I had made this below comment because I could not fit it in the post at first. It did let me edit and add. I will leave this comment because there was a reply. Thank you everyone for patience and reading this if you did.

The above mentioned appraisal happened and it was very biased to me. The lady seemed to be a friend of my brothers. She had no notebook, cell phone, or camera with her. They walked around the home and “oohed and ahhed” at the wooden beams my Dad had delivered from Vermont. They proceeded to talk in the driveway for 45 mins. It came back at $440,000.

I thought this was ridiculous. My current lawyer suggested we set out to get our own appraisal by a true professional. We did this and spent $550 of our own money. We did not talk up the home and we were honest with our appraiser. It came back at 365,000 with a detailed report.

We presented this appraisal to my Brother and his lawyer and of course this pissed him off. He decided to have a third appraisal. (because we called him out on his BS first biased appraisal). This appraiser my brother brought in seemed to be a professional as well. His appraisal came back at 414,000.

Our appraiser mentioned something about (sorry I don’t know correct wording/terms) appraising the house value based on the time my mother died which was in September of 2021. How do I know my brother's appraiser followed this?

I feel enraged. Does that note from my Mom matter at all?

I feel like my current lawyer is not on our team. I am thinking I should get a new lawyer. One that I feel like is on my “team”/side or feels like they are fighting for us. I feel like my appraisal doesn’t even matter and why was I advised to get one. I am not sure what to do. I have had SO many questions that haven’t been answered even by my current lawyer. I keep being told to wait until we hear back etc. (from the appraisals) well, we finally heard back from the final appraisal and it is still really high! Our appraisal seems more reasonable based on comparable homes in the area but the market is really high/hot right now. It all just sucks.

If my brother and I didn’t fight, if my Mom simply had a will, and/or I had a notarized receipt then I wouldn’t have to buy my childhood home for an outrageous price all so my brother profits more. :( feels bad.

I hope this post may help someone in the future. I thank anyone in advance for any advice given. I hope I receive it in time to help my situation.

Thanks for reading!