10 Pointers for Engaging with Appraisers

When communicating with the appraiser, there is first a strong preference for a written engagement appraisal letter before you start developing or disputing the appraisal.

Do’s include:

• Provide a copy of the sales contract.
• Request consideration of additional information about a subject property or about comparable properties.
• Ask for additional supporting information about the basis of the valuation.
• Request that factual errors be corrected in an appraisal.

Don’ts include:

• Exclude a person from consideration for future engagement because a property’s reported market value does not meet a specified threshold.
• Communicate a predetermined, expected, or qualifying estimate of value, or a loan amount or target loan-to-value ratio.
• Specify a minimum value requirement for the property that is needed to approve the loan or as a condition of ordering the valuation.
• Condition a person’s compensation on loan consummation.
• Fail to compensate a person because a property is not valued at a certain amount.
• Imply that current or future retention of a person’s services depends on the amount at which an appraiser or person performing an evaluation values a property.