Bunsen Burner, I had the opposite. I am a 2,000sq ft home surrounded by 3,000sq ft and 5,000 sq ft homes. Because of the square foot difference, the appraiser went inland somewhere and found other 2,000 sq ft homes and ignored all the ocean front homes. Compared the 2,000 sq ft homes inland 3 streets with no view and gave a $25,000 value to my ocean front view. What a joke, but I didn’t care because it didn’t make any difference in the long run.
Appraisers seem to focus on three things; square foot size, number of bedrooms and baths and lot size. Homes are very unique in coastal areas and buyers will pay for things that are not on that list such as view, amount of view, whether view is unobstructable (meaning that someone in front of them cannot build up and block the view), road noise, airplane noise, privacy from hundreds of tourists, parking availability, etc.
Absolutely agree with that, cb! We are flat land inlanders. No views, no water. 
One thing appraisers can miss if they don’t live here is which schools the house is zoned for. While we are in the same county if you drive 3 subdivisions north the schools test scores and ratings are not nearly as good. No way I’d put my kids in those schools. I would move first. Anyway houses with the same square footage are at least $30,000 cheaper. An appraiser almost messed up our refi a couple years ago…
The buyer who bought my MIL’s house in SoCal used BofA, and the loan process was also messy, and excessively time-consuming – even though she was a Branch Manager of B of A, and had a whopping large down payment!
Just got a copy of the first appraisal and went through the details. Luckily the appraiser selected some high sale homes with similar sq ft rather than beaters that sold low. But here are some items that I find interesting.
Appraisers never pay attention to schools. There isn’t even a space to mention schools on the report.
Value given for View $40,000
Value for remodeled condition $30,000 (are you kidding)
value for fireplace (not common in the old houses here) $1,500
Value for casita 1bd 1ba $25,000 which I find interesting because its not a legal bedroom
I sure hope that appraiser knows someone that can do a full renovation for $30,000. I want to hire them!!
Yeah, cb, if you do find them, send them my way! My master bath can use some updating, and I can find some other stuff for them to do… 
Who cares how they came up with the numbers; it appraised at value and that is all that matters. He undervalued the remodel, but there is absolutely no way it would appraise over the contract price.
You are correct. It came in at value. Now I have to wait for new appraisal and hope it comes in at value.
“but there is absolutely no way it would appraise over the contract price.”
How can you say that for sure?
Fingers crossed!
remodeling is not the same as full renovation. The appraiser is not used to have some thing “fully renovated” in that you have to practically rebuild the house from ground up. He was thinking change toilets, lighting, install new appliances, new floor and painting…
CB, for what you have done, you mind as well build it from ground up and it is lot easier.
Can’t scrape a house and build new here. Major headaches with Coastal Commission. It takes 12-18 months to get through building permit process.
It is very rare for an appraiser working for a bank will come up with a value higher than sale price. They don’t want to risk it. Different for redid or private appraisals.
refinance
New appraisal into new lender already! And value came in above our sales price. We are on our way now. My understanding is that full loan package is ready to go into underwriting. That was really quick.
Wahoo!!! Happy days!
Nice!! Congrats, and fingers crossed.
Whoa!!! Fantastic news!! So much for my brash statement that appraisals “never” come in over value!
So glad to hear the good news!
Yes you can scrape the house to the bare studs and build from there. My cousin is in a town that has stick building standards, they were able to get a permit that basically demolish the existing house to one wall and build from there, expanding to a 5000 sf home. It was a 3 year project though.
OTOH, coastal commission could be a worse devil. I am dealing with them on a daily basis