[StBernard] LRA

[Westley Annis]

Good luck!
 
Your story sounds an awful lot like ours.  We've requested a new appraisal
and went from 95,000-ish (which we thought was low) to 80,000. Go figure.
When I questioned the new appraisal, our case handler gave me the addresses
of the houses used for comparison.  Again, the same story as you.  When I
thought of where the other houses were, I asked the LRA person if she
realized the the appraiser had to drive past my home to get to the ones they
used!  Go figure.  We had insurance, so we didn't expect to get a much
anyway.  I've just about given up.  My wishful thinking is that if we ever
get our new house finished--built with our lifetime of savings--I'll have a
big fence put around our yard and if a LRA or FEMA  official comes calling,
I'll just run them off my property!  I'd think at this point I'd enjoy that
a whole lot more !
 
Good luck.  I'll read to see what gets posted and maybe be inspired to fight
more.
 
Janet


	-----------------------------------------------------
	This is a question for Scurich regarding appraisals. I met with LRA
today in
	disputing the $100,000 difference between my personally paid for
certified
	appraisal done for the pre-storm value. The LRA person showed me on
his
	computer that the first appraisal was just a BFO and he admitted
it's not a
	lot of detail and it was done in early 2006. He then showed me a
second
	appraisal done after my appeal in early 2007. That second appraisal
had a
	picture of my house exterior to prove the appraiser came to the
	neighborhood. That second appraisal listed my hosue as $10,000
higher than
	the BFO, so now it's a $90,000 difference. When I looked at the
comparables,
	the second appraiser listed a house on my block which is fair, but I
noticed
	that my personal appraiser who used this same neighbor's house in
his
	appraisal then took the sale price of that home and added to it
$87,000
	because my house was in better condition, larger, had a patio, had a
	finished 2 car garage, and had a fireplace and bar. However, this
second LRA
	appraiser just used the lower, sale price of that home without
adding to it
	the features I have that this house did not have. Then, to make it
worse,
	this second appraiser compared my house to two houses that are one
third the
	square footage of mine and twice as old and not nearly the same, and
are not
	in my neighborhood. Those houses were listed as being $200,000 less
than
	mine. What kind of comparable is that? I have formally requested in
	writing that they do a bona fide certified appraisal that has all
the
	comparables be of similiar age, square footage, and construction. Do
you
	think I have a solid argument that if they do comparables the adjust
for the
	difference in things like square footage and choose homes that are
truly
	comparable? Has anyone been successful in the newer, third level of
	appraisal? ddk