[quote name='MrNEWZ']
(1) An appraisal lower than the agreed upon value in any market, let alone now, should mean that the new offer is the appraised value.
(2) If the seller won't sell at the appraised value, then their property won't sell for some time (until the market self corrects).
[/QUOTE]
Not true.
An appraisal isn't the same as what the market price should be. If appraisal values were suddenly to be the absolute market values, then buying real estate would be an entirely different game. Its not an exact science of any kind.
An appraisal is just one "independent" person's opinion. All it takes is a different appraisal. I don't know the law on doing multiple appraisals on one property and if it varies in every state, or if an owner has to report prior appraisals to subsequent possible purchasers, but basically a second opinion can get things sold.
The place I'm in right now was a foreclosure and a great buy with the offer that we put in which was well below what the selling-bank was looking to get but they accepted it. Then the appraisal came back lower (off the top of my head I forget how much lower, but it was significant enough for a property that wasn't costing very much in the first place), and our lender balked at it and wouldn't sign off on it, and the selling-bank certainly wasn't going to go any lower.
Our offer was already low for this neighborhood with other sales and foreclosures in it, the offer was low for the current market and other comps in similar neighborhoods, we were working with very experienced and very good realtors who are family friends who were helping out with this small property so they knew the price was right, but we just by the luck of the draw had someone that made a really low appraisal, and that wasn't good news.
Because think about it, if the bank lends X amount more than the appraisal, and say I immediately don't pay my mortgage and they have to foreclose, then they're in more on a property than what it might theoretically be worth. And at the time, the market wasn't yet at its bottom so had this place fallen back into foreclosure in my hands, it would be worth even less by the time the bank would be able to foreclose and sell again, and the lender would be even more screwed.
This was years ago now, and I don't remember the specifics but after much hassle a second appraisal was done, it was around the ball park of what we offered, and after taking whatever considerations a bank takes after seeing two different appraisal numbers, our lender agreed to the sale. Had we just had a different person for the first appraisal we could dealt with a lot less hassle and stress. And given the sale prices in the years since, we definitely did not overpay, the lender didn't take unnecessary risk, and some appraiser is out there low balling other properties probably.