Our insurance independent appraiser has submitted a very low appraisal of our home using very low comps and deducting the value of the land before the Camp Fire because that is what was on tax records. What is my best option to approach them? They keep referring me back and forth between appraiser and in house adjuster at CSAA.
United Policyholders Staff asked 4 years ago 1 Answers
Sandra L. Moriarty Expert answered 4 years ago Thanks for your question, and for reaching out to United Policyholders. Sorry to hear about your loss. In general, a market value appraisal is used only to determine the initial actual cash value of your destroyed home. In most cases, it is not very important that it is 100% correct, because you will either rebuild your home, or replace it with a new home. When it DOES really matter, is situations where, for whatever reason, you do not intend to replace the home at all. In these cases, it is very important to be assertive and insist that the appraisal upon which the value is determined is correct. If you intend to rebuild or replace your home, then your time is better spent determining the cost to rebuild the home you lost, plus any code upgrades if you have that coverage. The amount that they owe you under a replacement cost policy is based upon this figure. Even if you want to build (or buy) a different home, you will need to reach agreement with your carrier on this amount. If you do not intend to replace it, then I would recommend even hiring your own appraiser to be sure that you feel that the value reached is an accurate value of what you lost.
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