John Burns: Veterans can’t get the homes they need

A survey of 188 home building executives by John Burns Real Estate Consulting finds that many builders are reluctant to sell homes to veterans, according to Jody Kahn, vice president of John Burns.

Kahn says the reason for this is that VA appraisers have become so conservative that the homes rarely close. In addition, the low appraisals impact the value of future community sales, costing the builders significant money.

The main difficulty is with VA procedures, not with the builders; some of the VA procedures make it difficult to challenge mistakes, among other reasons.

Below are some common complaints builders shared about the VA appraisal process. To read about each in detail, click here.

• Appraisers lack market knowledge
• VA appraisals take longer
• Focusing on the lowest comps, not most relevant
• No value given to options
• A feedback gap
• Effectively no way to correct or modify the appraisal
• Low value impacts all appraisals for the next six months
• Lenders can't avoid specific VA appraisers known for lowball values

Click here to read more.