Appraisals

People tend to only just barely have a vague notion of what it is that Appraisers do. It is common for people to confuse an appraisal with an inspection.. People commonly have an expectation that an appraisal is going to tell them the "True Market Value".

An appraisal is a report ordered by the lender. The focus and purpose of that report is to assure the lender that if they have to foreclose on the property they are not going to loose money on the resale of the foreclosed collateral.

"An appraisal is a valuation of the property. An appraiser renders an estimate of value as of a certain date under assumptions and conditions stated in the appraisal report. Typically, a buyer's lender requires an appraisal to verify that the loan is secured by property that is worth a certain amount. An appraisal is not the same as an inspection." From the Texas Association of Realtors "General Information and Notice to a Buyer".

Under recent changes, there is an entire new insulating administrative layer between the lender and the person doing the appraisal. Having that layer has not been the enormous headache that was originally predicted. It does, however, take longer to get an appraisal than it used to.