I'm a builder and have had some success buying and selling raw land. Without trying to offend anybody, I can tell you that an apraiser works for the person that hires him/her. Their job is to get the amount their employer asks for.

The big descrepancies seem to come from the appraisers who work for the bigger firms.

A bank will have several appraiser they use for their loans. If they want to make the loan, they can get the appraiser to justify the ammount.

The bigger real estate agents also have certain appraisers that they use all the time. They can also get the numbers to reflect the amount they require.

As a small builder, I've been on both the good and bad end of this. I've had a buyer's agent bring in their appraiser to run down the value of the property I'm selling. I contacted my banker and had him get "his" appraiser to give me one that reflects my selling price.

Comparing the two apprasals can be quite interesting. Ponds and Lakes vary allot depending on the angle the appraiser is shooting for. Some call them liabilities or deduct the value based on the work required to "fix it up." Others will increase the overall price of all the acerage based on this one feature.

Just my 2 cents. I don't mean to imply all appraisers are so easily swayed.

Eddie