Real Estate Advice: Low Appraisal for Refinancing

You can always try again. It’s just going to cost you each time you have to order an appraisal. When an appraiser is assigned you should make sure that this appraiser is familiar with the area. if the appraiser is from out-of-the-area, then you can request a different appraiser. Also, you should pull comps that you can give to the appraiser to help them do their job. You can probably ask your real estate agent to do this for you. I have clients who call me all the time for this assistance.
But keep in mind, appraisals for re-fi’s typcially come in lower than appraisals for purchases. One main reason is that when it’s a purchase the appraiser knows the purchase price and they just have to confirm if the price is above, below or at market value. When it’s a re-fi, the appraiser is not using any number to compare against. They have to come up with a number just based on the research they pull, and they are usually more conservative. For instance, I had clients who tried to re-fi their home. The appraisal came in at $1,100,000. But when we put their home on the market a few months later, I got it appraised at $1,335,000 (the selling price)..