Arkfeld Appraisals

Mr. Arkfeld did an appraisal for a lender that I was working with for a refinance in Harpers Ferry. He does not seem to understand the market or purposely picked comparables that were not comparable to my property. There had been over 10 homes sold in my sub-division in the last 12 months one of those was 3 houses away and sold in January. He ignored all those comparables and selected comparables outside of the neighborhood that were smaller and seemed to be specifically selected to lower the value of the appraisal. The comps selected had substantially smaller lots and smaller square footage. I don't know why this appeared to be his agenda, but because of a valuation that was $70k to $80k lower than neighborhood comps suggested I cancelled the loan application with the lender. I howe

If I could give negative stars you can believe that I would. DO NOT use Eric Arkfeld for your home appraisal if you want a fair and accurate appraisal done. Our lender as do most uses a 3rd party company who contracts the appriser. Arkfeld was chosen as ours. Arkfeld valued our home $79,000 less than its value 2.5 years earlier when we finished building. Well our lender did some research and agreed that Arkfeld must have been way off because they ordered a new appraisal. The new appraisal came back $109,000 higher than Arkfeld's. He used dated comps on homes 15 years older than ours with much less land. DO NOT use him, I repeat, find someone else. Our lender must have felt he was not worthy enough because they have taken him off their list of appraisers in this area!!!!! Run, ru

Andrew did my appraisal on a Monday (only 4 days after it was assigned) and stated the report should be completed on Friday, which it was. My last appraisal took almost 6 weeks to complete and almost cost me the loan. I find it rare anymore that people do what they say they will, when they say they will. My appraisal came in 20k higher than it did 2 months previous, which I feel is fair. Overall my home value increased 131k from what it was when I bought it 2 years ago. Thankyou Andrew!

Arkfeld stated that he has personal standards in excess of lenders and will intentionally report values low unless his requests are met. I will file an ethics compliant unless he revises his practices. He suggested that 18k be held in escrow because grass did not grow on a new house during winter. He attempts to play God rather than do his job as prescribed by lenders and his code of ethics. We must have all picked on him to much in high school and now he enjoys ruining our dreams as adults.

The appraisal Mr.Arkfeld did was way off. It was almost 30,000 less than one from 2 years ago. Also demanded a building inspector come and look at a garage that has been through 4 appraisals without a problem. It cost us the loan. So, we basically lost 400 dollars to a terrible appraisal. Run the other way.