Bad appraisal for VA loan - complaint filed/restitution

[CS1983]

Pardon my ignorance, but how would you have lost money paying less tax on capital gains you didn't' receive?

Knowing a little about your history, I assume you didn't meet the criteria of living in the residence for two of the last five years.

I was probably unclear in phrasing on that. What I mean is that we lost money due to improvements cost but are subject to capital gains tax. If the valuation had been properly done on the original purchase, the house/property, with improvements and market conditions at the time, would have still been worth the price at which we sold. So we not only lost potential gains, but have to pay capital gains on which is actually a loss due to the cost of improvements we made to bring the residence and property to that value.

So, at the time of our selling the house to move back, we had done improvements which brought it up to +39k over original sale price. However, we also put somewhere around 25-30k into improvements[perimeter chainlink fence, new flooring, paint, remodeled two bathrooms, other property improvements on the outbuildings, etc.] (I'd need to go back and calculate all actual costs based on what receipts I have left). After closing costs, etc., we received a check for around 13k. So, from the government's perspective we "made" money. In fact, we lost not only real money but also the potential money which would have been made with a proper valuation.

I'd have had to pay capital gains, yes. But I wouldn't have had to pay "gains" on what was actually loss.