About two weeks ago, we had our finalization meeting with our SR and it didn't go as we expected it to go and frankly we're a bit annoyed. We had picked out our tiling and flooring finishes and our Guardian selections and wanted to add a few more options but it turns out we were bumping up against the potential appraisal value versus what we wanted. We wanted to upgrade the counter top range and dishwasher package along with adding more lighting. It turned out due to the fact that we have an end-unit with all brick siding, we didn't have a lot of room for adding options. If we added too much, we would potentially have to pay for the options out-of pocket as the options may not appraise. Our TAC and Guardian options were slightly more than the suggested range but not excessively more. We scaled back on the recessed lighting and decided to add pre-wire boxes instead and we'll install the recessed lighting later. We also scaled back on the kitchen appliances aside from the fridge as the option they had wasn't well rated by Consumer Reports and we didn't want to compromise on that. We also changed the bathroom cabinets to the standard dark instead of same upgraded kitchen cabinets as we liked the look of the darker cabinets in them.
The big thing we were annoyed with was the fact that Ryan Homes has all these options that we wanted but really couldn't add because the appraisal value may not match. Our SR mentioned that of course, they're not telling us to not choose the options we wanted but have to take the risk of having to pay out of pocket. We frankly don't have another extra $10K on top of the down payment and closing. It's one thing if we couldn't qualify for the added mortgage amount, it's another thing because Ryan has priced the home and options so much for the area that it couldn't appraise. All in all, we got the big things we wanted but not exactly happy with the whole process.
I wonder if any one else in the development or any one in other developments had similar experience. What did they do? Anyone have experience with having to pay out of pocket?
We're proceeding with the condo but not as happy before and we'll have to monitor the settlements before us to see if we have to save more money than originally planned.
Appraisals are such a strange beast. My sister is buying a home in a different state, and the first deal fell through because it appraised $24k under -- despite having multiple offers, pretty close comps, clean inspection, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy! I hope her luck on her next offer.
DeleteRight now we're waiting for settlement on the buildings before us. Our building have so far sold 6 units so there's a bit more time before we find out if we need to save a lot more money. We're hoping that those units appraise a lot more that the previous units.