Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

Re: home equity loan appraisal

The first Bank is not liable for your loss based upon the facts you recited. Suggest you consult with legal counsel for a detailed evaluation. Gerald Hershenson Esq.

Re: home equity loan appraisal

You asked if a bank was liable for your potential additional costs in borrowing where the bank may have been the proximate cause.

The answer is no, they are not liable.

You are free to contract with anyone you wish and vice versa. There was nothing preventing you from getting a competitive appraisal or even from pursuing loans with more than one bank at a time.

In order for the bank to be held liable in this instance you would need to demonstrate that they were negligent in hiring the appraiser according to the reasonable person standard. A reasonable person likely would not have seen the hired appraiser as incompetent, merely conservative. Further, you could have contested the appraisal or gotten competitive appraisals. A bank is not bound and has no duty to lend a person any money never mind lending that person the amount of money you seek.

Here, it was your choice to contact the bank and seek a loan from them. You could have pursued multiple loans but you didn't. Or you could have accepted the loan that they offered.

Further, there actually is no way to fix the damages in this instance. It can be shown that a person is unlikely to pay a mortgage all the way through. In your case it may be more or less likely to demonstrate the likelihood of paying a mortgage all the way through. So unless the mortgage was ironclad that you must and only can pay X dollars per month and you must pay the full amount whether you pay off the loan early then the damages were not fixed, only potential. The idea behind damages are that they will make the injured party whole. In this case your injury is only prospective and awarding the potential damages might prove an unjust enrichment to you.

Regards,

Roger Traversa

email: [email protected]