The appraisal usually happens when you are buying a home about two to three weeks into a 30 to 45 day closing period, after the inspection contingency has cleared and before underwriting is finalized. Your lender orders it, an independent licensed appraiser values the property, and the report goes back to the lender to confirm the home is worth at least what you have agreed to pay. The placement is intentional: it keeps you from paying for a valuation on a home you might reject after inspection, and it leaves the lender time to react if the number comes in low.
Where the Appraisal Falls in the Closing Timeline
The average purchase loan takes about 43 days to close.1Freddie Mac. Closing Your Loan Within that window, the usual sequence is: sign the purchase agreement, submit your mortgage application, complete the home inspection, negotiate any repairs, and then the lender orders the appraisal. Most lenders wait until the inspection contingency clears. There is no reason to pay for an appraisal on a home you might walk away from over foundation cracks or a failing roof.
Once the appraisal is ordered, it typically takes one to two weeks to schedule the visit and deliver the written report. That timeline can stretch in busy markets or in rural areas with fewer appraisers. If your closing date is tight, ask your lender to submit the order the moment the inspection phase wraps up. Delays at this step are one of the most common reasons closings get pushed back.
What Has to Happen Before the Lender Can Order It
Two documents trigger the order: a fully signed purchase agreement and a completed mortgage application. The contract sets the sale price the appraiser will measure against local market data. Without both, the lender has no legal framework and no borrower authorization to engage third-party services.
Federal law prohibits anyone with a financial interest in the transaction from influencing the appraiser’s conclusion.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1639e – Appraisal Independence Requirements In practice, your lender does not hand-pick the appraiser. The order goes through an Appraisal Management Company, which assigns a licensed appraiser with no connection to the deal. The same statute bars anyone from coaching the appraiser toward a target value or offering incentives to hit a certain number.
The appraisal fee is due at this stage. For a standard single-family home it typically runs between $300 and $600, though complex properties, large homes, or high-demand markets can push the cost well above that range. You can help the process by getting your lender a clean copy of the signed contract the same day both parties execute it, and by confirming the listing agent’s contact information so the appraiser can coordinate access.
What Happens During the Visit
The on-site visit is shorter and far less invasive than a home inspection. A standard walkthrough runs 30 to 60 minutes. Larger or unusual properties can take up to two hours. The appraiser is not testing whether your dishwasher runs or your furnace has life left. They are documenting the physical characteristics that drive value: square footage, room count, lot size, building materials, overall condition, and any upgrades.
They photograph every room and the exterior to build a visual record for the lender, and they note renovated kitchens, new flooring, and updated systems that might move the number compared to similar homes nearby. They also confirm the home meets basic habitability and safety thresholds. Peeling lead paint, missing handrails, and obvious structural problems get flagged.
If you are the seller, focus on small, visible fixes rather than renovations: torn screens, damaged walls, broken light fixtures, overgrown landscaping. None of this inflates the appraised value on its own, but a well-maintained home signals that the property has been cared for, which can influence the condition rating. More useful is a written list of improvements completed since purchase, with receipts or permits when available. An appraiser will not know about a $15,000 furnace installed last year unless someone tells them.
When There Is No On-Site Visit
Not every loan requires a physical walkthrough. A desktop appraisal skips the visit entirely and relies on tax records, listing data, prior appraisals, and satellite imagery. Under Freddie Mac’s guidelines, desktop appraisals are limited to purchase loans on single-unit primary residences with a loan-to-value ratio of 90% or less, and they are not available for condos, manufactured homes, co-ops, renovation loans, or non-arm’s-length transactions.3Freddie Mac. Appraisal Reports and PDRs
A hybrid appraisal splits the work. A trained property data collector visits the home to take measurements, photos, and condition notes, and the appraiser completes the valuation from that report without visiting in person. Hybrid appraisals cover a slightly wider range of property types, including condos, but still exclude manufactured homes, two-to-four-unit properties, and new construction.
