3. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN APPRAISER, ASSESSOR, AND A HOME INSPECTOR?
The term appraiser is used to describe the person who is contracted by the bank (or other lending institutions) to establish an expert opinion of value for the purpose of reporting a value to the bank. Since the bank requires an independent third party’s opinion of value from an individual who is not involved in the buying/selling of the subject property, an appraiser’s expert opinion is considered highly favorable to the bank. This gives the bank confidence that their loans will have sufficient collateral.
The assessor or tax assessors is generally a person who works for the city, township, county, etc. Although they are trained in real estate appraisal principles, they are not hired by the bank or a lending institution. Their primary duty is to help establish the assessment for your home for tax purposes.
The home inspector or the inspector sent from the city are also totally separate from an appraiser. These inspectors’ primary job is in inspecting your home from a non-value perspective. In other words, they are interested in the following questions: does your roof need repairing? Do you need a new furnace? How is your electrical? and questions like these. If you were to ask them about value, they would probably say, "ask your appraiser."