Do you know how to avoid the home appraisal woes?

Well, it's pretty simple in principle. Unfortunately, in this market we are seeing more homes that do not appraise. As I'm sure you know, as a seller your home must be priced appropriately in order to sell in this competitive market. I have seen many Carlsbad homes priced too high, and they are just sitting there. So that's one major downfall of overpricing.

The other, however, is the appraisal. If you are lucky enough to get a buyer that will pay what you want, or nearly so, you can still run into a problem if the home does not appraise based on area comparable sales. Overpricing will cause this.

The other possibility is when the values are declining in your area. The price you set several months ago may now be relatively high as compared to the homes that are selling.

If the home does not appraise you have a couple of choices.

• First, renegotiate the price. You may have to accept less, unless the buyer can come up with a larger down payment and offset the amount being financed
• Second, if you are financially able you might be able to provide seller financing. But keep in mind the buyer night also just decide to walk away since they cannot qualify for the loan.
• The buyer can try to get another appraisal done but there is a slim chance this will make a difference. And with mortgage companies tightening their standards, underwriters are looking much more closely at risky situations...and not approving them.

So keep this in mind. Your goal is to sell your home so you can relocate. Make sure that pricing does not prevent you from attaining that goal.