Short Sale and Mortgage Inspection Questions

[Sara Finley]

Hello - we are on SFR #4 in 3 years and our first short sale.

We waived our inspections and the sellers have accepted our offer.  We are still waiting for the bank approval with a mortgage commit date of 1\19.

Our mortgage company wants us to do an appraisal.

2 Questions:

1. Can the mortgage company REQUIRE you to use their appraisal company? The price they gave us is almost DOUBLE what it should cost.

2. Are we allowed to wait until the bank accepts our offer to complete the appraisal?  I would hate to spend that money and then have the deal go south.  I know there are costs to play the game but I want to be smart.

Thanks for any and all advice.

Sara