Answers · Land Value & Appraisal
Why did my appraisal come in below my purchase price?
Because appraisals measure the market, and you may have paid above it — common after competitive auctions, 1031-driven bids, or paying a premium for the farm next door. A low appraisal shrinks your maximum loan, since lenders use the lesser of price or appraised value, but it does not have to kill the deal.
Legitimate gaps happen for structural reasons: thin recent comps in the area, a sale price that included personal property or crop, buyer-specific value (adjacency to your existing operation) that the market does not share, or simply an auction where two neighbors bid past the fundamentals. None of these mean the appraiser is wrong — market value and your value can differ.
Sometimes the appraisal genuinely missed something. If the report overlooked irrigation, used comps with inferior soils, or got the tillable acreage wrong, request a reconsideration of value with specific evidence: corrected acreage, better comps with sale documentation, FSA maps. Vague objections go nowhere; documented errors get corrected.
Your practical options: bring more cash to cover the gap, renegotiate the price with the appraisal in hand (sellers do move), add other collateral, or walk if your contract has an appraisal contingency. What you should not do is shop for a lender promising to ignore the appraisal — that lender is mispricing your risk, and you are the one holding it.
The Turnrow angle
Turnrow lends up to 70% of the lesser of price or appraisal on purchases. When an appraisal comes in light, we will walk through the report with you and restructure the loan rather than pretend the number away.
Recalculate your loan after an appraisal change →
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