Should You Waive the Appraisal in Davie, FL?
Should you waive the appraisal when buying a home in Davie, FL?
Waiving the appraisal in Davie can mean two different things. One is a lender appraisal waiver, where the loan is approved without a full appraisal. The other is dropping the appraisal contingency from your contract, which takes away your dedicated right to cancel or renegotiate over a low value. The first is the lender’s call and costs you nothing. The second shifts real risk onto you, because a low appraised value becomes your problem to solve.
A lot of buyers who ask me whether they should waive the appraisal are mixing those two things together. They are different decisions, made by different people, with very different consequences. Before you sign anything, you want to know which one you are actually looking at.
Two different things people mean by waiving the appraisal
An appraisal is an independent opinion of what a home is worth, ordered by your lender and performed by a licensed appraiser who does not work for you or the seller. If you want the plain version of what an appraisal actually is, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lays it out clearly. The appraisal protects the lender first, since the bank does not want to loan more than the house is worth. It protects you second, because it is a second set of eyes on the price.
When someone says they waived the appraisal, they mean one of these:
1. The lender waived the appraisal requirement. The loan was approved without a new appraisal, because the agency accepted the value the lender submitted based on its existing data for that property.
2. The buyer waived the appraisal contingency. The contract no longer gives the buyer a dedicated right to walk away or renegotiate over a low appraised value. A financing contingency may still help, which I cover below.
Those are not the same event, and confusing them is where buyers get hurt.
The lender appraisal waiver: the lender’s decision, not yours
Fannie Mae calls its version value acceptance, and Freddie Mac has its own. The automated underwriting system looks at the property, the loan, your credit, and existing data, and on some files it decides a full appraisal is not needed. When that happens there is usually no appraisal fee, which saves you a few hundred dollars, and the loan can move a little faster.
Here is the part buyers miss. You do not choose this. The lender’s system does, loan by loan. Fannie Mae only considers it on one unit homes under $1,000,000 that generally have a prior appraisal on file and pass its automated underwriting, so many Davie homes at or above $1 million will need a full appraisal regardless. You cannot count on it before you apply, and even when the system offers it, your lender can still order an appraisal anyway. Appraisers value the home independently of the sale, so a waiver only means the lender trusted its data this time.
A lender waiver is mostly upside for you. No fee, faster closing, one less thing that can derail the deal. The one honest caution is that no independent party checked the value, so the responsibility to know you are paying a fair price lands back on you and your agent. That is a reason to pull real comps, not a reason to panic.
Waiving the appraisal contingency: where the real risk lives
This is the one that actually costs people money. When a Davie home draws multiple offers, buyers trying to beat the others will sometimes agree to waive the appraisal contingency. That tells the seller you will buy at the agreed price even if the appraisal comes in under it.
The median single family sale price in Davie is davie_stat segment=”sfh” field=”median_sales_price” label=”1″], and an appraisal can still land below the number you agreed to in a competitive offer. If you waived the contingency and the appraisal is low, the lender still only lends against the lower appraised value. Without appraisal protection, a low value is your problem. If you still have a financing contingency and the low appraisal keeps your lender from approving the loan amount in your contract, you may be able to cancel before the loan approval period ends. After that deadline, or with no financing contingency, you [cover that gap in cash on top of your down payment, renegotiate with a seller who has no reason to budge, or walk away and put your earnest money deposit at risk.
Picture a buyer who waives this contingency to win a multiple offer deal, and then the home appraises tens of thousands under contract price. A buyer who had the cash ready and knew the number going in comes out fine. A buyer who waived it to win and works out the math afterward is the one who scrambles. That order is backwards.
Waiving the appraisal contingency is a competitive tool, not a formality. It belongs to buyers who have the reserves to cover a shortfall and have already decided the home is worth the price regardless of what the appraisal says. If that is not you, keeping the contingency is cheap insurance.
How the appraisal fits the Florida contract
Florida has a detail that surprises buyers coming from other states. The standard Florida contract does not contain a built in appraisal contingency. Appraisal protection is added through a separate addendum, and the appraisal language inside the financing section only does something when you have a financing contingency at all. The Florida Realtors breakdown of the financing contingency in the Florida contract spells out how narrow that protection really is.
