Mortgage refinance WWWWD?

zsazsa-stl

Did I already talk about this? I've been whining to everyone who will listen.  DH is no help.  He has no opinion.

I applied for a mortgage refinance that would save me lots-o-money.  But, I need my house to appraise at X to be able to qualify for a rate that makes all of the closing costs worthwhile.  The lady at my credit union ran some sort of little magic calculation that I can use in place of a normal appraisal but that number came in $30K too low.  Since I live in a country bumpkin county, property sales and values are not available online.  Website like trulia and zillow don't work here. I could hoof it down to the courthouse, but I wouldn't even know where to begin on looking up what an appraisal might count at as comps. 

I can look at listed prices of houses for sale, but they swing all over the place.  Within two blocks of me there is a house with similar square footage, a nicer kitchen but no yard that is listed at $33K MORE than the price I need and a house with more square footage but no garage, weird layout, ugly and being sold as-is for $50K less than the number I need. 

Worst case scenerio is that I pay the application fee and appraisal ($600-700 total) and then have to back out.

WWWWD?

**O-Face**

Does the savings also factor in what you pay for closing costs and all that jazz?  If it's 30K too low, I would say you'd have a hard time getting it appraised for the right amount. And why can't they send out an actual appraiser?

6fsn

Do you know any realtors?  They can help with comps.  They aren't supposed to use listings, but in rural areas it may be all they can go on.  Our county records are available on-line through the tax department and through the newspaper's site.  You might check there to see what homes are going for.

This is tough because I know appraisers are really being held to the numbers.  $600 may sound like a lot, but how long would it take to recoup that in savings?  If it's a couple of months I might consider moving on it.

One other thought.  We were able to do a streamline refinance with our mortgage.  We didn't have to go through the whole paperwork and closing process, just a couple of hundred bucks and all of our old stuff.  No new appraisal required.

**O-Face**

Nevermind, you answered some of my questions.  ADURRR.

zsazsa-stl

6 - If I get the appraisal/rate I want I'll break even on closing costs within a year.  Our county publishes who buys property, but not for how much.

O - They will send out a real appraisal, but only after I pay them the $300 application fee and $350 or so for the appraisal.  They only ran that little calculation tool to see if I could skip the real life appraisal.

**O-Face**

Hmmmm.  You just have to decide if it's worth it to potentially lose that money. 

But really the chances that a "real" appraiser is $30k higher are pretty slim.  But that is just my opinion.

zsazsa-stl

I'm leaning towards calling it off.  I just can't figure out where that calculation they gave me is coming from if my county doesn't have any info online.  It has to be the average listing price in my zip code or something.

**O-Face**

She couldn't answer where it came from?  I would call it off too...just too big of a discrepency.

6fsn

The calculation is probably just a bank standard that they plug numbers into.  Assuming it's not a local credit union, it's probably about as accurate as zillow for rural areas. 

Have you tried talking to other companies?  It might not be worth it for this bank, but others may have something.  Chase had a pretty good deal that we may have jumped at if our current mortgage holder didn't have the streamline option.