Is it normal for a lender to require chimney repairs after the appraisal?

Yes, it can happen, depending on the loan program and what the appraiser observed. An appraisal isn't the same thing as a home inspection, but if an appraiser identifies a condition that creates a safety, structural, or property-standard concern, the lender may require it to be corrected before they'll fund the loan. If you were my buyer or seller, my first step would be getting the exact requirement in writing rather than guessing what the lender means by “chimney repairs.” Then I'd determine what actually needs to be repaired, who can perform it, whether a reinspection will be required, and how it affects our closing timeline. These are the moments when I want the agent, lender and appropriate contractor communicating quickly. A repair requirement doesn't necessarily mean the deal is falling apart—it means we need to identify exactly what the lender needs and solve that problem without letting it turn into a bigger one.

Depends on the loan. Safe to say that this is an FHA/VA/USDA type of government loan product that the buyer is utilizing? Typical Conventional appraisers would not require that type of work be done prior to closing. Refer back to your agent and the contract and/or legal counsel.

Lucas, your lender did not add a repair. Your appraiser attached a condition to the appraisal, and the lender legally cannot fund until that condition clears. That distinction is the whole ballgame, because you negotiate a condition very differently than you negotiate a request. The inspection waiver has nothing to do with this. The appraisal is written for the lender, not for the buyer. Your buyers can waive every inspection on earth and it will not change what the appraiser reports to the underwriter. Eren is right that the loan type decides most of this, and I would go a step further. Peeling paint is the fingerprint of an FHA or VA appraisal on a pre-1978 house. HUD Handbook 4000.1 treats chipping, peeling, flaking or cracking paint on a home built before 1978 as a possible lead hazard, and it has to be scraped and repainted before the loan can be endorsed. Providence has the oldest housing stock in Rhode Island, with a median year built of 1939, and roughly 71 percent of the state's housing predates 1978. Your appraiser has been trained to check that box in your zip code. Here is what I would do Monday morning, in order. 1. Ask for the appraiser's exact condition language, verbatim, in writing. "Rebuild part of the chimney" is almost certainly what a loan processor typed in an email. It is rarely what an appraiser wrote in a report. Defective paint gets you paint stabilization. It does not get you masonry work. If the appraiser also flagged spalling brick or failed mortar, that is a separate finding and you are entitled to see it in their words before you price it. 2. Narrow the scope with someone who actually works on chimneys. NFPA 211 calls for a Level 2 inspection any time a property changes ownership. A CSIA certified sweep runs a camera down the flue and produces a written report with a defined scope. A specialist report beats a one line appraiser comment almost every time when you take it back to an underwriter. It is the cheapest tool you have and most sellers never use it. 3. Pick your exit. There are three, and they are not equally available to you. Do the work. If the finding really is paint, this is the cheap path. The appraiser returns on a Form 1004D completion report and signs off. Escrow the work. On a conventional loan, Fannie Mae allows postponed improvements with 120 percent of the estimated cost held in escrow, capped at 10 percent of the as completed appraised value, and finished within 180 days of the note date. Fair warning: if this is FHA and the finding is lead related defective paint, that door is closed. FHA will not endorse with defective paint outstanding and there is no escrow workaround for it. Move money instead of moving the work. A price reduction or a closing cost credit equal to the repair sometimes solves it. Whether the underwriter accepts that depends on whether the condition is a value condition or a habitability condition. Value conditions can occasionally be papered. Habitability conditions cannot. On pushing back, be honest with yourself about the leverage. Your buyers waived inspections. They almost certainly did not waive the financing contingency, so if the loan dies over this, they very likely walk and take their deposit with them. What you can genuinely push back on is the scope of the condition, not whether a condition exists. I am a real estate professional and not an attorney or a lender, so have your agent loop in the loan officer directly rather than relaying through the processor. Half of these scope problems evaporate in one phone call between the listing agent and the underwriter. For what it is worth, I am Zoltan Peresztegi and I work the South Bay and greater Los Angeles market, so I am not going to pretend I know Providence masonry contractors. If you want, I am happy to point you toward a strong Rhode Island agent who handles a lot of older housing stock, since that is the exact skill this needs. Either way, get the verbatim appraisal condition first. Everything else follows from it. Zoltan

Lucas, this depends on the loan type that your potential buyer is trying to secure. Given you are mentioning that the chimney was cited along with peeling paint, I am gathering this buyer is using an FHA loan. If this is the case, then yes, these repairs would most likely need to take place in order for them to secure financing. Keith Jean-Pierre Managing Principal The Dapper Agents Real Estate Operations in ALL 50 States

Unless its an FHA loan they should not ask you to repair it. If its a FHA loan you can push back. Depends on type of loan you might be able to push back.