Home Appraisers Looking for the Equity

Appraisers are the eyes into the local markets and the backbone of the real estate industy. We recommend staying engaged and understand their vision of the marketplace.”Slightly over half of appraisers in a recent survey expressed a degree of confidence in the housing market and nearly half reported appreciating home values in their markets. Appraisers tend to be realistic, focused on their local markets and unmoved by news stories and national numbers, they provide a good gauge of the status of the housing market. Opinions were slightly rosier regarding home values. Some 46.2 percent reported a mild increase in values in their area. Some 15.6 percent were seeing a moderate value increase, while 24 percent were neutral. Despite somewhat tepid feelings on the market in general, most appraisers reported increased order volume: 26.1 percent saw mild increases, 17.8 percent saw moderate increases and 18.5 percent reported significant volume increases. Only 15.3 percent of respondents reported any reduction in their order volume.