The appraiser is an objective observer who will use due diligence in estimating the market value of your home.

No one has the right to urge, coerce or demand that the appraiser use certain comparable sales in the reporting of market value.

The appraiser  uses established techniques such as market comparison, cost analysis and the gross rent multiplier method of income analysis ( if applicable).

The sales agent/broker  may not demand that the appraiser use the same comparable sales that he/she used in the CMA during his/her  listing presentation.

The lender may not demand that the appraiser change the results of  his/her appraisal report.

The appraiser is solely responsible for the contents of the report and must certify to that effect on the last page of the report.

The appraiser may recommend that  inspections or other studies –such as geological or environmental- be performed on the property.

FHA appraisals are more in-depth and require more observations on the part of the appraiser. Local codes and regulations also have an impact on the analysis and conclusions of the appraiser.

The appraiser is not a “deal-killer”, as so many real estate  sales agents seem to think. Appraisers are “holding the line” to keep the transaction fair and balanced. That’s good for the seller, buyer, lender, the home-buying public  and the economy as a whole!

The appraiser is an expert on the market. For example,the seller may think that the full cost of a new in-ground swimming pool should be added to the appraisal result.  But the appraiser, who knows the market isn’t really valuing the cost of a swimming pool in a neighborhood where almost no houses have them, cannot add the full cost of that pool to his/her estimate of market value.