Private Lending & Conventional Mortgage Advice
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated about 11 years ago,
Appraisal Question Is this even legal??
I live in rural Alaska, in a town of 5000+ people. Living in the bush tends to make one accept things not common in the rest of the country. This sticks in my throat though and I am not sure it is even legal. I was under the impression that lenders were now required to choose appraisers at random, from a pool of appraisers, and that they could not use the same appraiser for all their work. ALL banks and lenders processing a loan here use the same appraiser. He travels here from Anchorage and every time a loan is processed he does the appraisal. To make it even worse his father was the appraiser before him. They have been the only 2 appraisers here for many years. When I asked him about this he said he was the only person who had the comps to do the appraisals, and he was not giving them to any one else. There is no county, city or state record of sales as we are surrounded by lands owned by native Alaskans, and the federal government. (on the bright side there are no property taxes either) he and his father have set the values for property in not only this town but the entire region. Is it legal for conventional lenders to use the same appraiser all the time?