Bankruptcy Mastery

Becoming a better bankruptcy lawyer

  • Home
  • About Cathy
  • Contact Cathy
  • Articles by Topic
    • Attorneys fees
    • Bankruptcy Practice
    • Before filing
    • Business bankruptcy
    • Cases new & significant
    • Counseling clients
    • Family Law in Bankruptcy
    • Means test
    • Opinionated
    • Real property
    • Rule 3002.1
    • Tax
  • Table of Contents
  • Start Here

Lien Stripping And Dueling Appraisers

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

lightsabers crossed

When the appraisals clash, and the fate of a junior lien of thousands of dollars is at stake, what’s a judge to do?  Crunch the numbers himself is  how one judge  came to a decision when the experts didn’t agree.

In Duarte, the debtor’s appraiser testified that the house was worth $370,000 based on comparables including three bank-owned sales.  The junior lien holder’s appraiser came in at $395,000, based on sales that closed post petition.  The senior liens totaled $387,435.

The margins were quite small and the stakes quite large.

Read the decision for the court’s own mathematical analysis of the values of the comparables and the court’s view of whether sales of foreclosed properties by the lender should be included among the comparable sales.  (I’ll give you a sneak peak:  Judge Weissbrodt did consider the sales of REO properties in the neighborhood, rejecting the approach in Serda, 395 B.R. 450 (E.D. Cal. 2008).)

May you never have to try a disputed valuation case.  But if you do, arm yourself with the thinking in Duarte.

Image courtesy of parttimesock.

More from my site

  • Who Needs To Learn More Bankruptcy Law?Who Needs To Learn More Bankruptcy Law?
  • Rescuing A Troubled Chapter 13:  The Unseen ThreatRescuing A Troubled Chapter 13: The Unseen Threat
  • Brace YourselfBrace Yourself
  • Bankruptcy Sales Free And ClearBankruptcy Sales Free And Clear
  • Welcome New YearWelcome New Year
  • When Delaying The Discharge May Benefit The DebtorWhen Delaying The Discharge May Benefit The Debtor

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Comments

  1. GoldsteinAtLaw says

    July 28, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    While the analysis made my head hurt, I found the care with which the judge sought to determine whether there was any chance of the property being worth MORE than the first to be enlightening. This makes my job easier because all I have to do is throw every means possible of looking at the numbers at the judge to meet my burden. Where it is close, I have NEVER had a creditor go through this much trouble for this little.

  2. Anonymous says

    July 28, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    Neither have I had to endure this.  I note that the objecting creditor was not an institution, and that the facts were close.

    But I try “manfully”? to file only when I’m reasonably confident that the outcome is clear. 

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2023 ·Prose · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress

Theme customization by Rowboat Media LLC