Robert Van Gent, Review

Burned homeowner
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by InaccurateVanGent, Feb. 07, 2021

Van Gent totally miss represented the appraisal due to his errors, including...
Misrepresenting our market characteristics.
Failing to confirm county data.
Misstating the number/size of bedrooms.
Misstating the number/size of bathrooms.
Misstating the size of the garage (stated 580 sq. Ft, actual 690).
Misstating the legal name of the development.
Misstating the quality of construction.
Misstating the number of appliances.
Misstating and misrepresenting that the appraisal is “based on a complete visual inspection of the interior and exterior areas,” when in fact that did not occur.
For good reason, companies requiring accurate appraisals are no longer using Van Gent appraisals.  BEWARE!!!

* this reviewer has be with this appraiser for >10 years
* this reviewer had 1 - 2 dentists before.
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Incompetent Appraiser
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by Disappointed, Jan. 11, 2021

This appraiser should not be paid for appraisal services until a "compare and contrast" review is completed.  Errors, omissions, and his judgment render his appraisals to be worthless.

* this reviewer has be with this appraiser for <6 months
* this reviewer had 1 - 2 dentists before.
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Low Baller and Unprofessional
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by vsethna, Nov. 17, 2020

I had my home appraised last week by Robert Van Gent and he low balled it by at least $50K. He took comps for the property which were sold over 6 months back. Technically, he has the right to select comps from the past year, I believe he is not being professional for accurately appraising the property at its current value in an up market; especially when numerous homes were sold and closed in the neighborhood in the past 2 months. These days, the lenders nor the buyers/owners have a choice of who will perform the appraisal, but however if you are going through an appraisal, paying for it and a low balled estimate may negate your process and hamper your transaction, you have the right to ask for another appraiser.

* this reviewer has be with this appraiser for <6 months
* this reviewer had 3 - 5 dentists before.
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Don't use Robert Van Gent
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by Daveengle, Feb. 27, 2016

Incompetent appraiser! Used comps that were 10 to 20 years older that weren't updated and said they were in better condition than our home. Half our home has a brand new remodel. We moved walls, made the home into a open floor plan, skim coated, retextured and added radius corners to over half the house. 700 square feet of solid maple hardwood floors. All windows and doors were trimmed out with white craftsman style trim. He stated that because the kitchen wasn't remodeled, the remodeled didn't add any value. He appraised our home 115k under the county assessment. We bought the house under bankruptcy 1 year ago. He stated that because the house was purchased a such a low price it couldn't possibly have gone up in value to where it was assessed. He is using our purchase price to sway his assessment. I hope whoever reads this has a chance to request another appraiser.

* this reviewer has be with this appraiser for <6 months
* this reviewer had 6 - 10 dentists before.
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Jean Anderson
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by wronged, Jan. 02, 2015

All banks and realtors should not accept Robert Van Gent as an appraiser.  He appraised our condo in downtown Seattle even though he has had little or no experience in Seattle real estate.  He compared our condo, in a premier building made of concrete and steel, with low rise wood construction, a result that is totally unacceptable and incorrect.  He appraised our unit $39K below the contract price and the King County Assessor.
This type of incompetence should be reason for pulling his license.  

* this reviewer has be with this appraiser for <6 months
* this reviewer had 1 - 2 dentists before.
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Inaccurate, Poorly Done, Low Valuation Appraisal
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by 1Homeowner, Dec. 07, 2014

Hopefully, you found this review researching Robert Van Gent while you still have time to request a different appraiser.  He went through our home very quickly, took poor photographs that don't highlight good features, and did not pay attention to details he should have noticed.  The resulting report is full of errors, contains snide subjective statements, and in a couple instances the details contradict summary information, which make any analysis he did to come up with the low valuation, highly suspect.  He left out some significantly close comparables and misstated the market conditions for our area which we found statistics for on reputable realty sites for the same period the appraisal was being done.  He didn't check boxes to give us credit for standard appliances easily visible in the home, like a refrigerator.  We are very unhappy to have paid a good sum of money for an inaccurate appraisal report, which seems to go out of it's way to devalue our home.

* this reviewer has be with this appraiser for <6 months
* this reviewer had 3 - 5 dentists before.
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Should not be appraising Seattle
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by sgad82, Jun. 10, 2014

This appraiser screwed up my home purchase in Seattle.  Appraised the property for $25k less than the sale price, $35k less than market price.The comps he used were between $25k-55k higher.  

He also did not do his homework.  He did not know the home had recently had a new roof installed, a new water heater and a new sewer line in the past 2 years.  Under the 'recent repairs' section he checked 'none'.

A typical eastsider who does not know the Seattle market.

* this reviewer has be with this appraiser for <6 months
* this reviewer had 1 - 2 dentists before.
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Avoid this appraiser
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by Peijakas, Dec. 20, 2013

Robert came to do appraisal for my refinancing.
He spent max 5 minutes in our 4000sft house and close to 1 acre property, taking irrelevant notes and pictures.
The appraisal came 15% lower than it should have been. Fortunately it did not affect my refinancing but it could have caused problems some other time or someone else in a different situation. But I was still upset because I paid for it.

I analyzed his report and pointed out major flaws in it, especially the comparable sales he had used. I made my own analyses that showed how he estimated the sft price of my house 20% lower than the average in my area and using comparable sales that were not that comparable at all.

I never got any response from him, he was probably too busy spending 5 minutes in somebody else's house and 30 minutes on the analyses and report.

* this reviewer had 6 - 10 dentists before.
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