JDG APPRAISAL SVC

Very well, they were prompt, professional and they followed up to make sure we received the email and to see if there was anything else we needed from them, to not hesitate to call.

The appraisal itself was fine except we had major concerns that since they cover a very large geographical area in NY and NJ, they could not possibly have good knowledge of real estate conditions of specific neighborhoods and towns. When we asked the gentleman if he was familiar with our area, he gave us a non committal nod. The appraisal came in $15,000 less than another appraisal that was done just month and a half prior for another refinance that ultimately didn't materialize. We immediately noticed that not only had he picked bad comps confirming our fear of his lack of knowledge of the neighborhood, but elected to leave out the highest when averaging the comps to arrive at a value for our home. We contacted our loan officer immediately on July 9th with our questions who informed us we can ask the appraiser directly. We called Joe several times and left him voice messages which he never returned. We followed up with several emails. Finally we received a response 11 days later on July 20th saying he won't answer our questions unless we go though the lender. So we immediately contacted the lender. He took 25 days to respond! We didn't hear back until August 15th and we know that the lender was very diligent about passing on our questions. By then we had already closed on the refinance since we couldn't risk waiting for an answer and letting the lock in period expire. Most galling of this whole experience is that after all that time his answer was really a non answer. He never answered our specific questions. Stay far far away from this appraiser. He has no idea what he is doing and is definitely taking advantage of the fact that homeowners are at the mercy of his service. What a horrible experience!