The bank's automated value missed by 61k, so I wrote three emails to get a person out

Applied for a line of credit against a rental I've held six years. The bank came back with a value that was 61,000 under what I had it at, and my number wasn't a hopeful number, it was a broker price opinion from eight months earlier plus two closed sales on the same block.

The first email I got said the value was final. Second email, from someone else, said I could request a reconsideration. Third email finally told me what I actually wanted, which is that I could pay for a full appraisal and they'd consider it.

What I couldn't get anyone to tell me was what the automated model had actually done. I asked whether it had the finished attic, which was permitted in 2019 and does show on the county card. Nobody could answer. The model's inputs aren't something the person on the phone can see.

Paid 525 for the appraisal. The appraiser came out, measured, and the number landed 47,000 above the automated value. Not all the way to mine, and his reasoning for that was fair, he wouldn't give me full credit for the attic because the ceiling height fails on part of it and he counted it as bonus space instead of gross living area. I disagreed and then I read his adjustment and stopped disagreeing.

The 525 bought me a lot of borrowing room. It also bought me the only explanation anyone in the process was able to give me.