Here’s a good article about the role that home appraisers had in the housing bubble.

The problem I’m having as an agent is that the appraisals are coming in much lower the the price the buyers and sellters agreed to, and much lower than the comps that I find in the area.

We are not allowed to communicate with the appraisers, which is a good thing. We should not be able to so that we can have an impartial perspective and eliminate corruptions in the market.

However, right now, appraisers seem to be viewing the market as it was 6 months ago, not they way things are moving up and moving quickly right now.

In the last three months, I negotiated three closings in which the appraisals came in at least 12% lower than the agreed price. Luckily, I got the sellers to reduce their prices after much effort and saved my clients money.