appraisals

hi luluhood,

you or your lender can order an appraisal, if you want to know the property value. appraisal is necessary when you want to sell or buy a property or when you want to refinance your existing mortgage. normally, you will liable for paying for the appraisal.

Lulu if you are in the process of obtaining a mortgage loan, then it is the only the lender who can order an appraisal of the property to determine value. If you go ahead and order one, that's only going to benefit you, and you won't be able to transfer it over to the lender. There are strict regulations that require there to be a distance between lenders, borrowers and appraisers, to ensure that the frauds of the past are eliminated.

If it's an FHA-insured mortgage, your Loan Officer will order the appraisal. With me, for FHA-insured Reverse Mortgages, I'm not allowed to order the appraisal until HUD issues me an FHA case number for your loan. Upon receipt of the case number, I open Title, Escrow, and order the Appraisal. That appraisal is good for 4 months, and expires one day after the 4th month. FHA appraisals stay with the case number, so at anytime during that 4 months, you can switch Lenders, and that appraisal will be used by your new Lender.