Hurricane Irene could cause home refinancing, purchasing issues

This will get more complicated in a few more weeks.

"What has to happen — or what is required — is that they need to have a re-inspection completed on the property by the original appraiser to verify no damage has been done and the value of the home has not been affected," by the storm, according to John Walsh, president of Total Mortgage Services, a lender based in Connecticut.

Walsh said the re-appraisal issue will impact homeowners who had pending home purchase and refinancing applications in FEMA-designated disaster areas before the hurricane.

The FEMA website names at least 11 states and Washington as federal disaster areas impacted by last weekend's storm. Walsh said somewhere between 15% to 50% of his firm's pending mortgage application pipeline requires a new inspection.

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