4604 Norwich in Sherman Oaks closed yesterday at $592,000

4604 Norwich in Sherman Oaks closed yesterday for $592,000.  It was listed at $550,000.  We had six offers in the first week from qualified buyers and the lowest was $565,000.  Although that sounds like it was probably an easy-peasy deal for me, it had serious challenges all the way through.  I blogged about the weird appraisal earlier and may expand on that some day.  Other issues: there was no money in the HOA reserves -- this was my very first time dealing with that, and we had to come up with ways to get it funded.  Oh, the list goes on.  As I said, I may blog more about this in the future.

Appraisal problems

Appraisal problems are a fact of life in the real estate market these days, and I just had one. My listing at 1106 N. Cordova in Burbank appraised through Wells Fargo* for $14,000 less than what it is in escrow for.  The buyer had already waived the appraisal contingency, but the sellers and I wanted her to feel good about her purchase, so we cooperated with a second appraisal with her new lender, Great Western.  This time, I met the appraiser and brought area comparables along with the final cost sheet prepared by the contractor who had done the updates.  I also sent the appraiser copies of the other offers we'd received so he could see the range the "market" was willing to pay for the house.  Sure enough, this time the appraisal came out right at the sales price.  I'm sorry the buyer had to pay for two appraisals, but I'm sure she now feels even better about the purchase of this cute home.

*Note that I'm bashing the big banks once again.  Yes, this is a common theme of this blog.