Rural property appraisals

[txdon]

Redfox, My appraised value on my 120 acres went sky high this year. It is being appraised only a couple of hundred dollars per acre less than small 10 acre lots. In my discussions with the tax appraiser she sited several sales in the area and she said the buyers told her that large parcels of land are hard to come by and there was an increased demand for large tracts. -Just the opposite of what you are being told.-

 

[rcaretti]

When I refinanced last year, the appraiser would only count the house and five acres (we have a 25 acre lot). The extra 20 acres counted as zero. Luckily we were still OK, but barely.

What's not right with these appraisals can be summed up by a recent sale of a similar farmette very close to us, it sold for over double our bank appraised value.

When we originally built, we were able to obtain a construction loan that covered the house and the lot with not all that much trouble. I can say it pays to work with someone who has done these types of deals in the past.

 

[Redfox]

The annoying thing is that told the agent that it was a 70 acre farm before I signed a contract. He assured me that the loan would not be a problem. Then, it seems, the appraisal process assures that the loan won't be written. One other aspect I left out is the lender will not accept an appraisal that is higher than the highest comp. So even with the silly rules, the adjusted value of the property was $50K higher than the highest sale, so the appraised value was lowered $50K. Next time I'll use an Ag lender.

 

[BillG_in_TX]

Redfox,

You say "Next time I'll use an Ag lender", but why next time?

You would be surprised how fast they will respond, and their rates are usually better than any bank's, and their closing costs are minimal. I'm not sure, but I think that when I bought my land, they didn't even charge for the appraisal.

 

[Redfox]

The next time may be this time. It's been a ride. At first I thought my personal "is it worth it meter" was broken, and thought I was getting hood-winked. After all, the appraiser is supposed to be a disinterested professional. Now, it appears that the appraisal process is just a method to keep the lending agents in line. Yet, I'm a bit burned out by the whole thing, as is my wife. We just need a quite weekend to sort it all out. We would also need to start at step one with the financing, ad I'd have to go back to the Ag lender with my tail between my legs. I started with Ag lender, but the interest rate was 3/4% points higher that the lender I used for my current house. The agent seemed eager for my business, and assured my the with my credit rating and income I'd have zero problem getting the loan.

 

[dmccarty]

RedFox,

Can you try a different lender than the two you are dealing with? My purchase on the land was easy. If I remember right it was a buisness type loan. When we built the house the lot for the house was taken out of the land loan. We have two mortgages, one for the land and one for the house.

When we where having problems with the appraisal for the home construction loan we came VERY close to going to another bank. I was talking to the local bank's manager and just about went with him. It got down to which was going to cost us more time, go to the new bank or stay where we where.... We stayed.

In the end it worked out but it was very stressful. The closing of the construction loan was all but a disaster. We had plans to drop fo the kids at school and drive in one car to the lawyer. That did not work out. Our toilet had an interesting habit of running all of the time after it flushed. Sometimes, not always. I'm late to the lawyers, and I hear the toilet running. I go to stop it and the toilet was not only running it was clogged up. Thus the water was running all over the floor. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif #$%^&*

Thank goodness we where on a slab. I cleaned up the mess as best I could. Told they wife we would have to sanitiize the floor in the bathroom and utility room later in the day. The water flowed from the bath to the utility room. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I changed shirts and ran out the door.

Get to the lawyers. No paper work from the loan officer. We have been asking for the paper work for THREE days. She has been doing this for decades and knows what is needed but we can't get it. Fed Ex usually gets there at 11:00 and our closing is at 9:00. GRRRRRR. Fed Ex shows up early! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Wahhooo. He has the paper work. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

But not all of the paperwork. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif It was the paperwork that set up the term and rate of the loan as well as some other important information. So we can't close. We have been asking for this for days. NOT happy. We have been working with the banker for years on this and its all messed up. My wife, finally shows up after dropping off the kids, gets on the phone with the bank. The loan officer is on vacation! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

The bank manager gets the loan officer to call us. She is mad at us for interrupting her vacation. Well excuse me but we don't have the paper work to close. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif The wife is on the phone with the banker. Said banker starts YELLING at my wife and blaming my wife for the problem. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Wife starts yelling at the banker. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

The lawyer is speachless.

I get on the phone and calm the twit down. Ask for the paper work. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Hang up the phone.

We don't close. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I have to go to work. In the waiting room are two ladies. They overheard the circus. I leave. Wife stays. Turns out one of the ladies is a loan manager at the bank we are dealing with. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif She knows the loan officer. The lady helps us out and we close on the loan that afternoon.

Fast forward a few months and the loan officer is no longer with the bank even though she apparently generated a lot of loans.

We built the house. Moved in in January. Still have to have the builder come back to fix things but that delay is our fault not the builders. Its has been worth the angst and trouble.

I just threw all of this out to show that it can be a mess /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif But in the end it works out. Or should. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Later,
Dan