As an appraiser, I really get mad when a Loan Officer,  Realtor, Buyer or Seller calls and says, hey can you just run some numbers and see how much a home is worth cause I don't want to have to pay for an appraisal if the deal wont work!! In other words....I want YOU to work for:

Well finding out what your home is worth....is WORTH something! Your deal may not work, but now you know the current value of your home and can move forward from there. In order to have this valuable information, YES, you have to pay for an appraisal. No professional should have to work for FREE. Appraisals, especially in today's market are not as easy as one might think, plus we put our LICENSE on the line every time we sign an appraisal report. 

Did you know that if an appraiser gives you a VERBAL value, they are still bound by USPAP, they are still providing an appraisal service, so when you ask them for a simple verbal, it is NOT that simple! You are asking more than you should of your appraiser.

One of the nice things about the HVCC is that people are not supposed to call the appraiser any longer and have this kind of conversation.....however it still happens. I just got this call a few days ago from an out of state lender.

All appraisers know that doing what we "lovingly" call a "comp check"on the chance that it will result in an appraisal order is against USPAP...however appraisers did this little favor for many years and that is why people feel they can call and get this information from us.

So please I ask of you, let's appreciate what an appraisal really is and realize that you are not respecting an appraiser if you call them and ask for FREE valuation services. It is just not proper business practice.

Thank you!

So now.... what do YOU think?