Who Actually Calls for Repairs — the Appraiser or the Inspector?

The short answer: usually neither, and the two roles get confused constantly. Your home inspector produces a long list, works for you, and nothing on that list is required by the lender. The appraiser works for the lender, is there to form an opinion of value, and on a conventional loan rarely calls for repairs at all.

When repairs are required, it is most often on an FHA or VA loan, where the appraiser is also observing the property against that program's minimum standards. Even then it is a narrow list — safety, security and soundness — not a condition report.

The distinction matters because it decides who you negotiate with, what actually has to be fixed before closing, and whether a house you love is financeable in the condition it is in.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996. People routinely expect the appraiser to catch what an inspector would, and expect the lender to require what an inspector found. Both are backwards.

Two different people, two different jobs

The inspector works for you. You hire them, you pay them, the report is yours. They spend hours on the property, test what can be tested, and produce a document that is long by design — because its purpose is to tell you what you are buying.

Nothing in that report is automatically a lender requirement. An inspection finding a failing water heater does not obligate anybody to replace it. It gives you information and negotiating position. What you do with it is between you and the seller.

The appraiser works for the lender. Here is the part that surprises people: you usually pay for the appraisal, and the appraiser is not working for you. Federal appraiser-independence rules exist precisely so nobody in the transaction — lender, agent or buyer — can influence the number. The appraisal is ordered on the lender's behalf and belongs to that process.

Their job is value. Condition enters only where it affects value or marketability, or where a program's property standards require them to note it.

They are not testing systems, scoping the sewer, or crawling every space. What an appraisal is and is not covers that properly, and the one-line version is: a clean appraisal tells you nothing about the roof.

Why conventional loans rarely produce repair requirements

On a conventional loan the appraisal is generally completed as is. Ordinary wear, dated finishes, a tired kitchen, a fence that needs work — none of it triggers a requirement. It is reflected in the value if it is reflected anywhere.

Requirements appear when something crosses into safety, soundness or structural integrity — the property is not habitable, or something visible presents a genuine hazard. That is a much higher bar than "an inspector would flag it," and it is why most conventional purchases close with a repair list of exactly nothing.

So if somebody tells you the appraiser is going to make the seller fix things on a conventional purchase, that is usually not how it goes.

FHA and VA are where it actually happens

Both programs carry minimum property requirements, and the appraiser is asked to observe the property against them. The standard is habitability and safety rather than condition generally.

What gets called out most often, in rough order:

• Missing or unsafe handrails at stairs where one would be expected. Genuinely one of the most common items, and one of the cheapest to fix.
• Exposed or visibly unsafe wiring, missing cover plates, obvious electrical hazards.
• No functioning heat source, or a system that plainly does not operate.
• Roof problems — active leaks or a roof visibly at the end of its life.
• Broken windows, missing flooring, holes — things affecting safety or weather-tightness.
• Peeling or defective paint on homes built before 1978, because of the lead hazard.
• Water intrusion, standing water, or evident structural movement.
• An unsafe or unusable water supply or septic system, which is why acreage purchases carry their own testing.

Notice what is absent: nothing about the age of the appliances, the condition of the countertops, or how much life the HVAC has left. Those are inspector concerns. The appraiser is answering "is this safe and habitable," not "is this in good shape."

The "subject to" appraisal, and how it resolves

When something does get called, the appraisal is typically completed subject to the repair being made. The value is stated as though the work is done, the condition is listed, and once it is completed a follow-up inspection confirms it.

That follow-up costs money and takes days, so an item called in week three moves a closing date. Not fatal, and worth building into the timeline as one more clock running alongside the others.

The problem nobody warns you about: you cannot fix it yourself

This is the sharp edge, and it kills more of these deals than the repairs themselves.

It is not your house yet. You generally cannot send a contractor to work on a property you do not own, and a seller is under no obligation to make a repair simply because your lender wants one.

So a called item becomes a negotiation:

• The seller does the work, which is the usual outcome on an ordinary sale.
• The seller allows access for you to have it done at your expense, which some will and many will not.
• An escrow holdback funds the repair after closing, where the program allows it and typically where weather or availability prevents completion first. Conditions apply and not every situation qualifies.
• Nobody does it, and the loan does not close in that condition.

