Let's first define good shall we? Good does NOT mean make the number work so the loan will close!

BEFORE you take out your next loan......do some checking into the BANK first, do they use appraisers whose fees have been cut in half? Do they use Appraisal Management Companies (they normally pay appraisers well less than their normal fee and charge the banks more than we would).

Appraisers sole mission in life is to protect the BANK's RISK where a loan is involved. We also protect buyers and sellers by analyzing and reporting the REAL market value so that you do not pay more than the home is worth or you do not under or overprice your home.

A big part of the housing crisis is due to faulty appraising. Many know that the BANKS, Realtors and Mortgage Brokers dictated TO the appraiser what the value should be on the appraisal report. This is 100% backwards and RISKY to say the least. Our housing crash is proof of this!

Thus the inception of the HVCC. Appraisers must be independent from all who have a vested interest in the property and get back to the real job of reporting the true market value for the subject property. Or to put it another way if YOU default on your loan, what can that home be sold for by the bank to get it off their books. Banks have a bloodshed on their hands as the appraised value in many cases was inflated. Why? Because appraisers were backing into the number since the lenders would give them the ESTIMATED VALUE right on the appraisal request form and expect them to come up to that number! I am NOT saying all appraisers played that game, but trust me many did!

Now appraisers have to do what I call BLIND Appraising. They have no numbers to work toward, which is a GOOD thing, they must actually use their appraisal skills and report the market in an accurate way to come up with their opinion of value. Remember we do not determine value, we report it to the client after we conduct a thorough analysis of the market.  The MARKET determines value not the appraiser.

So my question to all END USERSof appraisals, don't you think it is worth the FEE appraisers charge to produce a credible, meaningful report? I think so because a faulty appraisal report on either side of the value equation can have significant financial negative impact.

Just as an example: If you live on Lake Lanier and you have an appraiser from Atlanta who does not cover this lake with any regularity appraise your lakefront home, chances are very HIGH that the appraised value will be off and I mean WAY off. SAME thing holds true for any appraisal in any given neighborhood. If an appraiser for example does not know that people pay more or less for a home in a given SCHOOL district for example, the appraised value will be off.

Therefore it is imperative that the appraiser know the market in which they appraiser and better yet LIVE in that same market area.

So you do have control buyers and sellers and homeowners. Do not use banks that feel cheapest is the best, because in this world you get what you pay for and in this case it could financially hurt you BIG time!

A few extra dollars to get an accurate appraisal report is WELL worth it in the end.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Mary Thompson

www.marytappraisals.com