2nd Appraisal

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We had the house appraised again back on the 23rd of October. When the appraisal came back in, we were really pleased to see that the 2nd appraiser valued the house little higher than the first one. Take that, Mr. Lender!

We were really anxious to get the ball rolling again. So, our finance guy submits the new appraisal to the underwriters and we patiently wait....and wait....and wait. What could possibly be holding us up now? Well, I'll tell you. The 2nd appraiser found it in her heart to put a special little note in the back of her report stating that there was some water in the basement when she was out here (on the 2nd rainiest day ever!) and that the home would need to be re-inspected. She feared that we might have structural damage to our foundation. Oh brother....

Our basement is not finished. It's just cement walls and a cement floor. We have nothing down there other than some plastic storage totes and some shelving. We knew that there was an issue with water in one corner when we bought the house but it just hasn't been a priority since we don't plan on finishing the basement for several more years. She noted that the water (puddle) DID NOT affect the value of the home, it just might be a problem for the lender if the house collapses. Oh for pity's sake! Our house is as solid as a rock and she is not a certified home inspector. And, we have home insurance for that sort of thing!

So, Mike and I stood down there for an hour, talking about what we were going to do and trying not to cry too much. Mike did a bunch of research and found that the single biggest reason that water comes in is clogged gutters and drain/down spout issues. We cleaned out the gutters, which I might add are really high up there, and fixed the drain spouts/added more pipe to each one. We also adjusted the sump pump. Then we patched a portion of the wall in the basement where we could actually see water running down the wall. It was behind the furnace, so we had never seen it before, and it appeared that there used to be a window there at one time that had since been cemented in-obviously not well.

Voila! No more water. Nada. Nothing. Dry as a bone even with all the rain we've been getting on a daily basis. We talk to the finance guy and he says that he will send the appraiser back out to re-inspect and we'll be good to go. So, we patiently wait to hear from her...and wait...and wait. Nothing.

Today, the finance guy calls us (we usually have to call him) and says that he has received the report back from the appraiser saying that there is still water in the basement and the problem is not fixed. No, the REAL problem is that we never heard from her, she never came back to our house and there is NO water in our basement. I mean, seriously?! Is this some sort of a joke? Well, it's not funny.....

We are completely at our wits end with this process and having this appraiser actually lie about our situation is more than depressing. I don't know where we go from here. Please keep your fingers crossed that something positive comes our way soon. I can't take much more....