• Appraisers have no vested interest in the outcome and should conduct themselves with unbiased objectivity and impartiality -- regardless who orders the appraisal.

• Market value is a representation of what a willing buyer would pay and a willing seller would accept for a particular property, without either party under pressure to buy or sell.
  
  
• Appraisers do not follow a formula for each property.  Appraisers will look at all factors pertaining to the value of a home, including the location, size, condition, distinguishing amenities, and sale prices of comparable homes in the neighborhood.  There is no straight price per square foot in a neighborhood because that cannot account for the varying individual attributes of properties.
  
  
• You can't tell what a propety is worth just by looking at it from the outside.  A property's value is determined by a number of factors which can only be discovered through an interior and exterior inspection.  Even though in certain situations an exterior inspection may be all that is required, a full interior/exterior inspection adds so much more accuracy to the appraisal results.
  
  
• An appraisal is not the same as a home inspection.  Appraisers form an opinion of value through the appraisal process typically resulting in a written report outlining that process.  Home inspectors determine the condition of the property and its major components and then report those findings.  An opinion of value is not rendered by a home inspector.
  
  
• Regardless of who pays for an appraisal, in a lending situation, the client is the lender and therefore the legal owner of the appraisal report.  However, the home owner as a consumer is entitled to a copy of that report upon a written request to the lender under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
  
  
• Under USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) laws the transferring of an appraisal from one client to another is not legal.  It is a violation of the ethics and confidentiality laws.
  
  
• Market value does not equal the replacement cost of a home.  Market value is a representation of what a willing buyer will pay and what a willing seller will accept for a particular property with neither buyer nor seller under pressure.  Replacement cost is the dollar amount required to reconstruct a similar home at today's prices.