Home selling drawn out by slow-moving appraisals

Picking up and moving to a new home has rarely ever been such a slow process.

That's because tighter lender regulations have not only slowed down mortgage underwriting, it has also given appraisers - the people who determine the value of a property for sale - a heavier workload. According to North Dakota's Minot Daily News, regulation changes have given appraisers more homes to check and have extended the amount of time they must devote to each individual valuation.

"We've always been relatively busy but it seems like the last couple of years it's probably busier than what it has been prior to that," said Brent Haaland, a local appraiser. "Some of that is with the housing prices that there is in the majority of the nation, there's been a huge amount of changes in our reporting requirements and the requirements of the lenders as far as in the reports."

While rising moving activity in North Dakota is helping to keep many appraisers busy, elsewhere, many are delayed because of rising foreclosures, which can distort the value of some homes. Earlier this year, the National Association of Realtors reported that 180,000 homebuyers nearly missed the closing deadline for the federal homebuyer tax credit because they were caught up in slow-moving appraisals and short sales.


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