More appraisal woes - Part 2

I have a deal in contract now going through this very problem. Inexperienced, inadequate appraisers hold the power to disrupt and scuttle deals (my appraiser clearly didn't have a basic understanding of how to equalize comps to the subject property, something even I learned before obtaining my broker's license).

Since national lenders cannot maintain lists of appraisers in every community, they long ago began outsourcing the process to the management companies, who had claimed about 30 percent of the market before the code took effect. Now that the lenders are the ones ordering all the appraisals, the management companies are expanding their share.

Real estate groups say the management companies, with the competition from brokers and agents eliminated, are now trying to fatten their profit margins by hiring appraisers as cheaply as possible.

These inexperienced appraisers, often traveling many miles to a market they do not know well, are scuttling legitimate deals, the agents claim.

This has to change. There has to be an appeals process to keep inexperienced appraisers from ruining deals, and the market by extension.

SOURCE: NY TIMES