"Production people (loan officers) used to call certain appraisers," said Jennifer Walker, head of the appraisal department at Continental Mortgage. "If the appraisal came in lower than expected, the loan officer would no longer use that appraiser."

There used to be pressure for appraisers to "come in with the right numbers." Real-estate agents get paid on commission; loan reps get paid on commission. If the appraiser brought in the wrong numbers, he often found himself unpopular and out of work.

But I think the regulators have gone overboard in their attempt to fix the banking industry. All appraisals now have to be retyped when a loan package is moved to another lender - at the expense of the consumer. And one "approved appraiser" may not be on the approved list of the lender down the street.

A good example surfaced two weeks ago. A single woman applied for a home loan with a small savings and loan. The lender botched the processing. By the time the loan was ready to close, rates had risen and the woman could not qualify at the higher rate. The loan was given to another lender and another appraisal had to be ordered because the first appraiser was not on the second lender's approved list.

"With the new guidelines, an appraisal is technically only good on the day the home is appraised," said Mike McDonnell of Appraisals Northwest. "If the appraisal is six to eight weeks old, you now have to go out and find a new set of comps."

"Comps" are the sales prices for comparable homes, which appraisers use to establish value. They are typically three homes of the same size, age and in the same area as the home being appraised. In a fluctuating market, values can change quickly. That's why lenders are eager to have the latest appraisal possible.

McDonnell's firm charges a base rate of about $350 to appraise a single-family residence. Additional charges are added for large homes, those with swimming pools and homes out of the local area. If the appraisal has to be updated, or rewritten for a specific lender, it often can be done for $100.

"If the appraisal was just done, and it has to be done again, a lot of the work can be transferred to the new appraisal," McDonnell said. "You will have to get a new comp, and go back out to take pictures, but it should not cost as much."

In the late 1970s, when property was appreciating almost overnight, many lenders made out-of-state investments without ever seeing the property on which they were lending money. Inflation can cover a lot of mistakes. And if a home was appraised too high, it didn't matter so much because it would quickly reach the appraised value.

The recession and higher interest rates in the early 1980s began uncovering errors. Property values in some areas had plunged, and there was a building glut in many markets, especially in the Sun Belt. Consumers and mortgage-insurance companies lost money. Some lenders lost respect after peddling loans in the secondary-mortgage market.

Lenders also were staggered from time to time with inflated appraisals. But I don't think local appraisers should take the blame for their counterparts in other states. The widespread abuse of inflated property values did not surface here.

I think that when state certification kicks in next year appraisals done by all certified appraisers will be accepted by all lenders and that they will again be considered valid for a specific period of time.

Tom Kelly is a private real-estate consultant. His column runs Sundays in the Home/Real Estate section of The Times. Send questions and comments to Tom Kelly, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA, 98111.