Fannie Mae also offers outright appraisal waivers, called value acceptance, for certain low-risk transactions. Eligibility is set by the automated underwriting system and excludes properties valued at $1 million or more, co-ops, manufactured homes, construction loans, and several other categories.4Fannie Mae. Value Acceptance If your loan qualifies, you save the appraisal fee and shave days off the timeline. Your lender will tell you if the option is available for your specific transaction.
What Happens After the Appraiser Leaves
The appraiser compiles a report with the property description, the condition assessment, and a comparison against at least three similar homes that recently sold in the area.5Fannie Mae. Comparable Sales Those comparable sales are adjusted for differences in size, condition, location, and features to arrive at a final value opinion. The report goes to the lender for a quality review.
Federal regulations require your lender to provide you a copy of the appraisal promptly after it is completed, or at least three business days before closing, whichever comes first.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations You can waive that timing, but the waiver itself must be signed at least three business days before closing. The lender cannot charge extra for delivering the copy, though you are still responsible for the original appraisal fee.
Once underwriting confirms the appraised value supports the loan amount, the file moves toward clear to close. You will then receive a Closing Disclosure with your final loan terms, closing costs, and monthly payment. From there, it is signing documents, transferring funds, and recording the deed.
If the Value Comes in Low
If the appraised value is lower than your purchase price, the lender will not approve a loan for more than the home is worth. The gap has to be resolved before closing, and you generally have four paths.
- Renegotiate the price. Ask the seller to lower the price to the appraised value, or meet somewhere in between. Sellers with limited backup offers are more likely to negotiate.
- Cover the gap in cash. You bring extra money to closing to make up the difference between what the lender will finance and what the seller expects. This amount cannot be rolled into the mortgage.
- Split the difference. The seller drops the price partway and the buyer brings additional cash for the rest.
- Walk away. If you have an appraisal contingency in your contract, you can cancel the deal and keep your earnest money deposit. Without that contingency, you risk losing your deposit.
Waiving the appraisal contingency to make an offer more competitive goes wrong more often than buyers expect. If the home appraises low and you cannot cover the gap, you may forfeit the entire earnest money deposit. Some buyers negotiate a partial forfeiture as a middle ground, but the safer move is keeping the contingency unless you have cash reserves to absorb a significant shortfall.
Challenging the Appraisal Through a Reconsideration of Value
If you believe the appraisal contains factual errors or relied on poor comparable sales, you can ask your lender to submit a Reconsideration of Value. This is not a complaint or an appeal to a higher authority. It is a formal request for the original appraiser to review additional information and decide whether the value conclusion should change.
Valid grounds include factual mistakes (wrong square footage, incorrect room count, a major renovation missed), inadequate comparable properties (homes from a different neighborhood, or closer and more recent sales ignored), or evidence that prohibited bias influenced the valuation.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mortgage Borrowers Can Challenge Inaccurate Appraisals Through the Reconsideration of Value Process Federal interagency guidance directs lenders to establish processes that let consumers raise valuation concerns early enough in underwriting for errors to be corrected before a final credit decision.8Federal Register. Interagency Guidance on Reconsiderations of Value of Residential Real Estate Valuations
The strongest requests bring specific, verifiable evidence: a list of comparable sales the appraiser missed, documentation of upgrades not reflected in the report, or proof of measurement errors. Vague objections do not move the number. Your real estate agent is a useful resource here, since they know the local market and can identify sales the appraiser may have overlooked.
How Long the Appraisal Stays Valid
Appraisals do not last forever. If closing is delayed, you may need an update or an entirely new report.
- Conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac: valid for 120 days on existing homes, extendable to 12 months from the original effective date with an appraisal update.
- FHA loans: valid for 180 days, with an update available to extend to one year.9Department of Housing and Urban Development. Updated Appraisal Validity Periods
- VA loans: generally valid for six months, with extensions available in certain circumstances.
If your deal is approaching the expiration window, talk to your lender early. An update is cheaper than a full new appraisal, but it still takes time to schedule. In a market where values are shifting quickly, an updated appraisal can come back at a different number than the original, which reopens the valuation question all over again.