An appraiser’s turnaround time depends on how much work there is and how many appraisers serve the local area. In rural areas where there are fewer appraisers, turnaround times can be long during hot real estate markets or when interest rates are low and everyone is refinancing. Also, appraisers who do a lot of commercial and non-lender work tend to be more backed up than those who do residential lender work.

Residential lender work makes up the vast majority of appraisal business, and this work follows a boom and bust cycle. During the long real estate bust of the middle 1990s a lot of appraisers went out of business and did not renew their licenses. This has led to a shortage of appraisers as the volume of residential loans increased during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

People have been reluctant to enter the appraisal profession because of the tough education and experience requirements, high licensing fees, liability exposure and the uncertainty of future work.
Can I Find Out What the Value of My Property Will Be Before Hiring an Appraiser?
Appraisers aren’t supposed to accept assignments or base their fees contingent on the reporting of predetermined values, opinions or conclusions. For example, an appraiser can’t accept an assignment for appraising a house based on what the lender, borrower or real estate agent needs to make the deal.

Some lenders and mortgage brokers ask appraisers to do a free “comp search” or preliminary value estimate for a property before they will give them the appraisal assignment. Appraisers who comply are putting themselves at risk. Someone is relying on the appraiser’s “preliminary” estimate to make a major financial decision. Any estimate of value, verbal or written, range or point, is an appraisal in the eyes of the law and is subject to the requirements of the Uniform Standards of Appraisal Practice (USPAP).

This is a Catch-22 for both appraisers and their clients. If the appraiser follows the rules they risk losing the client; if they don’t follow the rules they risk losing their license. The client can’t find out what their property is worth without paying for an appraisal, and they don’t want to pay for an appraisal without knowing what their property is worth.

Some appraisers approach this dilemma by charging a portion (usually half) of the fee up front to inspect the property, select comparable sales and produce a preliminary value estimate, usually a value range. If this is acceptable to the client they can continue with the appraisal. If not, the client is only out a portion of the appraisal cost and the appraiser has not violated any professional standards or practices.