Everett, Wash.
Published: Sunday, June 14, 2009

Borrower entitled to appraisal request

By Steve Tytler

 Question: I had intended to refinance my house and paid for an appraisal requested by the mortgage broker that was done in April. I applied for a $265,000 mortgage for my house, which had an appraised value of $302,000. The interest rate on my mortgage is 5.8 percent and the new loan was supposed to be 4.8 percent. But after looking closely at the good faith estimate, I determined that the loan being offered to me was too costly because of the mortgage insurance that I had to pay. I asked the broker to send me a copy of the appraisal and he said he would e-mail it to me. I received his e-mail, but half of the information was unreadable. I requested a good copy, but he is not answering my messages. I called his office and they told me that he is the only one who has a copy of my appraisal. What can I do to get a copy of the appraisal of my property? What government agency should I complain to about this matter?

Answer: I am sorry to hear about your problem. Most mortgage companies will gladly give you a copy of the appraisal report that you have paid for. But some loan officers may be reluctant to turn over a copy of the appraisal to you because they may be afraid that you will take it to a competing lender.

State law (Washington Administrative Code 208-660-430) says: "The mortgage broker must, within five days of a written request by the borrower, give copies of any appraisal, title report, or credit report paid for by the borrower, to the borrower, and transmit the appraisal, title report, or credit report to any other mortgage broker or lender to whom the borrower directs the documents to be sent."

As you can see, you are legally entitled to a copy of the appraisal report that you paid for, but technically, the mortgage broker could require you to send a written request for the appraisal rather than making a phone call. So to be safe, I advise you to mail letters to the loan officer and the designated mortgage broker of the mortgage company you were working with to request a copy of your appraisal. They would then have five days to send a copy of the appraisal to you.

If you are still unable to get a copy of your appraisal and you want to file a complaint against the mortgage company, the agency that regulates mortgage brokers is the state Department of Financial Institutions.

You can call the agency's Consumer Services Division at 360-902-8811 or you can file a complaint online at its Web site: http://dfi.wa.gov/cs/complaint.htm.

Mail your real estate questions to Steve Tytler, The Herald, P.O. Box, Everett, WA 98206, or e-mail him at economy@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA