Purpose of the Appraisal Report
We have lost track of the purpose of the appraisal process
This is an open letter to anyone who may have an interest in the residential real estate market. This includes buyers & sellers, homeowners, mortgage companies & brokers, real estate brokers & agent, loan officers, FHA/HUD, Fannie, Freddie and others.
We have lost track of the purpose of the appraisal process. The purpose of the appraisal process is to provide an opinion of the estimated value of the property. The appraiser is hired to provide his/her opinion of the estimated value of the property usually by the intended mortgagee. Federal & state laws and regulations prohibit the appraiser from discussing the completed appraisal with anyone except the client, usually the intended mortgagee. This means that the appraiser can not discuss the appraisal report with the buyer, seller, homeowner, real estate agent, loan officer or anyone else without the prior permission of the client.
The appraiser is required to provide an independent evaluation of the subject property without bias or influence from any outside entities including the intended mortgagee and all of the others cited above. It is a violation of both state & federal regulation for anyone to influence or attempt to influence the appraiser in the completion, development or conclusions of the appraisal report. You may disagree with the appraisers’ conclusions and even the content of the appraisal report however it is the appraisers’ opinion of the estimated value and no one can attempt to influence or change the conclusions in the report. The client (usually the intended mortgagee) may request the appraiser to correct errors & omissions which are in the report and may request additional information or clarification as long as it is not an attempt to influence or change the conclusions in the report. If the client is unhappy with the quality (not the conclusions) of the report they may get a second report.
USPAP , the appraisers bible, states that the appraiser is expected to perform valuation services competently in a manner that is independent, impartial, and objective. It goes on to state “An appraiser must perform assignments with impartiality, objective, and independence, and without accommodation of personal interests. Must not advocate the cause or interest of any party or issue.
Conclusion:
The opinion of estimated value is one person’s estimate, the appraiser, at a given time, the date of the appraisal, under the guidelines and instructions of the client and scope of work as outlined in the report. The fact that some parties may disagree with the conclusions in the report does not make the report bad or incorrect. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. Other appraisers or individuals may come to a different opinion of value, however it is just their opinion. Appraisers are not hired to provide a report which accommodated the needs of the client or any other party.
- Changes from Fannie Mae - February 3, 2022
- AMC Reviews of Appraisals - November 27, 2019
- New CA Law Negative Effect for Appraisers - November 8, 2019
Please send this to EVERY realtor and make them take a 100 question test.
One realtor just told me that market value is what the buyer offers to pay for the house. 19 year realtor !
She did not like my response…lol.
The entire process needs to be re-vamped. With the amount of data and technology that is available nowadays there is no reason why 20 different appraiser should have 20 different values for the same property and the possibility that all 20 values may be wrong.
Lets re-vamp the entire process Herb and have appraisers provide an OPINION of market value that’s reflected as a range. Agents have no problem listing houses within a range and collecting tens of thousands of dollars in commissions, so it must be good for us too (a few hundred dollars). Hell, prior to the appraisal even being ordered buyers and sellers understand there is a range and have no issues negotiating tens of or in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why is the appraiser held to a higher standard (a single number) when they are only providing an opinion themselves? Lastly, please tell us about the data and technology that is available so that 20 different opinions can all be the same?
What Bill said! (agree)
The appraiser is held to a higher standard because they have E & 0 insurance, the banks security. Most buyers don’t understand it’s an opinion, they think it a fact. I think you need to face facts, one day a company is going to develop software where an employee pushes a button an in 30 seconds has an appraisal.
Yes!! A range makes much more sense
I’m a little worried….I’ve reviewed some reports….and just heard from a couple appraisers, that if a signed purchase agreement proves that there is a willing buyer at the contracted price, then that is market value. I just saw 3 appraisers agree with that statement. My rebuttal then is….so why on earth do we need to do our job? Just take every contracted price and back it with a mortgage, viola! I do understand that markets have appreciating values, and that should always be addressed. Yet if a contracted price is not supportable by recent sales or by extrapolation of an obviously increasing market, then….??? The dilemma there was answered by “contracted price means willing buyer means market value”. I have a headache.
