If not, go ahead and PM me your number please.

Do not be in a rush to buy your first property. 

Ian is correct that the lender chooses the appraiser, but if you know who you're using (and you're pre-approved, pending the appraisal), there is nothing wrong with asking your lender if you can order an appraisal ahead of time from someone  on their approved list.

Should some one "unqualified" (go ahead and argue that if you want, the courts have already ruled) injure themselves in the process, the company could be held both criminally and civilly liable.The "cost of labor" is the cost of living in that locale - it is dictated by no other factors.

I am virtually  debt free except for our mortgage so I am way ahead of the game in some arenas. 

This year the IRS accelerated the business filing deadline to March 15 so I was in a mad rush to get those returns out.  

As to if you pay, if you think it will help you patch bridges to pay, go ahead, but be upfront, you can go like this, "I have to get 3 bids due to amount of work, but I'm willing to pay 200 for you to fill this scope sheet per line item regardless if you get it or not" -- if it were me, I could get away with "our policy needs to get me...." --.

Wouldn't you want to just go ahead and contact the leads you already bought?

I'll go ahead and check out the conferences you mentioned. 

You're ahead of the game with a small bank like this, that sounds like they don't have a lot of default experience.