I was in the process of having an FHA streamline re-finance done. The loan was approved, and everything was set to go except for one small snag.

I'm having some HVAC work done (in another thread) and am borrowing some money through a state program (CHF). A subordination needed to be done so that this loan stays second on the totem pole of leans against my house. That was all fine and dandy, except since the loan is less than 6 months old, FHA will not allow a streamline refinance.

The lender I'm working with said that this isn't a huge deal, it just means that we'll need to do a full blown FHA loan. It involves a bit more paperwork, verification of income, and an appraisal.

The appraisal is where I'm hesitant.

When I bought my house, there was a small patio cover built out of wood that was unpainted. The patio cover was bolted to the house via a header above the sliding glass door. The appraiser would not approve the house until that patio cover was painted.

I tore that patio cover down and built a new one (as seen in another thread). This patio cover is built out of redwood and, like the other, is unpainted. However, the new patio cover does not come into direct contact with the house. We fabricated metal L brackets and bolted the header to the brackets, then the brackets to the eves.

My question is, would this be the same situation as before? Would I risk an appraiser not liking that the patio cover is of "exposed" wood? Or was the apprasier at the time I purchased on the extreme side?

I don't want to commit to an appraisal if they're going to make me paint my patio cover. I'm not painting this one, at least not yet!

 

I don't understand, why would an appraiser care? Typically they come and measure your home, look at your features, and check the area comps to come up with a number. We've had tons of appraisals on a variety of properties over the years, not one has cared about any type of construction or finishing.

Now, if you were having inspectors over, that's a whole other bag of marbles... but an appraiser shouldn't care...

 

Maybe I'm getting the two crossed.

Does the lender perform their own inspection? I had my dad inspect the property on my end. Perhaps it was the lender's inspector that didn't like the patio cover?

Though, I don't know if FHA appraisals are different than your run of the mill home appraisal...

I don't know who on the lender's end deemed the patio cover needing to be painted, I just know it was something among a small punch list that had to be done in order for the loan to go through (which my realtor took care of). I always assumed it was the appraiser...

 

Wait....you attached the patio to the house by connecting it to the rafter/roof truss tails?!?!?

 

^ The patio, no. The cover, yes.

Said brackets:



Posts supporting the other side:

 

Why did you not attach to the house via a ledger board?

Not trying to nit-pick, but the lateral forces of a significant earthquake can cause significant damage to your roof and patio due to the rafter tail attachment.

The rafter tails are not a positive connection....even with such a small patio.
A ledger board/beam attached to the house at the window/door header height is a positive connection that will resist lateral forces, not to mention seismic uplift.

 

I take it you wouldn't approve the loan.

I wanted the height.

 

I don't think the patio will be a problem. What is the status of the HVAC repair? If started it may need to be completed prior to appraisal. How's your market value? G/L

 

in terms of the appraisal for your loan, he will not care the structural integrity of your patio... or how 'to code' you built that roof/cover... he is just there to measure the house, verify the sq ft, # of BR & BA... and then use that to run comparables to your neighborhood... his job is to get the estimate value to see what your loan to value will be for the lender... not be a construction inspector...

but as an aside, if you ever do plan to sell the house and there is a proper home inspection done, as Moog said, the cover on the patio should have been anchored via a ledger board... not those brackets...

 

Regarding the loan....if it were me, I'd give ya the cash!!!

I was only commenting on the "unconventional" design of the attachment of the patio to the structure.

 

Why didn't anyone say anything about this in my landscaping/home improvements thread?! I talked about the plans and even posted pictures of the bracket template mounted to the eve!

There's no changing it now. I guess I'll address it with the next patio cover or if it hangs a sale in the future. Since I want the height and want to retain the gutter, I'd probably just install posts on the house side and have it be an independent structure. The patio is plenty thick for it and the concrete used was something like 3,000 or 3,500 psi (was what a local concrete place had and it wasn't any more expensive).

The HVAC work should be done by the end of the week. I'm definitely not going to have an appraisal done until that work is finished. As far as I know (I'm no expert) and from what the lender tells me, the house should appraise fine.

I was just not sure about potential deja vu of snags like when I first purchased. Form what it sounds like it's a non-issue.

 

^^ Yea, if push comes to shove just add post for independent patio structure that is not anchored to the house.

 

just watch out for the rules in your area... in my town, any independent structure has a minimum distance requirement from the main home... otherwise u have to tie into the structure (i.e.. you don't want the possibility of an 'independent' patio cover falling into the house if it gets damaged)

check the local codes first... but u don't need to worry about that now...