Shopping for the Right Appraiser

This is an excerpt from a NY Times article about the job the appraisers have to do in this real estate market. It seems inconceivable to me that someone would want to pay for a house that an expert (the appraiser) just said was not worth the amount you were willing to pay.


[But in areas where prices have been rising rapidly, closed sales may represent an outdated snapshot of a market, taken several months earlier when prices may have been significantly lower. According to a market report prepared by Halstead Property, the average price for all Manhattan apartment sales that closed in April was 17 percent higher than the average for December. In many parts of the city, prices have climbed even more rapidly, and, especially in those areas, the prices on contracts being signed today can be expected to be significantly higher than recent closings.]