Let me warn you up front: the appraisal process can be a wild ride. The lender orders the appraisal. It could take a week, two weeks, or even three to get the appraisal back. This is usually not because of the lender, but because appraisal companies utilize a more complicated system than in the past. It used to be that an appraiser would stop by your house and walk through it for an hour or so. Now things are much more complicated. The reason for the complication is because the lender has to protect its investment. It is investing in both the home as a financial asset and in the borrower as a client. A smart lender will not loan hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to someone without properly vetting every single aspect of the borrower and the property. While this long appraisal process is happening, a good loan officer or lender will not wait for the appraisal to come back. The good loan officer moves ahead, completing as much of the loan package as possible and submitting it to underwriting. We’ll go over underwriting in the next subsection, but it’s important to note that your loan officer should not be sitting around waiting during the appraisal. There is plenty to do! When the appraisal comes back, you’ll want to review it. As the buyer’s real estate agent, you will want to make sure there are not any issues. You need to ensure the value is good and that the property was appraised appropriately. Make sure the appraisal does not require any repairs pre-sale. Should the property not appraise as expected, the loan officer will notify the real estate agents involved in the loan. The agents, the buyer, and the seller, must then work out a compromise or cancel the contract.
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