A lender's guidelines require an interior inspection, but the client asks for a desktop product to save time. What should the appraiser do?
Correct Answer
B) Determine what credible results actually require here
Why this is correct: Under USPAP, an appraiser must produce credible assignment results appropriate for the intended use. The appraiser must independently determine the necessary scope of work, including inspection type, based on what is required for credibility, not solely on client instruction or preference. Why the other choices are wrong: "Deliver the desktop product as the client instructed" ignores the appraiser's professional obligation to ensure credibility. "Deliver both products and invoice for each" is impractical and does not resolve the core issue of selecting an appropriate product. "Refer the client to a different appraisal firm" is a premature step; the appraiser should first assess what credible results require. Exam tip: Credibility and intended use drive the scope of work, not client convenience.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
Determining what credible results actually require is the correct first step because that determination governs everything else, including whether the desktop product can be delivered at all. It keeps the scope decision with the appraiser, which is where the rule places it. Once she knows what the assignment needs, she can tell the client whether the desktop scope works, negotiate, or decline. The lender's interior inspection requirement is a separate constraint she must also satisfy or resolve.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option A: Deliver the desktop product as the client instructed
Following the client's instruction without analysis surrenders the scope decision to the client and risks accepting a condition that precludes credible results, which is prohibited. It also ignores the lender's own guideline, potentially producing a report the lender cannot use. Convenience for the client is never the test.
Option C: Deliver both products and invoice for each of them
Producing two products does not resolve which scope is appropriate; it simply delivers one adequate and one possibly inadequate report while doubling the cost. If the desktop product is not credible for this property, issuing it remains improper no matter what accompanies it. The option avoids the decision rather than making it.
Option D: Refer the client to a different appraisal firm
Referring the client elsewhere is premature before determining whether the requested scope is workable, and in many cases it will be. Declining is a legitimate final step where the client insists on a condition that precludes credibility, but it comes after the analysis rather than instead of it. Passing the problem to another appraiser also does not make an inadequate scope adequate.
Credibility Decides, Then You Negotiate
Ask what the assignment needs before asking what the client wants. Once you know the floor, you can discuss price, product, and turnaround above it. You can never negotiate below it.
How to use: In any client-preference item, choose the option that evaluates credibility first. Save declining for stems where the client has already refused the necessary scope.
Exam Tip
Lender guidelines and USPAP are additive. Satisfying one does not satisfy the other, and the stricter requirement governs in practice.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- -Letting the client's product choice determine the scope of work
- -Assuming compliance with lender guidelines satisfies USPAP or the reverse
- -Failing to disclose the extent of inspection actually performed
Concept Deep Dive
Analysis
Three separate authorities converge on this fact pattern and they must be untangled. The Scope of Work Rule places the determination of what research and analysis are necessary with the appraiser, requires that the scope be sufficient to produce credible results for the intended use, and forbids accepting an assignment condition that would preclude credibility. Client and lender guidelines are additional requirements layered on top: a lender's insistence on an interior inspection binds the appraiser contractually and may bind the loan under investor or regulatory rules, but it operates alongside USPAP rather than in place of it. The client's request for a desktop product is an assignment condition, permissible only if the resulting scope still supports a credible opinion for this property. So the appraiser's first move is analytical, not administrative: decide what this particular property and intended use actually require. A tract home in a homogeneous subdivision with abundant data may be credibly valued from a desktop; a complex or atypical property with condition questions may not.
Background Knowledge
You need the Scope of Work Rule, including the appraiser's responsibility for the scope decision, the acceptability test against peer and intended user expectations, and the prohibition on assignment conditions precluding credibility. You should also know that client and lender guidelines operate as additional requirements and that the extent of inspection must be disclosed.
Real-World Application
An appraiser asked for a desktop product on a 1920s house with reported foundation movement concludes she cannot support condition adjustments without seeing it, explains that the lender's own guideline also requires interior inspection, and offers a full inspection at a revised fee rather than delivering the desktop.
More Emerging Methods Questions
How does an alternative inspection method affect the appraiser's disclosure obligations?
A collector's photographs show a condition the appraiser believes needs specialist assessment. What is the appropriate step?
What responsibility does an appraiser retain for an error originating in a third-party database?
Under current USPAP guidance, what is the output of an automated valuation model before an appraiser analyzes it?
Which assignment type still requires the appraiser to develop an opinion of value?
A model returns an estimate far from the appraiser's own conclusion. What is the appropriate response?
What does it mean that a tool cannot comply with USPAP?
An appraiser is asked to review an assignment where an AVM supplied the value. What does the review examine?
Why is the date a data extract was pulled worth recording in the workfile?
A desktop appraisal is best described as an assignment completed how?
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