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With the demand for faster turn times and cheaper prices being paid to appraisers, proofreading is one of the first things to be sacrificed.
Some time back I reviewed an appraisal for a purchaser where the seller had had the appraisal done and listed the house for the appraised value. I was doing the mortgage collateral appraisal for a local mortgage broker and the purchaser asked me to look at the one the seller had.
The appraiser is one who has an excellent reputation. He (she) is a member of a couple of major national organizations holding designations in both.
It was a house on 20 acres of surplus land. When he adjusted the comparables to account for the surplus land, he made a fairly simple mistake. Instead of adding the $30,000 to the comparables, he used a negative sign which subtracted the $30,000 adjustment, creating a net $60,000 error. It underpriced the house by $60,000.
The buyers got one heck of a deal.
(FWIW, if you try to figure out who, what, when, and where this happened I changed pertinent details.........it was actually a $70,000+ error)
In short, don't just look at the bottom line on page 2 of the URAR. Pay attention to the math and check the "reasonableness" of the adjustments. If something seems strange, have the appraiser explain where they got that number.
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