How do I get my Certificate of Occupancy?

Question

HI,

I live in Poughkeepsie, NY. My home was listed as a four bedroom home and we are in contract to sell this home. A few days before the colosing we were told that we can't get a CO becasue our home was originally CO'd as a three bedroom in 1963. Since we inherited the home and have done no rennovation on it we did not look at anything but the tax records which have listed the home as a four bedroom. Now we need to close the deal and are being faced with two options. The option we would like to take is to call the fourth bedroom a den. We have been told that this might be a problem becasue our buyers are getting an FHA loan and their bank appraised the house as a four bedroom and it might not appraise at the same number as a three bedroom. Can anyone shed some light on this? I can't understand why my home would not appraise we are not selling it for that much money. Infact we are selling it for $47,000 less than the fair market value the town has assessed it at.

Answer 1

What your saying does not really make sense, maybe there is something going on that you did not mention that would make it a unusual situation. A CO is usually not required unless you do some kind of work to a house- or if it is unoccupied for a while and run down and is basicly condemed, when you get a new co after being condemed - it usually does not matter if you decide to add a bedroom, it may change the amount of the taxes slightly but shouldnt affect much of anything else. Another thing to keep in mind is that the assessement value determined by the city - in NO way reflects the fair market value of a house, actually  i have never seen a town assessment even close to accurate for fair market value.

On the other hand the buyers hire a appraiser and that appraisal that is required by their mortgage company would be what determines if the house they are purchasing is appropriately priced, and based on that if they get a loan to purchase that house. Again 3 bedrooms to 4 does not usually make that much of a difference, and the bulk price of a appraisal is based on sq ftg..

If the selling price of your house is accurate and about at fair market- then i wouldnt worry about the appraisal. The only thing i can think of to be worried about is if the house taxes go up after a new co is issued- and your buyer can not afford the new taxes, or if the house is over priced , but if it is accurately priced- then 3 or 4 bedrooms should not make the appraisal come up less then expected.