Carol respectfully, missing from your scenario are the conditions necessary to be a true open market transaction with a clearly defined “market value”.
That you found three appraisers who agreed (conditionally, by chance?) does not mean you found three appraisers that are correct. Particularly where appraisers are so often selected for price and malleability rather than competency.
The biggest factor affecting appraisal confusion today is the elimination of common sense from the whole process from start to finish.
We have been told for over 25 years now that modern computers and software can virtually eliminate the appraiser.
In order to promote that erroneous belief, the software providers; not-at-risk lenders, commissioned promoters of Wall Street and international fraud; and the conglomerates that facilitate them have all used deliberate misdirection to create an environment where flawed binary processes are now seen to be “almost as good as a real appraisal”.
Look at John’s verbiage. You and I know that his use of estimate of MV is intended to equate to ‘development of a credible opinion of MV’, but the powers that be in the background are perverting even this simple language that ALL competent appraisers understand.
Once only a topic best suited to anal word smiths, the profession started with opinions of MV; then went to estimates; and now have come back to developing opinions again….UNLESS we are talking about “Evaluations”!
Another effort to lower costs; increase speed and eliminate pesky property condition related appraisal issues.
STOP the insanity NOW! Allow appraisers to determine what is necessary for a properly developed and supported opinion of market value.
If the (myriad) clients do not like that, then let THEM take the burden for supporting the use and parsing of inferior ‘valuation products’ directly on their own shoulders where it belongs.
Stop allowing them to be called any kind of appraisal at all and stop holding appraisers to any kind of standards when such garbage products are ordered. Clearly label them as NOT AN APPRAISAL!
ELIMINATE ALL standards for their use. ALL! Since they are pure garbage to begin with, pretending they are anything else is itself the biggest deception of all. Passing the buck to the appraiser by telling us we can do such reports, BUT it is OUR responsibility to assure USPAP compliance promotes abuse and temptation since the fee will never be conducive to quality work.
FNMA and the courts have extended the appraisers potential liability so far downstream with unintended (by the appraiser) users that it is no longer possible to communicate with or to each in a manner that is not (potentially) misleading or at best confusing.
WHY do we continue to accept the written conditions drivel that is being promoted by FNMA? The same so called “experts” that brought us the worldwide economic collapse?
There’s a reason they are still in conservatorship…THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED!
Look at the trouble we have in just communicating through the AMC clerks to the purported underwriters about the minutiae of a report rather than its result.
That brings us back to John’s well made point, that there are simply too many affected parties to the transaction that are ignorant of the appraisal process when it is properly performed.
Unless I add another 25 to 50+- pages in each appraisal to ‘teach’ appraisal there is no way of making all these interests better informed. Then who would read them?
Carol, my job is NOT to convince the two affected Realtors postulated in your scenario that market value differs from their perception. THEY have a motive for arguing the case. Refer them directly to FNMA or other users.
John, one area of disagreement. A significant one though. All parties are prohibited from IMPROPERLY attempting to influence my development of an appraisal.
They are NOT prohibited from trying to influence me at all. Often, that is their job AND fiduciary obligation to THEIR client(s).
I almost always have my independently developed data when I go into the field. That does not mean it is improper for the local agent that knows the market like the back of his or her hand to share their views with me. I SHOULD consider their information! THAT is good appraisal practice and due diligence. They are supposed to try to influence me! THAT is being a good agent!
What we all have to respect though is where the line is drawn. The MN broker, or TX builder, or GA loan officer should not try to pressure me though RELS or their ilk by subterfuge and phony reviews to support ordering second appraisals with ‘specially selected’ alternate sales “comparables”! Telling me that the payment clock does not start until the finished product is forwarded by the AMC to the lender after all revisions requests are addressed is another form of coercion or prohibited activity.
Both would be prohibited…IF the feds had any desire to enforce that kind of coercion in the first place.
TLDNR
Carol, the appraisers you mentioned must have been trained by this real estate agent!!!
That one is the oldest one in the book, perpetuated by realtors until the end of time apparently. The counter is simple; Collateralizable value by way of principals of substitution. The buyer was overpaying, as these other comparables clearly demonstrate via principals of substitution. If buyer wants the home, they have to pay cash over fair market. It is not the lenders responsibility to furnish additional cash over fair market, for a borrower to secure the deal.
Matt, numismatic euphemisms aside, that is NOT what an appraiser is hired to do; NOR what any reputable lender does.
I exclude ALL reverse mortgage lenders from this as I’ve yet to find one that is reputable.
Anyway, lenders make money by making loans. Most are insured conventional (pmi); or insured FHA / Guaranteed VA. Frankly they don’t give a damn whether the value is at the high or low end of a supported range. It doesn’t change their costs or profits more than a very few dollars.
Where you may find loan to value shenanigans is with commercial paper; portfolio loans, hard money and reverse mortgages where there IS a benefit to quoting fees on a higher LTV and then delivering a lower LTV loan. Otherwise, generally the higher the loan is; the higher the (nominally) the profit.
The actual value of a property is determined AFTER a buyer and a seller agree on a price. An ‘estimate’ of the value is based on ‘similar’ sales. The ‘opinion’ part come from deciding what are ‘similar’ sales, since no two properties or sales situations are ever identical. Then there’s the tradition in Oz of the appraiser asking, “Do you want a low or a high report?” I guess that goes to the range question that someone else mentioned.
Steve, no disrespect intended but your comment demonstrates a view by an individual that has no idea what the definition of market value is.
Steve the PRICE is determined after a buyer and seller agree to it.
It (price) may or may not have ANYTHING to do with a clearly defined concept of value, market value, fair market value for accounting purposes, fair market value for (specific issue) IRS tax purposes, fair market value for condemnation purposes according to 50 different states definitions, value in use or value as interpreted by the International Valuations Standards Council (IVSC).
Application of IVSC ‘USPAP’ “market value” in Delhi may not be remotely similar to its application in Sydney…despite claims to the contrary.
Use the wrong definition of FMV with (U.S.) IRS and they can reject your return’s ‘property value’Â outright.
Click http://www.mfford.com and go to the definitions of value tab on the left. Click that and scroll down nearly to the end where you will see over half a dozen government definitions of “value”.
If there is a tradition in Oz (Australia) of asking if a high or low value is sought it is either taken out of context or simply improper.
There is a point within a range at which most appraisers concur that any argument to be “more right” is unsupportable or an unwinnable argument. Being at the low or high end of that narrow range is often not something many of us would dispute.
Here here, only newbs do not understand price and value are two separate considerations.
In todays environment Steve, who is the appraiser asking “Do you want a low or a high report”? Are we asking the borrower, the owner, or the agents, who are NOT our clients? Are we e-mailing the lenders general e-mail box as most don’t provide phone numbers in the engagement letter? With the loan officers and processors unknown to the appraiser, I again ask, who do we talk to about determining a low or high value? As a single number, an appraisal is neither an overvaluation or an undervaluation as it only gets perceived by other parties to be as such when their interests are added. In determining market value and the MOST PROBABLE PRICE (not the highest or lowest) a property should bring in an open market, what is the appraiser assuming as it relates to other closed sales. In part, WE ARE ASSUMING BOTH PARTIES WERE WELL INFORMED OR WELL ADVISED, but were they? If we assume both parties hired real estate agents and understand IT ONLY TAKES ON A NATIONAL AVERAGE 70 HOURS TO OBTAIN A LICENSE, what advice are the buyers and sellers getting?
Bill’s batting a 1,000 today!
Bill Johnson They are asking the person who is paying for their appraisal. I hadn’t really been aware of the appraisal scam till I got to OZ. Here they’re used for many things such as divorces, to establish “fairness” in bequeathing properties in a will, to establish basis for capital gains tax when properties transition from home to investment or when they have transferred out of a business entity into the hands of a shareholder and many other uses that I was unaware of. Of course banks employ their own appraisers. I thought, “oh great. what a simple way to handle things.” What I have found out though, that rather than being a ‘authoritative’ statement that both parties can rely on, here, in OZ they are more like lawyers or hired guns. You better get your own.
That’s not correct perception. The appraiser is the only non advocate in the process top to bottom. If you think you can withstand the constant pressures of advocacy from every angle up and down, I dare you to try and do better. The appraiser is in a naturally antagonistic position to everyone. So to state your point more simply; Trust the advocates or get independent advisement? It’s not as complex as you may try to make it appear.
Steve Middendorf, think you have the wrong Bill Johnson. To me appraisals are BS. Value is determined by like property in the same area. Then any special things that the property may have or sometimes lack in appeal to a buyer. Cash talks and bull shit walks.
Bill Johnson yep. I stumbled into commenting in that stream I guess thinking it was you
i truely miss the days when i could talk to anyone i wanted to. now the only person i can talk to is myself. talk about lone dogs, just roll the rock and seal the cave opening.
i truely despise those WAMU appraisers who couldn’t be adults, and who couldn’t just say “NO”. that was the end of our independence to talk to anyone we wanted to talk to.
some appraisers are very confused, or maybe so swayed by talking to someone involved in the transaction that they can’t decide on your own. personally, i think there are still just as many bad appraisers now as before. like the baby sitters we now have?
the few here who care, can always visit my cave.
I once thought that the appraisers who could say no were weak. I’ve since come to realize that it came down to pure unadulterated GREED. A lack of morals rather than a lack of spine.
Oh crap. As always happens when non appraisers try to understand what unbiased non advocate professional practice by the book is all about, the dialogue turns into price is not value 101. Buyer and seller both agree, and that is the market…. Such lunacy people are so ignorant of finances it’s shocking. So if buyer and seller get together and agree to defraud the bank, I guess because they struck a deal, that’s the market! And subsequently; that’s why biased advocates are not to be trusted with independent value research. It’s not rocket science, but these people who don’t get this are purely advocates, through and through. They are hard wired to be agents for the deal and nothing else. If you can’t walk from a deal, you’re the fish.
Tom there is nothing in USPAP or Dodd Frank that says you cannot talk to an involved party. Just the opposite is inferred in contract analysis requirements. What is prohibited is discussing the clients personal non public information without their consent. The other parties we may meet or speak with are prohibited from using undue influence (meaning improper influence) to affect our development of an appraisal.
IF the homeowner and agent truly believe the property to be worth “X” dollars, I EXPECT them to try to convince me! IF they do it by use of appropriate and relevant comparable sales, then I am grateful for the assistance in helping me assure I’ve considered ALL AVAILABLE data as required under USPAP. If they tell me about the direct FSBO across the street that was sold after three open houses and a for sale by owner sign being on the lawn for three weeks, I appreciate the information since it wont show in mls. I CAN walk across the street and attempt to interview the involved party myself.
And, where they DO attempt inappropriate pressure I’m a former Marine, always wear my Big Boy pants to appraisals, have been in business over thirty years as a full time appraiser and am completely capable of either ignoring or declining to be pressured BY ANYONE.
Once, in response to “I’m paying $3,000 for this appraisal and as far as I’m concerned I have paid for it to come it at the value I need.”
“Dr. Anonymous, here is your three thousand dollar check back. When I return to the office I ‘ll let the owner know your views about what the payment of the fee means to you and I’ll ask if he prefers to cancel the order or if he can reassign it; or would prefer to do it himself. I cannot proceed under conditions where you tell me you believe my acceptance of a fee has guaranteed you a desired result.” Heck I had THAT conversation before FIRREA under The AIREA old USPAP.
I realize that my open letter to those involved in the sale of Real Estate did not go into detail on some of my comment. I did not want to write a book on the complete process of the appraisal. Yes I agree that the appraiser can accept information from the real estate agents and others regarding property information and possible comparable sales to support the sales contract price. However after the appraiser has gather the information, reviewed it and analyzed it, he /she must reach a conclusion independently of the interest of all parties. The appraiser should gather as much information from whatever creditable sources that are available to arrive at creditable conclusion. Thanks for all the comments, very interesting.
Concur 100% John. We are appraisers and are known to quibble once in awhile.
It was a great article John. Keep them coming in.
The only people who determine WHAT market value is are REAL ESTATE APPRAISERS.
No one else. Its what we do. Every day of our lives!
i disagree with you. buyers and sellers determine market value. we only affirm it mostly, deny it sometimes. why then do values keep going up, higher & higher over the long term, because appraisers are over market valuing.
appraiser are basically here to stop value fraud. sorta like the walking police man preventing crime.
good article, but some appraisal things becomes over reacted by many people who turn extreme in dictating the rules to appraisers, especially some non existent rule they think exists. sounds like the twilight zone.
Um, no. The only people that determine what market value is are the market participants. The only ones that verify and analyze the participants collective  actions and develop a credible opinion of what market value is based on the actions of those participants are appraisers.
Brokers also probably have a pretty good idea of what market value is, as do the owners. Whether they will tell us that truthfully or not is another story.
So what you saying is that the appraiser BETTER make the deal or he/she is not appraising for market value.
Appraisers analysis the market and are SUPPOSE to appraise for market value,
NOT COMMIT FRAUD TO REACH A SALES PRICE.
That is what OUR jobs are. We appraise current market value with available data from the MARKETPLACE.
let’s s stop with the dramatics. i bet you’re appraised values verse sale prices is in the very high 95+% ok range. oh wow, you hitting the sale’s price 95+% of the time, you’re one of those appraisers hitting the realtors number.
as they say, fraud? PLEEEZE. i can’t listen to you any more chris, on this cruise of the damned righteous.
Always cash the check before delivering the report. Come up with an AGREED value that reflects the value reported and is clearly defined in the contract. For instance (the 1935 Cadillac was part of the down payment) and define the sources. Your clients will be as honest as you keep them, and your collections will reflect your work. Be prepared to defend yourself in court !
don
Sorry Tom you don’t understand. Market value is determined by the appraiser based on available data from the market place. it is an opinion. A buyer may want to live down the street from his brother and offer 20k more, so your saying the buyer offered market value?
On our State exam, the question was…”Does sales price ever equal sales price”. The answer is No.
You must NOT be an appraiser if this concept eludes you.
Which apparently it does.
And since “you cant listen to me anymore” your deaf, dumb and most likely blind.
House values go up (or down) based on interest rates and salaries people make. Look at the graph of salary increasing in the country over 40 years and it almost exactly matches the increases in real estate values over 40 years.
When people get paid more, they can afford more of a mortgage which in simple terms, they can offer more to buy a house and real estate sells higher….when interest rates are increasing, they cant AFFORD to offer more, so they have to offer less. Which drive down house values.
No one but appraisers figure out what the market value is. Owners , buyers and real estate agents do not do appraisals. They aren’t trained. They can get close, but are not appraisers.
