Great information and very timely. FYI – In Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, we have already seen a 10% to 20% rise in the costs of appraisals as of May 1st. With a new entity (AMC) taking a cut of the financial pie, the appraisers have already started to increase their fees. My favorite appraiser (or ex-appraiser? Feels like I have lost a close friend) had not raised his fees in 10 years.

I am also going to miss being able to gain knowledge from my appraiser when discussing a particular property and the reasons that the appraised value did not match the purchase price. I found this invaluable when communicating the disappointing results to the real estate agents that I work with.

And what about refinance transactions? Will the homeowner have to ante up the cost of an appraisal only to find out the value is too low to refinance? This has ramifications that we are only now going to deal with in field. I would be interested in hearing how other loan officers are dealing this issue.

Thanks! Kristen