THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, November 26, 1994            TAG: 9411240502
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY       PAGE: 18   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: Thomas Tye 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

YOU PAID FOR IT, BUT YOU MAY NOT OWN IT

Q. I have read recently that federal law requires, if requested, I must be given a copy of the appraisal. The appraiser says it's against state law for him to provide this to me.

I feel I am being given the runaround. Who is right?

A. You are correct. There is federal legislation that requires that, if requested and if you have paid for the appraisal, that you must be provided a copy by the lending institution. What you have run into is that you are not the client of the appraiser, despite having paid for the report.

The lending institution that ordered the appraisal is the client of the appraiser, not you. The appraiser legally is not in the position of even discussing the report with you, much less providing you a copy without approval from the lender.

In short, you need to contact the lender, not the appraiser, to obtain a copy of the report. While this might seem a little unusual, it relates to ownership of the report. Since the lender owns the report, he also controls it. IT'S SPACE, NOT ROOMS

Q. I am considering removing the wall between my kitchen and my dining room and having one large room instead.

My concern is that I will then haves a six-room rather than a seven-room house. Is a six-room house worth less than a seven-room house? Will this negatively affect the value?

A. Recently, the trend has been to more open floor plans. A lot of new houses do not have a wall separating the living room from the dining room, or the kitchen from the breakfast room. Thus, you will probably enhance the value of your house by making it more modern.

I would caution doing this if it resulted in eliminating a bedroom in a relatively small house. Since houses are usually appraised based on the total living area, and not on a per-room basis, eliminating this ``room'' would not have a negative effect.

Please determine whether this is a bearing wall and be sure that there is adequate support for the wall system and the ceiling prior to removing it. MEMO: Thomas Tye is a Member of the Appraisal Institute and is a Senior

Residential Appraiser. He has evaluated commercial and residential

property in Hampton Roads for more than 15 years. Send comments and

questions to him at Real Estate Weekly, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk,

Va. 23510.

by CNB