The fact that my home refinance is headed for disaster is not surprising, considering the complete lack of forethought that went into this endeavor. What is irritating, though, is the feeling that I got hosed by the appraiser.

I don’t consider myself a friendly person. I’m not particularly outgoing or social. But, I put on a good face. I guarantee you that the people I know who drive me nuts have no idea how I actually feel. I expressed this to a co-worker once and he looked at me curiously. I could tell he was wondering what I really thought of him. So I calmly reassured him that I did, without a doubt, like him… but if I didn’t he would never know.

I guess it was the anti-dog thing that rubbed me so wrong that I just didn’t care enough to make the home appraiser think I liked her. I exchanged no pleasantries. I cracked no jokes. I stood by and watched when she took her shoes off by my front door, even though I don’t care if people wear shoes in my house, and in fact, recommend it based on the extreme dustiness of my finished basement. Nope, instead I just alternated between packing my lunch and huffily locking up dogs. I was noticeably irritable, at best. Downright surly, at worst.

The appraiser showed me. The appraisal came back $10K less than I needed in order to make the loan work. My credit score is through the roof, and I have never been late on a mortgage payment. It would seem to me that since I can afford my current payment, I can certainly afford one $200 lower. But banks are picky these days, and logic does not appear to be a factor in the decision making process.

Now, my easy, quick refinance is a bit more complicated. I have to go out on my own and find evidence that my home was low-balled. If I provide this information to the bank, and they accept it, the loan process can continue. If they don’t revise the appraisal (and they said they rarely do), I either have to lower the amount of the loan (which is impossible. I need to finance the whole amount. If I had thousands of dollars lying around, would I even be going through this process?), or I walk away and lose my non-refundable application deposit.

I am certain that this situation will resolve itself in a satisfactory manner. These things just have a way of working out, and I am nothing if not lucky. (Yep, still trying to work the “positive thinking” angle. Question: how long does it usually take the universe to notice this optimistic bull shit and alter my cosmic path accordingly?)

Tags: Home refinance