 Appraisals Weigh Down Housing SalesTuesday, August 16, 2011 - Article by: John A Soricelli Jr -
William Maxwell is an expert in finance. He's a professor at Southern Methodist University's business school, has co-authored a book on high-yield debt and spent years calculating values of financial markets. Yet there's one valuation he can't understand: the appraisal of his Dallas home. In August 2010, Mr. Maxwell's home was appraised at $790,000 as part of a mortgage refinancing. Yet this past spring, when he tried to sell the four-bedroom home for $756,500, the appraisal commissioned by the buyer's lender, Bank of America Corp., came up with a value of $730,000. Mr. Maxwell said the appraisal killed the sale. Weak appraisals are "driving down the real-estate market," Mr. Maxwell says. Saying the appraisal process "borders on buffoonery," he's appealing his home's valuation to the Texas regulator. One of the conclusions from the housing bust: The appraisal system was broken. One of the conclusions some have drawn from the struggling recovery since then: The appraisal system is still broken, but in a different way.......read more. |
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