And Now Get the Professional Appraisal
The professional appraisal has arrived! It's significantly different than mine, but not outside the High-Low-Base bounds I arrived at during my DIY Appraisal exercise.
A refresher on my figures:
And where did the official appraisal come in? $60,000.
Interestingly, the big ding on the appraisal was the fact the property is on a busy road. The appraiser noted specifically that this was the biggest factor in reducing the value. Not even something I even considered in my DIY appraisal exercise!
It was, though, something I noticed when walking the property. In the front 1/3 of the property, I could hear traffic noise. It's not awful, but it's something I want to address in the Lot Plan. It seems like the solution would be a combination of building in the back half of the lot, preserving trees in the front, and creating noise barriers through landscaping or other means would solve this problem.
My lesson taken from this is: anything you notice as a negative while visiting the land should be something you consider when examining your Comparables when doing a DIY appraisal. Also: a real appraisal is valuable, even if you don't have a lender forcing you to do it.
I have decided that even though the appraisal has come in about 10% under my offer price, I will waive that contingency and proceed with the purchase. My reasons, good and bad:
- Rarity of this type of property on the market means not going forward would cost me time in the search
- Belief I can mitigate the condition that detracts from the value (noisy road)
- Robust fantasy life involving paddle boarding at sunset and evening bonfires
- Cognitive bias (Endowment Effect) that because I have chosen this property it is more valuable
- Real Estate Agent's confirmation that many people are currently offering over asking and waiving contingencies on properties (apparently the run on New Hampshire lake access continues) and it's likely the value will rise
So, we'll schedule closing in the next couple weeks.
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