Am I the only one who thinks paying for a rush appraisal is a waste of money?

I just closed on a house in Springfield and the lender pushed hard for a rush appraisal to speed things up. It cost me an extra $300 on top of the normal fee. They promised a 48-hour turnaround instead of the usual two weeks. The appraiser showed up, spent maybe twenty minutes inside, and the report came back right on time. But the value came in exactly at our contract price, which was what we all expected anyway. Looking back, I feel like I paid $300 just to hear what we already knew a bit sooner. It didn't change the loan terms or give us any leverage. Has anyone else had a rush service that actually provided a real benefit, or did it just burn a hole in your pocket?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotadams20d ago

Yeah, that's just the lender covering their own timeline. Next time, push back hard unless you're in a crazy bidding war.

caseyc7811d ago

Wait, they charged you a rush fee just to meet their own deadline? That's insane... I'd be so mad. It's like paying extra because they didn't plan their own work right. You totally got played if there wasn't even a bidding war going on.

phoenix_price2920d ago

So the rush fee got you the number you already knew. @elliotadams has a point about the lender's timeline. Did your contract have an appraisal contingency, or were you already locked in no matter what it said?