Every week, borrowers call our office to discuss their appraisals with the appraiser. Normally this happens when the lender tells the borrower that the appraisal is “in ” and not high enough to support the loan amount the borrower is requesting.
In today’s lending atmosphere, the appraiser is NOT supposed to discuss value with the borrower. The lender is actually the client (yes even though the borrower probably paid hundreds of dollars for the appriasal). The appraiser is supposed to talk to the client — the lender — not the home owner or the borrower.
Obviously the appraiser must talk to the owner when he/she schedules access to the house, to do the inspection. But if the owner is calling to question the value or to argue with the appraiser, that won’t go well.
The HVCC rules that came out in the past few years were put in place to place distance between the appraiser and anyone with an interest in the outcome of the appraisal — think borrower, owner, realtor, etc.
If there are problems with the appraisal, the borrower needs to call his bank or lender, not the appraiser. Appraisers do sometimes make errors or miss things. But if you think the appraisal is flawed, you need to call the lender, not the appraiser. Then the lender must question the appraiser, not you. This is to eliminate coercion or influencing the appraiser in any way. Even if you, the borrower, think that you have better comparable sales or know something the appraiser does not, you cannot simply call the appraiser, have them “fix” the report, and send it to the bank. The bank won’t allow this.
Buyers and borrowers, refinancing homeowners, and realtors may be frustrated with the appraisers right now, and might think the appraiser is at fault — but if you have a question you need to go through proper channels (your lender) and not call the appraiser. That will not “fix” the problem.
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