How would I get a place appraised?

[B]

Let's say that for some reason I was forced to buy a place in the current modern real estate market.

Naturally, because I understand the way markets work and the way incentives can be aligned either for you or against you, I would decline to use a Realtor for the transaction. But it might not matter in this case. Either I, or a paid professional who can also search the MLS online would find a house that matches my search criteria.

Let's say now that I want to buy it, and we come to the point where I need to get the house appraised. Here's where I'm ignorant. It seems like a fair assumption that I should be VERY SKEPTICAL of the honesty of appraisers. There are more and more stories coming out of crooked/corrupt dealings between mortgage agents, real estate sales clerks, builders, and appraisers.

Here's one such glimpse into the last decade or so:
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/ ... -wows.html

So how can anyone be sure there's a functioning market here? Is there some way of guaranteeing that an appraiser is legit? I understand that the appraiser's job is to verify that the property is worth what the loan is for, but they also serve an important purpose for the buyer. Who can you trust in this massively corrupt game?

[ira s]

In the typical transaction involving an appraiser, it's the lender who is hiring the appraiser, not the buyer...Over the last few years, there's been a lot of pressure on the part of lenders to come up with a certain amount, and a lot of appraisers, faced with being "blacklisted" succumbed to that pressure.
If you are the buyer and are hiring the appraiser directly, I think you'd have a lot less to fear...there would be nothing in it for the appraiser to gain by giving you an inflated amount.
I know a few really good, honest appraisers, including one who refuses to do lender appraisers ( he basically told them to go screw themselves after they were pressuring them to find a certain value)...

[mukoh]

If you are hiring an appraiser for your own purposes to figure out a value you can pay typically $300-$400 or so to have it done.

If your goal is to do it for your loan on the property you are buying, every lender has their own appraisals and will not look at yours.