#5 Who owns an appraisal?

This is one of the trickiest and stickiest areas we deal with. The person (or company) ordering the appraisal owns it, and all the information contained in that report. We cannot release any of that information to anyone else - period - without written authorization from the orderer. "But, wait a minute, I paid for the appraisal. And now you're saying you can't even tell me what the final figure is?" That's right. We often get the homeowner who wants the house and the broker who wants the sale calling to see if the property appraised, came in at the value necessary. We absolutely cannot release that information to anyone but the lender, and then the lender can share the appraisal with the client, realtor, etc.