Which is why an as-is sale on an FHA or VA loan deserves a conversation before you write the offer. Estate sales, foreclosures and investor flips are where sellers most often refuse — and where the property is most likely to have a safety item on it.

What I see go wrong

• Expecting the appraiser to catch what an inspector would. They will not. Get the inspection regardless of what the appraisal says.
• Assuming the inspection list must be repaired for the loan. It does not. That list is yours to negotiate with, not a lender requirement.
• Writing an as-is offer on FHA or VA without asking whether the seller will do safety repairs.
• Skipping the inspection because the appraisal came back clean. Those measure completely different things.
• Assuming you can fix it before closing. It is not your property.
• Not budgeting time for the re-inspection when something is called.

An illustration, so the shape is clear

Details below are invented to show the mechanism, not a quote.

Two buyers go under contract on similar older homes. Both get inspections; both reports run to dozens of items — aging water heater, a slow drain, a deck that needs sealing, original windows.

The first is buying conventionally. The appraisal comes back as is, with no repair requirements, because nothing observed rises to safety or soundness. Her inspection list is purely a negotiating tool: she asks for three things, gets two, and closes on schedule. The lender required none of it.

The second is using FHA, and his house has an open stairway to a finished basement with no handrail, plus peeling paint on a porch of a home built in the sixties. Neither appeared on his inspector's priority list. Both are called on the appraisal, and both must be resolved before the loan closes.

The seller is an estate with no interest in doing work. The buyer cannot do it himself, because it is not his house. It ends up as a handful of hours of labour, negotiated over a week and a half, and it nearly costs him the property.

Same market, same week, same kind of house. The repair list came from the loan program, not from the inspection — and it was a handrail.

What to do now

Get the inspection every time, and read it as what it is: information about what you are buying, not a list of lender requirements.

If you are using FHA or VA, ask two questions before you write an offer on an older or as-is property: is the seller willing to make safety repairs, and does anything obvious jump out — stairs without a rail, visible wiring, a roof at the end of its life, flaking paint on a pre-1978 home. Your agent can eyeball most of that in a walkthrough.

Run your scenario — no credit pull, no account, nobody calls you — and tell me which program you are leaning toward. On a property with condition questions, that choice changes what the appraisal will require more than anything else about the file, the same way it changes the pricing.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, or a commitment to lend. Program property standards differ and change, an appraiser's judgment is their own, and any specific property is worth confirming rather than assuming.

Common questions

Does an appraiser call for repairs?

Rarely on a conventional loan, where the appraisal is generally completed as is unless something crosses into safety, soundness or structural integrity. It is considerably more common on FHA and VA loans, where the appraiser also observes the property against that program's minimum property requirements. Even then the list is narrow and focused on habitability rather than general condition.

What is the difference between an appraisal and a home inspection?

The inspector works for you, is hired and paid by you, and produces a detailed report on the property's condition for your own decision-making. The appraiser works for the lender — even though the buyer usually pays — and forms an opinion of value, noting condition only where it affects value or program property standards. Nothing on an inspection report is automatically a lender requirement.

What repairs does FHA require before closing?

Items affecting safety, security and soundness rather than condition generally. Commonly: missing or unsafe handrails at stairs, exposed or hazardous wiring, no functioning heat source, active roof leaks, broken windows or missing flooring, defective paint on homes built before 1978 because of the lead hazard, water intrusion, and unsafe water or septic systems.

Can I make the repairs myself before closing?

Generally no, because the property is not yours yet and the seller is under no obligation to allow work on it. That is what turns a small repair into a negotiation. The usual outcomes are the seller doing the work, the seller allowing access for you to have it done, an escrow holdback where the program permits it, or the transaction not closing in that condition.

Does the lender require me to fix everything on the inspection report?

No. The inspection is yours, commissioned for your benefit, and nothing on it is automatically a lender requirement. It is information and negotiating position. Lender-required repairs come from the appraisal and, on FHA or VA, from the program's property standards — which is a much shorter and different list.

What is a "subject to" appraisal?

An appraisal completed on the condition that specified repairs are made, with the value stated as though the work is done. Once the repairs are completed, a follow-up inspection confirms it before the loan can close. That follow-up costs money and takes days, so an item identified late in the process typically moves the closing date.