MATTHEW SWEENEY APPRAISALS

I needed a home appraisal for a refinance. My bank chose Matthew Sweeney Appraisals. My home is 10 years old and is a 3500 square foot cape cod. Mr. Sweeney was the appraiser that came. When he arrived, I was speaking to a neighbor about my son being home from school due to a cold. Mr. Sweeney overheard this and stated "You will have to open every door and just show me around quickly. I don't want to touch anything". I considered this somewhat rude but decided it wasn't a big deal. He quickly walked through the home and took pictures. I had printed original blueprints of my home with exact dimensions and gave them to him. He wrote down very little and appeared to rush the walk through. Total time spent was probably 5-8 minutes. This included all three floors, the attached garage and the unattached garage. When he went to leave, I went to shake his hand and he declined. He stated he did not want to get sick. I felt this was very rude but didn't say anything because I didn't want it to affect the appraisal. Two days passed and the bank called. They stated the appraisal came back and my home had lost $75,000 in 10 years. I had added a 500 square foot finished sun room to the back and a 32'x50' pole building garage in the past 5 years. The next day, I received a copy of the appraisal and found that Mr. Sweeney had chosen comparables that were not remotely similar to mine. In one case, the home was nearly 1200 square feet less. I thought to myself, maybe there weren't any decent comparables I'm my area. So I looked myself. I found 7 comparables that were better matches in square footage and condition. They also were in line with what the appraisal ten years ago reflected in price range plus inflation. I also found that he did not figure my square footage accurately and had figured several hundred feet off. He had also categorized my 32'x50' pole building as a two car garage. As an indicator of size, when he did the walk through, I had two full size farm tractors, a ski boat, a Yamaha rhino, a jeep, and an antique Ladder fire truck which is 44' long in the building. I doubt all of that would fit into a standard two car garage. I have since received two other appraisals and they both came back at the price range I felt was accurate for my area and home value. Unfortunately, Mr Sweeney's appraisal cost me 0.5% interest because the rates increased that much in the time between when he performed his appraisal and when I could get a new rate locked. I would not recommend a homeowner or bank use his services. He was very rude, did not take his time during the walk through and undervalued the appraisal by over $100,000 according to the appraisals that were conducted after his.

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