Roadblocks to Home Buying

Lately we've been encountering a problem with problems on appraisals.  

The opposite of the housing crisis, appraisers are starting to come in low on appraisals in many instances due to excessive pressure and scrutiny from banks.  The opposite pressure that was placed on them from the the days when banks would push to make appraisers make deals work whether they made sense or not.

Now, one thing that seems to have left was the process of finding actual comparable homes.  Bank pressure, which always caused problems before, isn't helping much now.   Banks have formulas now that completely interfere with the appraisers job of appraising.  Banks have specifications on how recent the sales have to be.  They require sales to be less than 90 days old, so if there are two "comps" and one sold 55 days ago, the other sold 6 months ago, the appraiser is directed to use the 55 day old 'comp' regardless of whether its a true match to the home.  

Criteria has been limited too.  If there are two homes that are 1600 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, they are considered equal.  If the subject property being appraised has been fully remodeled with a stylish look and beautiful finishes, they don't really care.  They look at the size and room counts with no weight being given to the actual appearance.

These bank limitations may not sound like much, but in actuality they cause problems in many instances;  particularly with older historic neighborhoods.  What's more, appraisers are freaked out.  There is so much pressure on them that they are afraid to "go out on a limb" which is overly influential, just like before.

One of the mantra's we here today is to get the Federal Government out of business.  My thought is GET THE BANKS OUT OF APPRAISALS!