Appraisal Used for refi is fraudulant

[kiddleznbitz]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Florida
I refinanced my home last year. The appraisal came in at 135,000 and the loan was based on 80% loan to value. I wanted to refinance again because we are unhappy with the finance company-it has been over a year. When we paid for the appraisal a week ago, it came in 25,000 dollars less than the one we had done last year. we then got a second appraisal...same thing. Upon looking at our copy from last year we discovered it is completely incorrect!! It shows sq ft at 2200+ and it is only 1508 sq ft...also shows no garage...has bedrooms in the garage to make house look bigger and we are on a corner lot and it is marked no corner lot. Now we are stuck with with a mortgage based way over what the loan to value is, cant refi without paying thousands in prepay penalties, paid for an appraisal that is totally incorrect and completely useless. Can't get it recertified either. I had to pay thousands in prepay pentaltys to get this loan. What kind of action can we take as we feel this company doctored documents to get themselves alot of money in interest etc as we literally cannot refinance since the real loan to value is 25,000.00 dollars wrong! Or can they legally get away with this?

 

[amortgageman]

On one side, that inflated appraisal saved you from paying PMI insurance all this time. If it is a subprime loan, the lower the loan to value the lower the interest rate. Again the inflated appraisal is only saving you money. As wrong as it may appear, it did you a favor.

Now to the specifics about the appraisal: Do you have a garage? One car or two car? Do you have a living quarters set up in there. How many extra bedrooms did the appraisal have..............A garage would be an add on to the value of the appraisal, and may completely wash two bedrooms as far as value (mind you I am not a licensed appraiser). The corner lot would also have added value had the appraiser added it.

Appraisals are also a liittle funny in the way they are calculated. The appraiser must find similar properties to compare. They are age restricted as well. I have seen appraisals come back with a lower value just because the properties that they have to compare to are different enough in selling price, the value can be different from year to year.

The prepay penalties on the loan have nothing to do with the appraisal, and should be carefully considered before refinacing any mortgage. These are probably the real reason you are unable to refinance, and have no reflection on the appaisal. Let me repeat, carefully consider the prepayment penallties before attempting to refinance.

If you need to complain, I am sure they are licensed with the state of Florida.

 

[Souix]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Florida
I refinanced my home last year. The appraisal came in at 135,000 and the loan was based on 80% loan to value. I wanted to refinance again because we are unhappy with the finance company-it has been over a year. When we paid for the appraisal a week ago, it came in 25,000 dollars less than the one we had done last year. we then got a second appraisal...same thing. Upon looking at our copy from last year we discovered it is completely incorrect!! It shows sq ft at 2200+ and it is only 1508 sq ft...also shows no garage...has bedrooms in the garage to make house look bigger and we are on a corner lot and it is marked no corner lot. Now we are stuck with with a mortgage based way over what the loan to value is, cant refi without paying thousands in prepay penalties, paid for an appraisal that is totally incorrect and completely useless. Can't get it recertified either. I had to pay thousands in prepay pentaltys to get this loan. What kind of action can we take as we feel this company doctored documents to get themselves alot of money in interest etc as we literally cannot refinance since the real loan to value is 25,000.00 dollars wrong! Or can they legally get away with this?

***I can't help but wonder why you would sign the loan documents based on an appraisal you are now saying is fraudulent. Why did you do that? Also corner lots add value not detract. A garage that has been converted to bedrooms takes away from value, because the market likes garages. What I would suggest is that you talk to a local realtor in your area and see if the market in your area is declining. If that is the case, then you are stuck. May as well stick it out with the loan you have and the loan you signed on until the market improves.***

 

[nextwife]

As stated, anytime you choose to accept a loan with a prepay penalty, you are accepting the consequences of an early pay-off of that loan.

If you refinanced your loan, you must have already HAD a loan to begin with. You would have needed to pay that off to get the new loan, so you must have already BEEN financed for that appraisal value? Unless you failed to mention you got a cash-out refi, and you actually pulled a lot of equity out to pay other things?

 

[HomeGuru]

I am sure that we have not heard the complete story on this issue.

