The Appraisal Hub / How to choose an appraisal management company
A lender's checklist
How to choose an appraisal management company.
This is the list of questions a lender should ask any appraisal management company, The Appraisal Hub included, before choosing one. There are eight. Each comes with why the question matters and what a usable answer sounds like. Where we have already published our own answer on this site, we give that answer in one line with a link.
Print these questions, or bring them to the call. The questions work in any order, and the company that answers all eight without being chased is telling you something before you read a single document.
Who answers the phone, and when?
Every other answer on this list is a document. This question is about the day to day experience of working with the company, and the answer is the cheapest thing on the list to test: call the number before you send anything.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer names a person rather than a department, states the hours the line is staffed and the time zone, and says who picks up when that person is on another call or on holiday.
Our answer
One named account manager, and a line staffed Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time. What that looks like through a file is on the service promise page.
Who reviews the report before you see it?
A review that is a completeness check catches missing fields. A review by someone qualified to read the appraisal catches the things that come back to you later as a revision request from your underwriter.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer says who does the review and what license they hold, and can put the review process in writing for your vendor file.
Our answer
Every report is reviewed by a licensed or certified appraiser and checked against our comprehensive quality control checklist before it reaches you. Issues are caught early. The process goes in the vendor file in writing.
How are appraisers selected?
How an appraisal management company selects appraisers decides who ends up doing your work. When each order is assigned based on the appraiser's proximity to the subject property, you get an appraiser who is familiar with the local market, not simply whoever happens to be available.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer explains how a particular appraiser ends up on a particular assignment, and how the company handles a property nobody on the panel wants. Ask for that explanation in writing for the vendor file.
Our answer
An appraiser is chosen for the property; the order is never broadcast to the panel. Appraisers pay nothing to be on the panel. What we ask of an appraiser, and what joining the panel costs them, are on the appraisers page.
Which states is the appraisal management company licensed in, and what are the license numbers?
Your vendor management team has to evidence licensing, and licensing is the one item on the list that is a matter of public record. A company that will not put the numbers in front of you is leaving that paperwork to you.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer is a list of states with the license number for each, given without a sales call attached, and an honest answer about the states the company does not cover.
Our answer
Twelve states, with the license number for each one printed on the coverage page.
Which ordering platforms and loan origination systems does the appraisal management company connect to?
If the connection does not exist, somebody on your team retypes every order, and retyping is where intake errors start.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer names the platforms rather than describing trusted technology partners, and says plainly what happens if yours is not on the list.
Our answer
Ten, named on the technology page. Ordering by email or telephone works too, and always will.
What is in the vendor file, and how do you get it?
Your third party risk team will onboard from a file. Finding out in week three that half of the file does not exist is what turns a two week onboarding into a two month one.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer lists what the file contains up front, and the company sends the file without making you sit through a sales conversation first.
Our answer
The list is published item by item, and two ways to ask for the file are on the vendor diligence page.
How does an escalation reach someone who can decide?
The underwriter comes back on a Friday afternoon and the closing is Monday. What matters then is how many people stand between your call and a decision.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer describes what the first person you reach is allowed to decide on their own, and who the file goes to when it is genuinely a judgment call about the appraisal.
Our answer
The person who answers can see the file, can reach the appraiser, and can make appropriate decisions to keep the process moving. The five points where that is tested are on the service promise page.
How does the company measure its own service, and are the numbers published?
Adjectives are free. A company that measures its own service has to live with what the measurement says, and a company that publishes the numbers has to live with them in front of you.
What a usable answer sounds like. A good answer is a number with its method beside it: what was counted, over what window, and what was excluded. An answer of industry leading is not an answer.
Our answer
One figure: 97% of the calls to our line were answered. Measured from the firm's own telephone records over three months, May through July 2026, during stated hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time, with stated holidays excluded, and confirmed by ownership review. The figure and its method are on the service promise page.
Once you have the answers: what working with us looks like is on the lenders page, moving from one appraisal management company to another is on the switching page, and the shorter questions we are asked most often are on the frequently asked questions page.
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