Should it be a deal breaker?

Okay, you find a real estate agent and they help you locate the property you want to buy. A condo, a house, whatever.

You plan to finance 80-90% and put the rest down in cash.

Your real estate agent tells you other homes or condos in the same area have sold for the price you are paying so the appraisal will reflect that.

Okay, you see the realtor has it under control and you don’t make the financing and offer contingent on the appraisal being at or above the price you are paying for the property.

Your lender is only going to loan you the 80-90% based on the appraised value of the home. If that turns out to be less than the price you agreed to pay then you have to come up with more money for a down payment and you are now paying more than the home is worth.

You should always include a financing contingency in the contract that states it depends on the appraisal.

If this happens to you, there is very little you can do unless the real estate agent deliberately falsified the value of the home or condo or the Appraiser did not do a thorough job of evaluating it.

You should examine the Appraiser’s complete report even if they appraised it at the value you agreed to pay for the property. Make sure they actually did a physical walk-through and that all of the assets of the property were included in the appraisal.

You have the right to ask them to reappraise the property if you find descrepencies in the complete report.

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