You have no experience with her so you don't know if she can be trusted or not. 

It's taken years for me to build trusted relationships with a skilled plumber, electrician, roofer, carpenter, mason, framer, drywaller, HVAC guy, tree guy, insulation guy, footings guy etc. 

-PMC being up front and clear about this will earn trust and understanding. 

There was a prior post on BP that referred to a litigation case involving a Trust company where the end result was the sentencing of two individuals with fraud, and millions of dollars of SDIRA dollars lost. 

I'd trust the lender and let them hire the appraiser.

I wouldn't blindly trust those sites though.

I have been looking at a Land Trust as a way to avoid this. 

Ps: I run a wholesale business active in 3 states and trust me, closing sales in-person and on the phone requires two different skillset. 

I also have attorney's who invest in my syndications who invest as individuals, not through an entity or trust.  

I have noticed that in building your team, you need that one person that you can fully trust to be the "boots on the ground", the dependable person that has their incentives aligned with yours.