Recently, I was asked by one of my buyer clients how long it should take for an appraisal to get done!  We were writing up an offer and discussing the many, many changes that have come about because of the housing downturn that we are currently in.  I had suggested that we write in a 60 day closing date, and even at that, I was a little concerned about the ability to get the loan closed within that 60 days - not because his credit was bad or that he was a problem buyer or anything like that.  So we were discussing the appraisal and he asked how long an appraisal should take to get done. 

My answer was that it could take a significantly longer period of time than it used to.  In the "good old days", when a buyer would make loan application, the lender they were using at the time would go to a list of approved appraisers and make a call to order the appraisal.  When the housing market started to downturn, regulations were put into place to put up a firewall between the appraiser & the lender.  Now, a lender must call a third party company, who will, in turn, order the appraisal to be done.  The lender has no control over how quickly the appraiser will go out to appraise the property since they are no longer allowed to talk to the appraiser.   The lender cannot even know if the appraiser that is going out to the property is someone from the area or is familiar with the area (in the Richmond area, we have had appraisers that have come from places like Williamsburg and Charlottesville, which are very different markets than the Richmond VA market).  If the appraisal comes in and there is some missing information or there are some required repairs, then the appraiser may have to make a second trip out to the property, and the timing of that re-inspect may be very close to the closing date, depending upon how quickly the seller can get those items resolved and repaired.  Once the lender has received the appraisal, it must then be sent to the buyer for a 3 day review period.  All of this, of course, adds time to how long it will be before the buyer can close.

My buyer was amazed at some of the new things that are now being required in order for him to get his contract closed. 

I hope that this answers some of the questions about the new appraisal process!  When writing up an offer, this is just one of the things that must be taken into consideration when deciding on how quickly one can close on a house.  Make sure that, when you are writing up that contract, you allow enough time for all the things to happen that need to happen!

Feel free to call me if there are any questions on the how to buy a home in today's real estate market!