We are new to the process of selling our home and accepted an offer of $312K, which is $12K over the $300K listing price, although the sale involves an FHA loan. There is no appraisal gap. Doing some research, I know the appraisal process is more stringent.
Our friend who lives in the neighborhood sold their townhouse. It has a similar layout and square footage, but it's less updated (brown trim instead of white, a half patio slab instead of a full patio along the back, and a builder-grade garage door instead of an insulated one, new toilets, and new fixtures). They also had an FHA buyer and said they barely got the appraisal to come in at $300k, but they succeeded. The house sold for $305K (the buyer brought $5k to the closing out of their own pocket).
I know this sounds dumb, but is it worth pointing out some of the upgrades we made? Can I do that to create a list of the updates made? Can i hope that since a slightly less updated one sold for $305K, my new baseline for the appraisal will be $305K or does it not really work like that?
Appreciate any insight you have!
First Time Seller Seeking to Understand FHA Appraisal Process
byu/i4k20z3 inRealEstate
Posted by i4k20z3
2 Comments
Yes you can put some information together to give to the appraiser when the time comes. Whether they will look at it and if it will make a difference or not is up to the appraiser. Appraisers are human too. Ask 3 appraisers to give you a value and you’ll get 3 different (albeit similar) responses.
Yes that recent comp helps to establish value. Are there other comps available too at that price? Or are they all lower than that?
No it’s not worth pointing out ‘upgrades’ to the appraiser. You’re more likely to end up annoying them and losing the benefit if the doubt than getting some advantage.
When you say ‘there is no appraisal gap’ – what do you mean?