 

[kiddleznbitz]

Thanks for all the replies. My concerns are: I have a 2 car garage which has NOT been turned into any part of my home. My sq Ft is 1508. The appraisal states 2250 because it used the footage from the garage. The comps were compared to houses much larger than mine. My home is valued at 110,000. I now owe 104,000. Ameriquest paid off the 2 mortgages totaling 88,000, gave us 3500.00 cash left over, paid 3500.00 in prepay fees and they received the balance of 9000.00 in points, closing costs etc. Now in order to refi with someone else, i would have to pay them another 4000.00 in prepay fees leaving only 2000.00 for closing etc. Thus far the amount i would need to close again is 4500.00 cash...in other words i have no equity in my home. I just dont see how we benefited...i didnt need the 3500.00 nor did i need to pay the prepay fees and give them 9 grand to boot! I would happily return their cash. Also as far as looking at the appraisal before signing...i had to get a copy mailed to me which was after the loan was signed.what alerted me was the loan took 2 weeks longer to fund because Ameriquest kept saying it funded when we called and when 2 weeks went by and daily phone calls they finally told us it was because there was a problem with the appraisal but it was now "taken care of".Why couldnt they be honest and tell us what happened and that the loan needed to be adjusted? We still had plenty of room to work with as we owed only 88,000 total between the first and second mortgages.

 

[HomeGuru]

Thanks for all the replies. My concerns are: I have a 2 car garage which has NOT been turned into any part of my home. My sq Ft is 1508. The appraisal states 2250 because it used the footage from the garage. The comps were compared to houses much larger than mine. My home is valued at 110,000. I now owe 104,000. Ameriquest paid off the 2 mortgages totaling 88,000, gave us 3500.00 cash left over, paid 3500.00 in prepay fees and they received the balance of 9000.00 in points, closing costs etc. Now in order to refi with someone else, i would have to pay them another 4000.00 in prepay fees leaving only 2000.00 for closing etc. Thus far the amount i would need to close again is 4500.00 cash...in other words i have no equity in my home. I just dont see how we benefited...i didnt need the 3500.00 nor did i need to pay the prepay fees and give them 9 grand to boot! I would happily return their cash. Also as far as looking at the appraisal before signing...i had to get a copy mailed to me which was after the loan was signed.what alerted me was the loan took 2 weeks longer to fund because Ameriquest kept saying it funded when we called and when 2 weeks went by and daily phone calls they finally told us it was because there was a problem with the appraisal but it was now "taken care of".Why couldnt they be honest and tell us what happened and that the loan needed to be adjusted? We still had plenty of room to work with as we owed only 88,000 total between the first and second mortgages.

**A: have a mortgage broker (that does not do biz with Ameriquest) review your files to see if in fact you were scewed.

 

[amortgageman]

It's your choice here, let's roll all the way back to the mortgage(s) you had before you refinaced with Ameriquest. What were the terms and payments on the previous mortgages. What are the terms on this mortgage? Why did you want to refinance in the first place? Were there any credit issues when you refinanced (low credit scores, collections, etc.). Does Ameriquest still own this loan, or has it since been sold?

What were you to benefit from when you refinanced? How would you benefit by refinancing this time (other than getting away from the lender)? F

 

[MortgageGuru]

I am familiar with Ameriquest and how they operate. I have coworkers who used to work there. First off, Ameriquest does not have mortgage insurance on any LTV. They are a sub-prime lender. Second, many of their offices have in house appraisers. They have an interesting set up. The customer actually signs all of the closing docs prior to underwriting. The loan is then sent in and they fund it a week after the underwriting approval. You might have a case to take to an attorney. The main issues I see is that you received cash out and if it lowered your total monthly payments or not. Also, you can send a copy of the appraisal to the state licensing board. That appraiser will almost instantly be red flagged by nearly every major lender until the issue is rectified. I would contact my attorney and see if you have a case or not. Worst case scenario is that you do a rate and term refinance and pay the pre-payment penalty.

 

[CO Home Buyer]

Mortgageguru, I would have to disagree with the rate term refinance and pay the prepayment, unless it is absolutely necessary for the borrowers to do so. If they have a high rate and would benefit by paying the prepay and getting a lower rate. A lot more thinking has to be put into that one. I do agree with you they do need to send in their appraisal, I have refinanced many Ameriquest loans where the appraisal was inflated for the loan.