The 1004 form may not be adequate.
don
Let’s say for example a home which is listed at the top of its value range gets multiple offers and has an accepted contract considerably above list price. Most Realtors and buyers will argue that multiple offers on a property demonstrates market value, but I disagree and here is why: When there are multiple offers on a property, the first buyer is likely acting logically and the second and each subsequent buyer are likely acting emotionally because they know there is already an offer on the property, so the first buyer is probably making an offer closer to market value; the second and subsequent buyers want to be the highest bidder and are likely acting on emotion rather than logic, willing to pay more because they want to “win” the bidding war. The final agreed upon contract as the result of a bidding war is likely not the most probable selling price; rather the highest price. Buyers can be properly informed, but don’t always make the most probable offers. This is another reason why it is necessary for the Appraiser to properly analyze the market and provide an independent, unbiased opinion of value; not simply appraise to the contract.
Clint there is a lot of merit in your contention if this is a single event with an offer well above its asking price. “Well above” asking requires more proof of value in my mind. 10%? 20%?
In cases where there is a demonstrated shortage of offerings; normal 90 day +- marketing periods have dropped down to 2 or 3 days or “as soon as the sign went up” and (credible) comments from agents like “this is the third or fifth house they made an offer on in this school district/Sub Area/City  but each time they have been outbid” become common there is a good chance that “market value” has or is going up.
Measuring it and supporting it adequately becomes more difficult. If each of my closed sale comparables also showed a higher than asking price and currently pending sales are listed ‘close’ or above my subject property coupled with there being no active (similar) listings lower than the sale price I will look at the entire body of information. Especially where I can document an increase trend in closed sales.
Where my highest unadjusted sale or listing was $490,000 and my highest adjusted sale or pending sale is $495,000 I HAVE and may again someday appraise at the pending sale price of $500,000 “giving dominant consideration to the subject pending sale itself which is 1% above the highest adjusted sale and 2% above the highest unadjusted sale but is 3% to 5% below the next lowest priced competitive comparable listing.”  Or alternately if no listings at all exist Id state the trend and market data support a value opinion rounded up to the next most significant market number; or at the sale price.
Am I (improperly) appraising ‘to the sale price’? No, but the market data supports concluding at the sale price. I’m not so good as to be able to tell market participants that they are paying 1% above market value based on artificial lender constraints. I have made this argument direct to FNMA reviewers prior to loan funding and had them concur.
Consider this twist-listed for $500,000 bidding started at the low ball offer of $475,000; jumped right away to $490k and had three at or above $500k but they took the $500k over the $510k because that higher priced guy wanted 10K in concessions and the sellers were concerned about his ability to qualify for the loan. Orange County California circa 2005-values were clearly still rising there for another year and a half to two+ years right up to November 2008.
Great idea, What do we really do? vs what everyone wants us to do. Too bad no one had the Balls to just say NO when we were asked to add flood info (Were experts at topography right). Our 1 page “Opinion of Value” has grown to 28+ pages of “Stuff” that really has noting to do with what our original purpose was.
Appraisers are hired to protect a lender for any exaggerations from either party to a loan. Any buyer or seller should make any decision necessary to protect themselves.
If this were NOT SO their would be no IN-formed parties in the transaction.
Lots of circumstances exist where sellers dump a property “for instance to take distant job, to sell a property they can’t afford to repair, to take care of aunt Bernice, etc..
Lots of circumstances exist where buyers pay over market; in a rapidly moving market ” just after the interest rates sky rocket, When a new industry moves into town and their is no measure of how high is high, etc..
The Government took responsibility in the late 60′ for the affects after closing down several Military Bases. They paid some relocation losses in anticipation of lowering values. These reports would”t fit on a 100-4 or FHA form.
Not all properties need to be appraised, the insistence of an appraisal is a needless expense. The A.I.R.E.A.’s and the subsequent Appraisal Institute’s lobbying insured inspired workmanship from a plethora of new residential appraisers.
A range of values as a substitute for a single value is a cop out. The form report describes terms exact terms for the loan and or sale; windows. re glazed, new roof, additional property secured by the lender, and a lots of other stuff. The lender does not make a loan to a generality, the institution makes a loan to a family who work or, and have substantial assets.
A range does not match with the rest of these particularities and the report an attempt to generalize.
don was one, 57 years