Finally some one has woken up to the fact an electronic appraisal is not as accurate as an appraiser physically visiting the property and actually appraising the property. (Globe and Mail October 11^th)

For years now the many financial institutions and CHMC have been using Emili (a computer based appraisal system) to set the mortgage value of a home. The problem has always been that 2 homes on the same block are normally not the same, they may have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and be almost the same size but one could have been meticulously cared for and the other lived in and not in the same condition. Emili does not know and has been used to approve mortgage values based on basically averages for the area. As a Realtor I don’t remember the last time an appraiser showed up at a residential listing that I had sold and this is probably done originally to save someone the appraisal fee. As a buyer I would be very comforted by the fact the my new home was appraised physically and I got the mortgage.

Only an appraiser physically looking at the house could discern the difference and that difference could be thousands of dollars. The Real Estate industry might not like the fact that maybe bank appraisers will kill some deals because the buyers have been talked into paying too much. This often happens when the buyer decides to throw all their legal protection (in BC) to the wind and deal with the listing Realtor in the hopes of getting a better deal.