So in practice, a Davie buyer has a few layers to keep straight. There is the appraisal addendum, which is the clean way to protect against a low value. There is the financing contingency that protects your deposit if you cannot get approved, which runs on a set loan approval period, commonly about thirty days. And there is the question of what to do when the appraisal comes in low even when you did everything right. Waiving the appraisal contingency removes the first layer entirely.
This is also a place where representation earns its keep. You can find every listing yourself online. What you cannot pull up is whether the price holds against real comps on that street, how to structure the addendum deadlines so you stay protected, and when giving up appraisal protection is a smart aggressive move versus a reckless one. That read is the job, and it is the same reason buyers weigh whether you even need a buyer’s agent in the first place. How I am paid has nothing to do with which homes we go after or whether I tell you to keep a contingency.
How to decide whether to waive the appraisal in Davie
Here is the sequence I walk my buyers through before anyone signs:
1. Separate the two waivers. Confirm whether you are talking about a lender value acceptance waiver or waiving the appraisal contingency in your offer. They are not the same decision.
2. Ask your lender early. Find out whether a value acceptance waiver is even on the table for your loan, and remember the lender can still require an appraisal.
3. Pull real comps first. Before you touch the appraisal contingency, get current comparable sales on that specific home so you know the real value, not the asking price.
4. Size the gap you could cover. Decide, in actual dollars, how large an appraisal shortfall you could pay in cash without wrecking your reserves. That number is your ceiling.
5. Keep your other protections straight. If you waive appraisal protection, hold your financing deadline and notice dates so a low value does not also cost you your deposit. This is also where buyers compare it to another contingency buyers weigh, the home sale contingency.
Do that in order and the waiver stops being a gamble and becomes a decision you actually made.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an appraisal waiver mean I am overpaying for a Davie home?
Not by itself. A lender appraisal waiver only means the lender’s submitted value was accepted, based on existing data on the property, instead of a full appraisal being ordered. It says nothing about whether your price is fair. The way to know you are paying the right number is current comparable sales on that specific home, which your agent pulls before you make the offer.
Is the county assessed value the same as an appraisal?
No. The appraisal is a lender ordered opinion of current market value for your loan. The Broward County Property Appraiser sets a separate assessed value for property taxes, and the county’s assessed value is a different number that often sits well below market value because of homestead and Save Our Homes limits. Do not use one to judge the other.
What happens if I waive the appraisal contingency and the appraisal comes in low?
The lender still lends only against the lower appraised value, and without appraisal protection a low value is your problem. If you still have a financing contingency and the low appraisal keeps your lender from approving the loan amount in your contract, you may be able to cancel before the loan approval period ends. After that deadline, or with no financing contingency, you cover the difference in cash, try to renegotiate with the seller, or walk away and risk your earnest money. That is why this waiver belongs to buyers who have the reserves to absorb a shortfall.
Can I ask for a lender appraisal waiver to save money in Davie?
You can ask, but you do not control it. The lender’s automated system decides loan by loan, only on eligible files, and never on a purchase of $1 million or more. Even when it offers one, your lender can still order an appraisal. Treat a waiver as a possible bonus, not something to plan your offer around.
Talk to a Davie Real Estate Expert
Waiving the appraisal is one of those decisions that looks small on an offer form and turns into real money at closing. Before you give up that protection to win a Davie home, it is worth running the actual numbers with someone who knows this market. If you are already working with another agent, a second opinion is fair game, but talking you into leaving them is not my style. If you are going it alone, remember the listing agent works for the seller, not you. Schedule a strategy call and we will look at the home, the comps, and the risk together.
Anthony Spitaleri
Broker Associate, REALTOR® | Coldwell Banker Realty
Creator of Living in Davie, Florida
Davie, Florida | Serving Davie, Weston and surrounding Broward markets
954-235-5783
Florida License BK3281907
@livingindavieflorida
Written by Anthony Spitaleri, Broker Associate, REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker Realty and a Davie native. More about Anthony
