The Burlingames

What should have been a simple thing has turned unnecessarily complicated thanks to the appraiser working on our transaction. We were supposed to close last Friday, the 17th, but could not because the appraiser added several work orders that need to be done.

The lame thing is he wants cosmetic changes made: nothing structural or hazardous. Our realtor said he’s never seen an appraiser make such a big deal out of these types of things (paint the deck, paint the walls, etc.).

Perhaps even more annoying is the fact that this was done so late in the process. The appraiser initially checked out the house several weeks ago. He noticed a bit of mold and said that needed to be taken care of. We took care of it and thought we were good to go. The underwriter, however, wanted a final inspection by the appraiser to approve the work that was done. The appraiser went back out to the house two days before closing. That’s when he decided to add the cosmetic items to the list. Why weren’t these things flagged before? Who knows.

We met with our realtor and mortgage broker this morning to figure things out. Our broker is going to try and push back a bit now that he’s seen the house and knows how trivial these things are. They also recommended we call the commerce department and ask some questions to see if there are any problems with the way the appraiser is holding things up.

As things stand now, the current plan is to try and close on the house with the understanding that those items will be addressed within a couple weeks. During that time, our lender has to hold onto the mortgage until we get the final inspection by the appraiser. After that they can sell the mortgage to whomever they want.