The industry standard is that residential loan officers are salary paid. Commercial and large construction loan officers usually do get commissions based on production. If a loan officer has "inflated" an appraisal that is grounds for immediate dismissal for cause. Remember that the real estate is collateral for the loan. It is not in the lender's best interest to inflate value. Residential appraisals are often done by computer models today. But, they are up-to-date with current local comps and amazingly accurate. If somebody has a HELCO appraisal from six months ago and their property is not worth what the appraisal says...well, maybe the market's declined in those past six months? Anyway, the lender's appraisals are "reputable". If someone defaults on their loan & the lender has inflated the value during the appraisal process and, thereby, given a larger loan to value than they should have...it's to the lender's loss. What's the incentive for a lender to do that? Tricia Who speaks from 15 years lending experience & a hubby who currently manages a $2.5B+ residential real estate portfolio.

Current 30 year is 4.375% 15 year is 3.875% the special is zero closing costs if refinanced to a 5, 10, or 15 year. Current interest on HELOC is 6.5% I think. We currently pay $600/month $345 for MTG (escrowed) and rest on heloc. Plan was to continue to do that until heloc was paid off then throw everything at the MTG. Refinancing just the MTG with no payout our would increase or payments to $430 (escrowed) estimated about $100 more with a $10000 payout. As for other houses... That's the tough thing. I live in a very small section of houses similar to mine. None of them have sold recent enough to use add comps. I don't think. One down the street sold a little over a year ago for $70,000 I think. But it does have a finished basement and a slightly more updated kitchen. Our bathroom is bigger and remodeled more recently. Usually they have to use comps in the city, which are a few decades newer to begin with, have smaller lots, and less garage space. Hope this helps! Thank you so much for taking the time!

Im working with a lender that says it is fine to use heloc monies and my own to build new, once im done I can refi the new home and pay off the heloc then do as I please with the old house. Yes, that is what most here recommended. However, if you can get an owner build construction loan that converts to a mortgage, then you would only need one loan and the associated loan fees. One other issue i need to figure out is the county has said im fine to build the new home as long as I remove the old one once im done, its gonna be a timing thing I can see already... Totally normal. It probably has to do with the zoning of the land.It doesn't sound like you wanted to keep the old house anyway. If you did, then you would have to look into splitting the land so it is not just one parcel.

Following up to my own question; I thought it might be helpful to other people to know what I learned. I ended up having three appraisals from three different lenders. I found that the 'standards' varied widely and often depended on what the underwriter for that particular lender wanted to see. One appraiser merely noted the unfinished state of the bathroom. The lender did not seem phased by this and didn't require anything further. However that appraiser compared my home to much smaller ones when appraising the value. It was strange, but he compared my home to ones with less bedrooms, not less bathrooms. He also walked into my house with a definite attitude problem. One appraiser did not care at all about the bathroom, as long as the toilet and shower worked and he could see all the pieces lined up. He did start in the garage where the old vanity was stored, awaiting demolition, and could see and smell the mold in it and commented that I'd already 'improved' the bathroom. His estimate was about what my lender had expected for a refinance. He also appeared to have the most up to date equipment and info about my area. The third appraiser was not able to even appraise my house until the bathroom was fully functional. As per the lender's underwriter I had to have all of the plumbing working, the wall finished and the door installed. I did finish this work before he came out. This appraisal came in slightly higher than the other two but I chose to go with the lender with whom I came to terms the soonest. Every one of the appraisers told me that they were following industry standards in their treatment of the unfinished bathroom. Two of them were very professional while the third was crabby and kept taking personal calls while working. I live in a housing 'tract' where there are very many similar homes and each appraiser used totally different homes to compare to mine. In the end the appraised value seemed to have more to do with whether the guy liked me or liked his job. Thanks to everyone for their comments and information. This has been an interesting learning experience.