Appraisals - the dilemma.

[ponytug]

My daughter just bought a place in the far suburbs of Chicago. She got an appraisal in less than a month and home sales are hot in that area. I can’t remember the exact cost but it was about $450. It was a townhouse so a different situation but it still takes some effort and paper work. It had been remodeled since the last sale so it wasn’t like they could just print the last one and change the dates.

A guess on my part but because of your unique situation that makes the appraisers not want to do it for what ever reason. It could be because of the rural nature and larger property.

I know you have a plan of attack and I hate to wander off course but I am a retired land surveyor and I did 1 or 2 surveys a year where I broke out property from larger tracts of ground for a home build. In a lot of rural areas if it was more than 5 acres there was no approval process. If it was less than 5 acres it had to be approved by the county but that was a formality and they were always approved. It’s frustrating to hear of government regulations that appear to me to be to restrictive.

Well, in California, it is not straightforward and there are lots of regulations and statutes on the books that are designed to restrict development, especially in rural areas. They range from subdividing parcels, to minimum lot sizes (e.g. @beowulf's 160 acres per house, 40acre per house in my county), to who may, and where you may place septic, and the size thereof, to even where roads are permitted, or how much earth may be disturbed. The list goes on and on.

For example, redoing our existing deck due to rot required archeological, fire, seismic, geotechnical sign offs in addition to engineering and electrical. There is even a tax break for farmers and ranchers who keep land in agricultural use rather than building.

Folks are trying to keep up the rural quality of the rural areas.

But this isn't @beowulf's issue. Finding an appraiser is, and, for whatever reason, appraisers are in short supply in the Sierra foothills, in California, and in many parts of the country, as @MossRoad pointed out.

@beowulf I am glad things are rolling. Good luck!

All the best,

Peter

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Regarding my property, to do a "parcel map split," the County was going to require construction and surfacing of a new road on my property, turnouts for fire trucks, emergency water supply, utility easements, blah blah. But with the discovery of these previous parcels I can bypass all those requirements, and instead do a lot line adjustment for a total cost of about $10,000. The County cannot say no or refuse it.

It might be a good idea not to dodge those requirements. Fire engine access is a big deal. Just the next valley over, a doctor's house burned to the ground because the fire department wouldn't go up his driveway. Water storage for fire fighting is also a county requirement. My place was built before that requirement came in, but I installed it anyway. When I got the permit for my shop, it was one more thing I could check off on the application.

Of course, east of the Mississippi, fire suppression is not a big deal, though getting the fire engine, ambulance, or UPS truck to the house might be.

 

[Snobdds]

Why can't the daughter just secure the loan on her own? Just give her the land on which to build.

Seems so simple in my eyes.

 

[ruffdog]

I'm thinking that the OP doesn't want to draw attention with doing a land division. I would not buy or loan money on a house on someone else's land....period. Without the new house having its own lot, I think the only answer is the OP funds/builds it and carries the risk. No bank will fund a house that they can't sell in foreclosure.

 

[beowulf]

Why can't the daughter just secure the loan on her own? Just give her the land on which to build.

Seems so simple in my eyes.

I think I have thoroughly covered this in my earlier posts.

 

[beowulf]

Update: I just heard back from the bank. They provided a copy of the 2010 appraisal to the current proposed appraiser and tried to convince him to lower his fee as there were detailed descriptions in that appraisal of all the buildings and amenities.

He declined to do so citing: 1) the lack of comparables; 2) the complexity of the property, and 3) the size of the property. All of those things are true, and it is certainly not as simple as appraising a house in town, but it has never been an issue with two past appraisals.

The bank really did try to help with this - even tried to locate one of the prior appraisers but they are retired. Anyway, I told them to go ahead - $2,500.

 

[Snobdds]

I think I have thoroughly covered this in my earlier posts.

But if she "owns" land on which to build, she could then borrow against her land to secure funding.

what am I missing?

 

[Snobdds]

The only compliating factor is she is building on someone else's land. No bank wants that risk.

 

[MoKelly]

The only compliating factor is she is building on someone else's land. No bank wants that risk.

But - the problem isn’t the bank. The bank is willing to do the loan. It’s the fact the appraiser can’t get there until September and is charging $2500.

MoKelly

 

[beowulf]

The only compliating factor is she is building on someone else's land. No bank wants that risk.

She is not building on my land. I am building on my land. I am borrowing on my land. She will live there and pay what is equivalent to rent - an amount related to the loan payments or as agreed. And as MoKelly states, the bank, and other lenders, have always been ready to loan the money (great loan to value ratio) but the problem has been getting it appraised. Loans are approved subject to the appraisal - which is how it is typically done.