The Reality of Appraisals
(From Both Sides of the Table)
Our Oak Island beach house—the place our family made so many memories.
Our beach house closed today—and it didn’t go the way we expected.
We ended up taking a $16,000 hit from our agreed-upon purchase price.
Not because the market changed overnight. Not because buyers backed out. But because of the appraisal process—and the ripple effect of decisions made early on.
Aaron walks clients through situations like this all the time. But this time, we were the ones living it.
And it gave us a completely different perspective.
Home looked like this for us—loud, full, and a little chaotic in the best way.
What Actually Happened
The buyers’ lender wouldn’t use a second appraisal that came in at value. They required a third appraisal, and it came back $16,000 under our contract price.
At that point, we had:
already moved out
sold all our furniture
and were completely committed to closing
We had sold the house to free up funds so we could move forward with building our farm. Putting it back on the market wasn’t really an option.
So we took the hit.
It wasn’t what we wanted - but it was what we needed to move forward.
What We Learned (The Hard Way)
1. Appraisals can make or break a deal
You can do everything right - price it well, get under contract, move forward smoothly - and still hit a wall at appraisal.
And when that happens, it becomes a negotiation all over again.
2. The lender matters more than people think
These buyers used a “good friend” as their lender.
And that decision almost cost them the house.
They ended up:
living in an Airbnb for two weeks after relocating from out of state
dealing with multiple appraisals
stressed to the max trying to hold everything together
Choosing a great lender from the beginning isn’t just a detail - t’s foundational to the entire process.
3. Your REALTOR® should know what’s really going on
Around the same time, another home in our neighborhood closed significantly under value.
On paper, that could have looked like the market was dropping.
But a great REALTOR® will dig deeper.
That sale was impacted by major mold issues - not market value.
That kind of context matters when you’re pricing a home or negotiating a deal.
(And shameless plug - if you’re buying or selling in Oak Island, Francesca Slaughter is the kind of agent who picks up the phone and gets the real story. If you’re buying or selling in Kernersville, NC then Aaron Reel is your man!)
The Part That Was Harder Than the Numbers
Selling our beach house was bittersweet.
Sticky hands, sandy feet, and a lot of laughter
Aaron had the hardest time letting it go. The beach is his happy place.
It’s mine too - but not in this season.
Right now, “going to the beach” looks like:
four kids in the car
the dog panting in my ear and slobbering everywhere
“are we there yet?” on repeat
a baby who either sleeps peacefully… or screams incessantly
And just when the kids finally fall asleep?
Aaron gets a call - or his coffee kicks in - and everything resets.
So no, I won’t miss that part.
But I will miss what that house represented.
Our kids grew up there. Madie was a newborn when we bought it. We’ve updated it, cared for it, and truly used it as a second home.
It gave us a place to go where we could just be.
This season gave us more than a house ever could.
Closing One Season to Build Another
This season is over.
And the next one is about to begin.
We’re building our farm - the place we won’t want to leave.
The place we’ll need to be.
Because when you have animals depending on you, you don’t just pick up and leave for the weekend.
So for this next chapter, we’re not escaping to the dream.
We’re building it.
Final Thought
This experience didn’t go how we planned.
But it gave us something valuable:
a deeper understanding of what buyers and sellers walk through every single day.
The stress is real. The stakes are high. And the details matter more than most people realize.
And now, we don’t just know that professionally.
We’ve felt it personally.
The beach house gave us so many good memories. But we’re excited for the memories waiting for us in this next season too.
