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April 14, 2005 Trying to Convince the Appraiser
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Appraisal
I spent my last two days preparing a package for the appraiser. It included photos of our fixtures, renderings, material photos, landscaping... basically anything related to the project. I met him today on the property and we're having a hell of a time trying to convince hime to use site built comps in his analysis. There are some really horrible modulars that have sold in the area recently and I just don't want him using comps from those homes. He's not sure if he wants to use comps from site-built homes; because he thinks it won't be ethical. We need a higher appraisal to unlock more money.
Fire Department
I cannot get in touch with anyone from the fire department. We need some more information from them before we resubmit all of the required information
Roof
I hate the roof that was chosen for us at the factory. It's not standing seam which is what was approved during the zoning process. It has exposed fasteners and has a rolled look to it. Maybe someone can convince me that this will look okay? We've instructed them to price the standing seam before we sign the contract.
edit: Here's the roof I don't like
Here's the roof I like
Nevermind that the second photo looks like a renovated 31 Flavors.
The roof problem is more than cosmetic. When we went through the zoning process it was a little difficult to get our metal roof approved. We were allowed to have a metal roof if it wasn't going to be a "rolled form" type- such as corrugated metal. Standing seam was approved for our project so we are required to have the second roof type.
Here's the excerpt from the L.A. County Title 22:
Every single-family residence shall have a roof constructed with wood-shake, shingle, asphalt composition, crushed rock, or other similar roofing material in compliance with Title 26 (Building Code) of this code, except that reflective, glossy, polished and/or roll-formed type metal roofing is prohibited
Changing the roof is considered an upgrade and will cost us an extra $1,800. Hopefully, this is the very end of the price increases.
I also noticed that the evaporative cooler was left off of the spec sheet and I was told that the contract price included the unit.
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Appraisal & Swamp Cooler
Paul,
It looks like the appraiser will have an answer on Tuesday. We need an appraisal of $400K to make it work. I think that it is quite a modest price when one considers the local real estate market. We also have a very large lot for the area, so maybe it will help our chances.
I should have included some Dwell articles!! Why didn't I think of that? Anyway, Irontown and our lender has offered to talk to the appraiser if the outcome turns out unfavorable.
My good news today is that I love the door & sidelight they picked out; it looks just like Greg's elevations. Also, the swamp cooler was included in the price; there was a mistake in the spec sheet. That was a relief.
There is sooo much prejudice in California, and perhaps the whole west coast, against modular homes. People really have a hard time understanding the difference and see anything that arrives on a truck as a "trailer".
Valuation seems to be the biggest hurdle for us; it's hard to convince appraisers and realtors to do something different than they've done all along. Honestly, a lot of the newer modulars in our area really aren't much more than a fancy "double wide" anyway. I can see why they hold those opinions to begin with. We managed somehow to make it work for the first appraisal so I will remain optomistic.
Thank You
I have followed your project like a soap opera for some time. I must say, that while it has gotten scary in the last few months, I really appreciate your insight. I am just looking to do a "simple" addition to my home in LA but whenever I read your posts I realize that nothing will really as easy as we hope. Is it possible for the appraiser to just consider the land value separately? You may have built up enough equity there to free up some cash and the appraisal won't depend on other yucky "modular" homes.
verdict?
so when will this person have an answer? I hope there will be some consideration for what is going on with newer and modern modular. it hardly seems fair to put all modular in the same basket. did you send him home w/ scans from dwell articles? hopefully he'll do his homework and give the green light so we can see this home stretch.
any links to examples of this unsatisfactory roof?
paul schuster