- Report: #54621
Complaint Review: Gold Coast - Ludington Michigan
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Author Not Confirmed
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Gold Coast
101 W. Loomis, Suite 202 P.O.Box 110 Ludington, 49431 Michigan, U.S.A.
Phone:
231-843-2383
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Gold Coast Appraisal Services a hole in the ground ripoff Ludington Michigan
Gold Coast Appraisal Services ripoff, Appraisal company that doesn't know it's **** from a hole in the ground! Ludington Michigan .....
We were in the process of refinancing our home, the mortgage company we were dealing with said we had to have the house appraised and must use their specific appraiser that their company deals with.
This appraiser is located about 3 hours away, nowhere near our home, and certainly not aware of our area.
When the appraisal was done, it was done by a woman named Jennifer A. LaVigne. She did a quick once through, did a simple diagram of where the rooms were (which was not correct on the final appraisal!), snapped a few pictures and was done.
I tried to tell here about some of the things I felt would be important to an appraisal, such as energy efficent things that had been added, etc. and she just said "that kind of information would be great for a realtor, but not for me."
We had an appraisal done 2 1/2 years ago that was 16,500.00 more than the one this company just did. Our house is not quite 3 years old, it is still in new condition, it has not been trashed. We have made various improvements such as porches, a deck, five foot high fencing around app. 1 acre of the property, and yet the appraisal they came up with was $16,500.00 LESS! Property values around my area have sky-rocketed over the last several years...not gone downhill!
There were several mistakes on the appraisal...such as the square footage of the house, the number of rooms, and also the amount of acreage!
The places they used for "comps" were all considerably smaller homes, none had basements, and two of the three had less property. One of the places they used for a comp is a neighbors house that had been severly damaged inside (ie holes bashed in the walls, filthy, etc.) so of course it didn't sell for much! How can that be used as a comp to a house that's almost brand new? The same house had previously sold about 4 years ago for over $120,000,this time sold for 93,000. shows how much damage had been done to it! And on the comp they say it's only 4 years old, when in fact it's 6-7 years old.
To top it all off, the person who's name is on the appraisal is not the same person who came to our home! A woman named Jennifer La Vigne came to our home (and gave me her card), yet the name on appraisal is T. Patrick LaPorte...how do you figure?
Another thing we feel is a bit odd, (perhaps being done to cheat on taxes) is the fact that they request cash or money order...no checks or credit cards. When I paid her the $400.00 my receipt was simply her initials on the back of her business card and the amount $400.00. Now, since this company is from our state, did their business in our state, shouldn't they be charging, and being charged State Sales Taxes? Is their requirement for cash payment for their security against bad checks? Or is it so that they don't have to claim all the appraisals they really do?
I feel they have totally ripped us off by doing an appraisal that was so bad...a house that has not been trashed or ruined in some other manner doesn't depreciate like that! With property values sky-rocketing in our area, it should have only gone up in value!
They ripped us off for $400.00 in cash, by their appraisal they've ripped us off for thousands of dollars! How many other people have they ripped off too???
Would be VERY interested to know if they really report all the appraisals they do to the State, or if they are cheating on it to save themselves some tax money...I wonder this because on the first page of the appraisal that has my name, address, date of appraisal, etc. it shows how much was charged, and how much I paid, but, on the line where it says state sales tax it is 0.
Would love
Michelle
Brutus, Michigan
U.S.A.
We were in the process of refinancing our home, the mortgage company we were dealing with said we had to have the house appraised and must use their specific appraiser that their company deals with.
This appraiser is located about 3 hours away, nowhere near our home, and certainly not aware of our area.
When the appraisal was done, it was done by a woman named Jennifer A. LaVigne. She did a quick once through, did a simple diagram of where the rooms were (which was not correct on the final appraisal!), snapped a few pictures and was done.
I tried to tell here about some of the things I felt would be important to an appraisal, such as energy efficent things that had been added, etc. and she just said "that kind of information would be great for a realtor, but not for me."
We had an appraisal done 2 1/2 years ago that was 16,500.00 more than the one this company just did. Our house is not quite 3 years old, it is still in new condition, it has not been trashed. We have made various improvements such as porches, a deck, five foot high fencing around app. 1 acre of the property, and yet the appraisal they came up with was $16,500.00 LESS! Property values around my area have sky-rocketed over the last several years...not gone downhill!
There were several mistakes on the appraisal...such as the square footage of the house, the number of rooms, and also the amount of acreage!
The places they used for "comps" were all considerably smaller homes, none had basements, and two of the three had less property. One of the places they used for a comp is a neighbors house that had been severly damaged inside (ie holes bashed in the walls, filthy, etc.) so of course it didn't sell for much! How can that be used as a comp to a house that's almost brand new? The same house had previously sold about 4 years ago for over $120,000,this time sold for 93,000. shows how much damage had been done to it! And on the comp they say it's only 4 years old, when in fact it's 6-7 years old.
To top it all off, the person who's name is on the appraisal is not the same person who came to our home! A woman named Jennifer La Vigne came to our home (and gave me her card), yet the name on appraisal is T. Patrick LaPorte...how do you figure?
Another thing we feel is a bit odd, (perhaps being done to cheat on taxes) is the fact that they request cash or money order...no checks or credit cards. When I paid her the $400.00 my receipt was simply her initials on the back of her business card and the amount $400.00. Now, since this company is from our state, did their business in our state, shouldn't they be charging, and being charged State Sales Taxes? Is their requirement for cash payment for their security against bad checks? Or is it so that they don't have to claim all the appraisals they really do?
I feel they have totally ripped us off by doing an appraisal that was so bad...a house that has not been trashed or ruined in some other manner doesn't depreciate like that! With property values sky-rocketing in our area, it should have only gone up in value!
They ripped us off for $400.00 in cash, by their appraisal they've ripped us off for thousands of dollars! How many other people have they ripped off too???
Would be VERY interested to know if they really report all the appraisals they do to the State, or if they are cheating on it to save themselves some tax money...I wonder this because on the first page of the appraisal that has my name, address, date of appraisal, etc. it shows how much was charged, and how much I paid, but, on the line where it says state sales tax it is 0.
Would love
Michelle
Brutus, Michigan
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
STEVE
MIAMI,Florida,
U.S.A.
WHAT TO DO
#2Consumer Suggestion
Tue, September 30, 2003
I'm an appraiser in Miami, Florida. I feel that I may be able to offer some advice. Though I don't know the area I can give you some ideas that may help. Every state has a department that deals with the regulation of professionals. I'm sure Michigan has one as well. They will have a department where you can file a complaint against the appraiser and they will investigate if there is just cause. Just look at the states web site. I think your'e going down the wrong avenue with the sales tax idea. You should focus on the incompetancy of the appraiser. See if the report has the first girls name anywhare as "providing assistance" in the developmemnt of the report. I wouldn't worry if the square footage is off by a little. I would focus on the sales that they used and why. The data source they use may be different than yours and that's why there is conflicting data. You may consider getting your own appraisal and then suing the original appraiser. The 400 fee seems high unless you are in a rural area or have a property worth over 500 k. Hopefully this will help.
