My appraiser told me I was leaving $30k on the table with my refi

Last month I had an appraiser come out for a cash out refi on my house in Phoenix. He walked through and said hey, you got this extra bedroom in the basement but it's not listed as livable square footage on any records. He told me to get a permit done and reclassify it before we finish the paperwork. I was going to skip it but he said that room alone would add $30k to my valuation so I went ahead and did the city paperwork. Took me three weeks and $400 in fees but my refi check came out way bigger. Has anyone else had an appraiser push them to fix something mid process like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah_chen171mo ago

Had a similar thing happen with my house in Tucson last year. The appraiser noticed my converted garage had a permit for storage but not living space, told me to change it with the county. Cost me like $200 and a trip to the planning office but my valuation went up almost $25k. That extra money made the whole refi worth it.

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verafoster1mo ago

Wish my garage conversion was worth that much. Mine's just full of regret and old camping gear.