Q&A: Refinancing mortgage, low ball appraisal. Do I have to pay?

Question by MSV: Refinancing mortgage, low ball appraisal. Do I have to pay?
Recently I am refinancing my mortgage, so that I can get cash back to buy a condo overseas. I decided to refinance, the loan officer promise me this and that, the whole bait and switch (Congress needs to make this illegal), I was kind of gullible to believe him, so I sign a form to go ahead and look up my credit. I DID NOT sign though any paper stating I had to pay for the appraisal though. He even said there are no upfront fees. He sends out his appraiser and they appraised my home… get this… the same amount it was appraised for 10 years ago when i got my first mortgage! Even though I had added close to 2000 sq. ft of additions to my home since and back then I didn’t even have a paved driveway! I had an appraisal done to my home a few years back by a local appraiser and comparing that one to the one the mortgage company recently did… they are off by more than 80,000 dollars and that didn’t include the new addition we did in 2007. Do I have to pay when it obviously lowballed?
Oh forgot to mention… I obviously declined the offer, I just want to know what I am liable to pay for, considering I should be the one being paid for wasting my time with them and getting zero results.
To Jimdotedu: All additions are paid in full. I did not take any loan to do them. I bought the materials and my sons and I did all the work (Licensed General Contractor). Everything is completed and inspections passed. Though, when the appraiser came the most recent addition we did not open up the addition to the rest of the house (the entrance to the new addition was thru the existing rear door). I didn’t take it down yet, since my wife did not know what she wanted to do with the room yet.

I reread it and I cannot find anything on there that tells me I have to pay for an appraisal. My present mortgage company , I know they gave me a form stating that appraisal cost this amount and that it was an upfront fee and I remember paying that with a check before an appraisal was authorized. This lender said no upfront fees and only agreement I signed was authorization to release information (tax records, etc)
To mykidsmom: I don’t like to call out the business’ name since I didn’t want my question straying into a review of the company. I wanted to refinance to get cash back to buy a condo in The Philippines, since it is legal (US and in The Philippines) for me to own a condo there even though I am a US citizen. I don’t see any scam in doing such a thing, considering it is refinance for cash back and my house is the collateral. If I don’t pay, they foreclose on my house, simple as that.

Also i reread over and over the agreement I signed… only agreement I signed was an agree for authorization to release information. Also the lender specifically told me no upfront fees, I have it on email, since he told me on the phone but I asked him again on email so I have it on record.

Also, this is my son’s account… I asked him to type my question for me, but all I got was “blah blah im tired blah blah” , so i told him i will type it just sign on, since I do not have an account here.

Best answer:

Answer by rhsaunders
Probably. Negotiate with the bank to find another mutually agreeable appraiser. Also, check out zillow.com’s evaluation. Remember that real estate values have declined recently in many parts of the country.

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