Are Appraisals to Blame for Your Mortgage Woes?
It is so difficult to qualify for a home mortgage these days that, if you complain about how expensive your mortgage payment is, almost everyone you know will accuse you of humblebragging. It isn’t only the people who are trying to apply for mortgages, and facing bigger and bigger obstacles, who are struggling. The price of everything else is creeping up, too, so even if your mortgage seemed affordable when the lender approved it and issued it, and even if things were fine for a while, you are struggling to keep up with your mortgage payments now. Could the problem be that your mortgage is too expensive to begin with? Appraisals are the least of your worries when you apply for a mortgage; you are more concerned about affording the down payment and the monthly installments. The appraisal might be part of the problem; maybe the appraisal cost too much, or maybe the appraisers set the value of the house too high, so that you would pay more. If the appraisal of your home was a factor in your current mortgage debt problems, contact a Boca Raton foreclosure defense lawyer.
The Secret Reason Your Home Mortgage Loan May Be Underwater
The appraised value of a real estate property is its estimated resale value, as determined by a professional appraiser. Appraisal is one of the steps in a real estate sale and is a prerequisite for issuing a home mortgage loan. If the appraiser sets the value higher, the seller can ask for a higher sale price, and the buyer can be happy to have such a valuable property. If a different appraiser assesses the value later and sets the value lower, it can mean that you are underwater on the mortgage, even if you have consistently been making payments since you closed on the sale.
Are Appraisal Management Companies the Latest Junk Fee?
Yes, your current debt situation could be due in part to the whims of an appraiser. To make matters worse, the lender can charge you an arbitrary amount for the appraisal, driving up your closing costs. It gets even worse, though. Most lenders today do not use in-house appraisers; instead, they hire third-party appraisal management companies, which are middlemen between the lender and the appraiser. While the purpose of this practice is to ensure neutrality in the appraisal, it can also mean that there are more companies that can charge fees, which you must pay at closing.
Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has identified appraisal management company (AMC) fees as junk fees, which are the CFPB’s pet peeve. AMCs often outsource the work to the lowest bidder, maximizing their profits, while still charging hefty fees to buyers.
Work With a Debt Lawyer About Mortgage Debt
A South Florida debt lawyer can help you renegotiate your mortgage loan if your mortgage is underwater because of an unfair appraisal before closing or excessive closing costs. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Boca Raton, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
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