On Time Appraisals

This guy is just plain incompetent!
He valued the house that I was purchasing for around 15−18% lower than the market price.
Because of his stupidity we had to go through another mortgage company which delayed my house loan process almost a month. Thank God my seller and their real-​estate agent were nice and understanding people.
He has no knowledge of the current trends and no understanding about recent home sale prices etc for the locations he works on. After his valuation, the real-​estate agent had to point out properties to him which were more recent purchases and similar to the house I was buying. He did not even know about those till then. What a shame!
Furthermore, even on the valuation report, I can point out 3 – 4 clear errors of what a stupid job he has done. An example would be, he has taken pictures of the neighbors garage instead of mine. How dumb is that?
If only he knew how to do his job properly and produce sincere results. It is shameful that people like him exist in positions of power and make things difficult for others.
475 $ of valuation fees that were paid to him was a waste. I am going to file a complaint against him (yes, all the above Unilocal reviews also display how incompetent he is) to their association, if any and try to seek a refund.

In appraising our home in Gale Ranch, San Ramon, the appraiser used the wrong comps from the Windemere community here, which fall under the Mello-​Roos Act and are subject to a tax rate of 1.7%, while the normal tax rate is 1.1% in other parts of San Ramon. He was really clueless about the San Ramon market despite my conversation with him and pointing this out to him. He could not differentiate the homes in Windemere, which as a result of the high tax, sell for less.
He spent a grand total of 10 minutes while he was here, if that. I know the local San Ramon market as I am CA licensed Broker. I even gave him an appraisal from Oct 2011 which was $ 53K higher than the one he did in December 2012… all because he used the wrong comparables. Fortunately I did not need a higher appraisal as I have about 50% equity.

I will make this note very quick…
The following company is incompetent and should not be in the business of appraisals:
1. For a house with 3000 sq/​ft they spent less than 15 min measuring and taking pictures.
2. They took pictures using their cell phone
3. When we received the report some of the pictures in the report were not from our home.
4. The appraisal came out way below the market value, the appraiser ignored any substantial information that was given to him at the time of the appraisal.
5. We contacted Wells Fargo which uses a different appraisal service and their appraiser appraised our house almost 10% higher than this clown.
Most of you most likely come to this page after the fact because this company was recommended to you by the loan agent, what a shame, waste of money!

In short, my appraisal, done by Sanjay Sethi, reflects gross incompetence.
My home, located in Pleasanton, is 4600 square feet. I bought the home new 15 years ago and have had many appraisals completed in the past, all of which state the correct square footage at 4600. So don’t ask me how Sanjay listed my home’s living space as 4000 sq. feet in the appraisal. Due to the continuing decline of interest rates, this will be the second time in a year that I have refinanced. Home prices have inarguably increased since I had my last appraisal done 10 months ago. However, my appraisal from back then valued my home $ 150,000 higher than Mr. Sethi’s. This, obviously, makes little or no sense.
Another aspect of my appraisal that defies all logic are the comparable home values listed. For example, Mr Sethi included a home from own my neighborhood which was 200 sq. feet less than the INCORRECTLY assessed sq. footage of my home (4000 sq. feet). This home sold for 1.4 million, $ 150,000 more than the value he estimated for my home. How does one value a home at $ 150,000 less than a smaller home in the same neighborhood which sold in the recent past? Ridiculous.
Since I am fortunate enough to have over 50% equity in the home, this horrible appraisal will not have any effect on my loan. However, if I were in the same position as many others with little or no equity in my home, this could have proved catastrophic for my receiving a fair interest rate, or even a loan all together. I have filed a complaint with the state in the hopes that this man’s negligence/​incompetence will not adversely effect other’s ability to acquire the loan they need, want, or deserve.