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In my opinion, the best person to order the appraisal would be a person in the mortgage company that does not stand to receive a commission on the closing of the loan.  I believe that a conflict of interest occurs when a loan originator (mortgage loan officer) orders the appraisal as he/she has a stake in the outcome of the report.   After all, it is only human nature that the loan officer wants the property to appraise in order to successfully close the loan, obtain a commission and keep his client happy. 

The role of the appraiser is to provide an objective opinion of value based upon actual comparable sales data and analysis of the current market conditions.  The appraiser client in a refinance or sale of a property is the lender .  The responsibility lies with the appraiser to provide an adequately supported value which is derived after due diligence and analysis. The value is not derived just by pulling potential comparable sales. An analysis of the current market and differences between comparable properties are important to providing an appropriately supported value.     

Once a homeowner decides to either sell or refinance his/her home, an appraisal will be needed.  The appraisal must always requested by the lender client when money is borrowed to refinance or purchase a home.  The homeowner/borrower are customers only and are not considered a client of the appraiser. 

Homeowners/borrowers commonly think that they are the client of the appraiser since an appraisal is often paid by them directly to the appraiser.  The homeowner/borrower often insist on obtaining a copy of the appraisal from the appraiser since payment was made to the appraiser.  The appraiser must be diligent in providing the homeowner the information that the appraiser client is the lender and that the appraisal can not be sent to homeowner without the written consent from the lender even if paid by homeowner.  The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice federal regulations states that the client must be the lender in all financing transactions that require bank funds including mortgages etc. 

Homeowner/Borrower can request a copy of the appraisal report from the lender.  Lender should be providing the copy to the homeowner.borrower once requested.  Lenders may place copy stamps on the appraisal report and provide information to the borrower that the appraisal may not be used for any other purpose.           

Order your appraisal in the online ordering section and get statuses on your appraisal 24/7.  No phone tag!  Status updated from date of inspection all the way to completion.  This keeps you from making unecessary phone calls and keeps you and your borrower client up to date. 

We are FHA approved and VA fee appraisers. We comply with USPAP and comp checks are not accepted and  we do not provide pre-determined values: value checks are not accepted.  Please use websites such as www.visionappraisal.com, or www.homepricecheck.com  and www.cyberhomes.com for your own research. Keep in mind that sales populated through these sites are raw data sales and do not represent an actual appraisal. 

Our territories are Tolland, Windham, Hartford (East of CT River: S Windsor, Manchester, Glastonbury, Enfield, East Windsor, Manchester and East Hartford). We also serve New London county.  We have credit card capability for your borrowers convenience.   

Important information for lenders.  Appraisers in Connecticut are bound to comply with Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.  Sometimes lenders are requesting values prior to placing an order.  Appraisers in Connecticut can not provide a value prior to due diligence and it is the law.  This is what is called a pre-determination of value which is not allowed.

What the lender must not do?

Request stopping an assignment if value is not coming into a specific value.

Not wasting the borrowers money or time if the value is not going to come in at a specific value.

Appraisers provide a valuable service and are paid for their expertise and analysis not the specific outcome of a reported value.   Appraisers do work long hours and have to complete ongoing training classes to keep current. 

Then what is a lender to do???

What can lenders ask to help them regarding local values?  Lenders may request raw data sales for the subject property area.  Appraisers may provide local websites that also assist in providing the lender a better picture without violating their regulations.  The homeowner can request a desktop valuation as a consulting assignment(This can be done if enough information is available via the online data sources for a minimal cost. The report must be done for the client homeowner and may not be re-addressed into the lender name.

A new more comprehensive appraisal assignment can be done at a future date for a lender if the purpose is for a refinance.  Once a refinance appraisal is completed our company has a three month policy before another appraisal will be conducted on the same property for the same purpose.  This is done as a courtesy to our initial client and reduces the chance of the homeowner from shopping around.