When you buy a house with a mortgage, the home appraisal is performed by a state-licensed or state-certified real estate appraiser who is hired by your lender, not by you. The appraiser works as an independent third party. Their only assignment is to give the lender an unbiased opinion of what the property is worth so the bank knows the loan is backed by a home of adequate value. You pay the fee, but you have no say in who gets the job.
Who the Appraiser Is
The person walking through the house is a professional licensed by the state. They don’t work for you, the seller, the listing agent, or the buyer’s agent. A real estate agent has a financial incentive tied to price. An appraiser has a legal obligation to stay neutral.
Federal law requires appraisers on mortgage transactions to meet qualification standards set by the Appraiser Qualifications Board of the Appraisal Foundation. A Licensed Residential appraiser needs at least 150 hours of qualifying education and 1,000 hours of supervised field experience. A Certified Residential appraiser needs 200 hours of education plus 1,500 hours of experience over at least 12 months, along with college-level coursework.1The Appraisal Foundation. Real Property Appraisal Every level also requires passing a state examination.
All of the work must follow the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, known as USPAP, which sets the ethical and performance rules for the profession. Compliance is mandatory on any federally related real estate transaction.2The Appraisal Foundation. USPAP Appraisers also complete continuing education to renew their licenses, including coursework on valuation bias and fair housing that became a national requirement beginning January 1, 2026.
Who Picks the Appraiser
Your mortgage lender orders the appraisal, and federal law strictly limits who can be involved in that choice. Loan originators, loan officers, and mortgage brokers are prohibited from selecting, retaining, recommending, or influencing the selection of an appraiser for a particular assignment.3Fannie Mae. Appraiser Independence Requirements The firewall exists because loan officers have a financial interest in seeing loans close, which can create pressure to hit a certain number.
To keep that separation intact, most lenders use an Appraisal Management Company. The AMC receives the order from the lender and assigns it to a local appraiser from its own roster. The appraiser never talks to the loan officer about the valuation. Federal law makes it illegal for anyone in a consumer mortgage transaction to interfere with appraisal independence, and appraisers are barred from having any financial interest in the property or the transaction.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1639e – Appraisal Independence Requirements
You pay the fee. You have zero influence over who does the work. That is by design.
What It Costs and What Happens on the Visit
For a standard single-family home, most buyers pay between $300 and $500. Costs run higher for larger properties, rural locations where comparable sales are harder to find, multi-unit buildings, and complex assignments. The fee is usually rolled into your closing costs, though some lenders collect it upfront when the appraisal is ordered. You cannot shop around, because the lender picks the appraiser.
The appraisal has two phases. On site, the appraiser walks the interior, measures the exterior to verify square footage, documents the floor plan and room count, and photographs the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, main living areas, and significant exterior features. For FHA loans, the photo requirements are especially detailed and cover items like street scenes and basement or crawl space conditions.5U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Mortgagee Letter 2025-18 – Rescission of Outdated and Costly FHA Appraisal Protocols The on-site portion for a typical house takes a few hours.
Back at the office, the appraiser researches comparable properties that recently sold nearby. They make dollar adjustments for differences in size, condition, lot, and features. A renovated kitchen adds value if the comparable didn’t have one; a two-car garage on the comparable and a one-car on the subject property means a subtraction. That reconciliation produces the final appraised value. The report goes directly to the lender through a secure system, not to you, the seller, or the agents. Start to finish, most appraisals take one to three weeks.
You’re generally allowed to be present during the on-site visit, though it isn’t required and most buyers let the listing agent handle access. If you do attend, don’t lobby the appraiser about the value. It won’t change the analysis.
Your Right to See the Report
Federal law requires your lender to give you a free copy. Under Regulation B, the lender must provide the appraisal promptly after it’s completed, or at least three business days before closing, whichever comes first.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations The lender also has to notify you of this right within three business days of receiving your loan application.
You can waive the three-day advance delivery and take the report at closing, but the waiver itself must be signed at least three business days before closing. If the deal falls through, the lender still has to send your copy within 30 days.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations The lender cannot charge extra for the copy, though you can be required to pay the original appraisal fee. Read it carefully. It’s the clearest picture you’ll get of what the lender thinks the home is worth and why.
When the Appraisal Is Handled Differently or Skipped
Not every purchase involves a traditional in-person appraisal. If you’re paying cash and no lender is involved, nobody requires one. You can still order one voluntarily.
Even with a mortgage, some loans qualify for alternatives to the full-inspection appraisal. Fannie Mae offers several options depending on the risk profile of the loan and how much data already exists about the property:
- Value acceptance: A data-driven model confirms the sale price is reasonable, with no appraiser visit at all. It applies to lower-risk purchases and refinances where substantial market data exists for the property.7Fannie Mae. Property Valuation
- Hybrid appraisal: A trained third-party data collector visits the property, and an appraiser then completes the report without personally visiting. It’s ineligible for multi-unit properties, co-ops, manufactured homes, and construction loans.8Fannie Mae. Hybrid Appraisals
- Desktop appraisal: The appraiser completes the entire valuation remotely using MLS data, tax records, and information from the listing agent or homeowner, with no one physically visiting.7Fannie Mae. Property Valuation
Which method applies depends on the automated underwriting recommendation. Your lender will tell you what you’re getting. You can’t request a waiver just because you’d prefer to skip the appraisal.
If the Appraisal Comes In Low or Looks Wrong
When the appraised value lands below the purchase price, the lender will only base the loan on the appraised value. The gap between what you agreed to pay and what the appraiser says the home is worth is yours to resolve. You generally have four choices:
- Ask the seller to reduce the price to match the appraisal.
- Pay the difference in cash at closing.
- Split the difference with the seller.
- Walk away, if your contract includes an appraisal contingency, and recover your earnest money.
That contingency is a clause in the purchase agreement letting you exit without penalty if the property doesn’t appraise at or above the contract price. Some buyers waive it to strengthen their offer in competitive markets, which is a calculated risk.
Appraisers are human, and reports sometimes contain errors. If the appraiser used a comparable from a different school district, recorded the wrong square footage, or missed a major renovation, you can request a reconsideration of value through your lender. You submit specific, documented objections, and the lender forwards them to the appraiser or AMC. Effective challenges cite factual errors, better comparable sales the appraiser overlooked, or documentation of improvements not reflected in the valuation. Vague complaints that the number feels too low go nowhere.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mortgage Borrowers Can Challenge Inaccurate Appraisals Through the Reconsideration of Value Process
If you believe the appraisal was influenced by prohibited bias based on race, national origin, or neighborhood demographics, you can file a complaint with HUD’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office, the CFPB, or your state’s appraiser regulatory agency.10Appraisal Subcommittee. Refer My Complaint
The Appraiser Is Not the Home Inspector
Buyers routinely confuse these two roles. The appraiser determines how much the home is worth by comparing it to recent sales. A home inspector examines the physical structure, checking plumbing, electrical, roof, foundation, HVAC, and other systems for problems that need repair. Your lender requires the appraisal. Nobody requires a home inspection, though skipping one is a gamble most buyers shouldn’t take. The appraiser will note obvious deficiencies that affect value, but they aren’t crawling through the attic checking for mold or testing every outlet.