We're Waiting Experts...Not

Our mortgage broker told us last Monday that the new appraiser (hired by the underwriter's intermediary - the number of parties involved in a loan gets pretty confusing) would call to set up payment first, then schedule an appointment at the house with F. I'm delighted when they call on Tuesday, thought maybe we'd have to wait until after Thanksgiving. I give payment information, the appraiser calls the house and speaks to the Husband, who connects her with F. Turns out the appraiser lives in Discovery Bay, not familiar with Richmond at all. F. sends her comps from the previous appraiser; Appraiser 2 asks about similar areas, and F. tells her about Richmond Annex, sends more comps. They schedule an appointment for the day before Thanksgiving.

F. discovers there is no lockbox on the door the night before the appointment; calls the selling agent to ask how to get in, he says, "Use the key from the lockbox." Uh-oh. He arrives, discovers someone has cut off the lokbox, gone inside and stolen the washer and dryer, and the hood over the stove (?!!!). How is this possible? I tell others about this, start hearing horror stories of fully-staged houses in Piedmont, San Francisco, Walnut Creek being emptied by thieves. Feel slightly better that this is not a Richmond-centric crime.

The selling agent is a champ, gets a new hood up before the appraiser arrives on Wed. Appraiser 2 likes the neighborhood, likes the house; complains to F. about the new rules on appraising, and that she gets called to appraise neighborhoods she has no familiarity with (like Richmond - and her next stops are Oakland and Walnut Creek, never appraised in either area). We're hopeful that she will appraise at our offer level, but then the underwriter has to accept it, so there's no predicting success. Appraiser 2 tells F. she will turn in her appraisal by Monday, and we should hear from the underwriter by Wed. Just trying not to despair.