Refinancing house?

Edyth
We are refinancing our house in order to go from an ARM to a fixed rate. We took out the ARM back in 1/04. We preapproved for a fixed rate and I was wondering they need to do an appraisal on the house. No biggie except we have 4 dogs and they are a hassle whenever someone comes over to the house. When we took out the ARM back in 04 we had an appraisal done at that time. This is a different company but can they just use the appraisal from 04 or do we have to have it done again?Thanks

Britta
Fannie Mae guidelines require an appraisal to be no older than 12 months the date of the new Note. If the appraisal is older than 4 months a re-certification of the original appraisal must be done.If you are refinancing an FHA to a new FHA loan you can do this without an appraisal as long as the new base loan does not exceed the amount of the original loan.

Chasity
They will want an appraisal, but sometimes they do a "computer appraisal" without an on-site inspection. If the appraiser needs to come out, they will notify you.

Hwa
The reason they're going to do an appraisal is because they need to determine the equity you have. Equity is the current value of the home minus what you owe. Since housing prices fluctuate, and currently housing prices are declining, lenders need to get up-to-date appraisals to determine how much collateral you have. Also, the reason they need to know the equity is because mortgages are loans that you back up with collateral. You convince the lender that you're credit is good and that you can make the payments, and if you don't, you agree to hand over the collateral, which in this case is your home. If you have no equity (the home value is less than your equity) then there is nothing to back up your word. If you can't pay, the bank has no fall back option.Hope that helps and best of luck to you!

Clemmie
The lender will want an appraisal. Count on it. Tell the appraiser you have dogs or take them for a car ride when he or she comes

Hung
You will need a new appraisal...the real estate market and mortgage industry have changed substantially since early '04 and you can count on the lender needing a current appraisal.