
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: California Already Tried: I sent the appraiser an email with the attached appraisals and asking for reimbursement.
Hello. My name is XXXXX XXXXX X will be glad to help you.Did you pay for this low appraisal?
I paid for the appraisal.
Thank you for your follow up.Did you order the appraisal or the bank who was refinancing your property?Did you have any written agreement directly with the licensed appraiser?
The bank ordered the appraisal.
No contacts with the appraiser.
Thank you for your follow up.Unfortunately, licensed appraisers do have professional discretion when appraising the property and since, even though you paid for the appraisal, it was the bank that had ordered the appraisal and the appraiser had duty to the bank to provide the bank with a correct and accurate appraisal of your property and if the appraiser failed to do so and the bank relied on that low appraisal and suffered damages as a result, the bank would have legal recourse for professional error or malpractice.Unfortunately, the only way that you would have any type of legal recourse, is if you can prove that the appraisal had intentionally made appraisal lower than the actual market value, which is going to be extremely hard to do, as intent is difficult to prove in the first place, absent direct evidence showing the intentional misrepresentation.
Experience: Experienced Licensed Attorney / Real Estate Law Mentor