I, too, am insulted by David, the appraiser's response. As a buyer's agent, our fiduciary duty is too the buyer. As a matter of fact, if agents are Realtors, then they also follow a stringent ethical code that mandates duty to the buyer.
If the buyer is going to get a loan to purchase the property, a separate appraisal will required by the bank, in any event. So there is not a necessity to pay a separate appraisal fee prior to making an offer.
The idea that agents, in general, wouldn't do their duty to get the best value for their buyers is ludicrous. The added commission on $10,000 is about $250. Really not worth the effort to maliciously inflate prices that wouldn't be supported by a bank appraisal anyway. - Sun Nov 15 2009, 18:07