The good news – the apartment appraised above the sale price.
The bad news – the appraiser included her comments about a possible meth lab:
“Our site visit on May 25, 2018, accompanied by property manager ———, revealed that one of the units had a very strong chemical odor immediately upon entering the unit and my eyes immediately started watering and stinging. My associate, who has Asthma, experienced his lungs seizing and had to leave the unit immediately”. Mr. —– told us that the breezeway outside of this unit had been washed down with bleach recently, which caused the strong odor. It did not smell like bleach to me or my associate. The opinion of value is based on the Extraordinary Assumption that the value is not affected by the presence of methamphetamine or other contamination. The opinion of Market Value may be negatively impacted if contamination is found to exist”
When the bank saw that comment, they freaked out.
Now we all know this is an unfounded opinion – we even asked her what kind of experience she has with Crystal meth and if she knows what it smells like. She admitted to having no knowledge of this.
The bank asked her to remove those comments, since this is only an opinion. She refused to do so, unless we can provide sufficient evidence that there is NOT drug activity.
So I’m in a bad spot. What to do?
I see two options at this point.
- Scrap this appraisal and get a new one. Cost: about $4,000. Time: About 30 Days.
- Order an environmental air quality test to prove no evidence of Crystal meth. Cost: About $700. Time: About 3 weeks.
Since I want this closed as quickly as possible, the best option is to play her little game and do whatever it takes to get this done.
Pretty sure this is an ethics violation, and there will be a response to this – after we close.
But first things first.