An appraiser and friend in California shared this Instagram Reel of a North Carolina agent making the rounds. She has decided to supersede North Carolina law by denying licensed appraisers access to inspect a property for a bank because they also hold an agent license, even though it is allowed by law. She feels it is a conflict of interest and decided it was her responsibility to force the lender to send another appraiser.
“One thing you’ll never see me do is allow an appraiser who is also an actively competing real estate agent to appraise one of my listings if I have any say in the matter,” she says, framing it as hard-won caution rather than paranoia. “I’ve been there, done that, got the trophy… this isn’t about questioning anyone’s integrity. It’s about eliminating unnecessary conflicts of interest.” Her video goes further, telling other agents to make sure they’re “vetting who the appraisers are” on their listings, since a competing agent moonlighting as an appraiser might use the assignment to “bolster their own… close ratio.”
The framing is sympathetic, and the underlying intent isn’t crazy. But the fix she’s describing isn’t hers to apply, and the mechanism she says she uses to apply it, by vetting and excluding specific appraisers before they’re allowed near her listings, is close to the exact behavior federal and North Carolina law were written to prohibit. Let’s explore.
Listing agents have no authority to select appraisers
In a financed transaction, the lender (or its appraisal management company) selects the appraiser, not the listing agent. Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac’s Appraiser Independence Requirements (AIR) explicitly bar real estate agents and brokers from selecting, retaining, or influencing the selection of an appraiser, precisely because agents have a financial stake in the deal closing at a certain price. In North Carolina, you can hold a real estate broker license and a real estate appraiser license at the same time. They are issued and regulated by two separate agencies under distinct statutes, and there is no prohibition on one individual being licensed by both. This real estate agent, who is paid a commission only if the deal closes, made a self-serving decision, whether or not with the best intent. I have spoken to many agents during my career who have called the lender to complain about an appraiser who inspected the property having no local knowledge. This is actually an issue in my market because many lenders see appraisers as licensed in the state, so that box is checked. Rural upstate New York is still the same state as Manhattan (which has no traditional MLS system and public records are filthy). It is not uncommon for an appraiser who is two to three hours away by car to come here after winning the low bid by an Appraisal Management Company (AMC), on several appraisal assignments, and have no idea what they are doing. Local market knowledge is part of the competency and analysis Fannie Mae expects. But singling out an appraiser for legally having more than one license is going to get this agent into trouble. Let’s explore how:
Federal law treats “blacklisting” as coercion
Under the Dodd-Frank amendments to the Truth in Lending Act and its implementing rule, Regulation Z, it’s unlawful for a “covered person,” which explicitly includes real estate agents and brokers, to coerce, intimidate or exclude an appraiser “for the purpose of causing the appraised value to be based on any factor other than the independent judgment of the appraiser.” her stated mission, to personally vet and exclude appraisers before they touch her listings because they may be a competitor as a licensed agents is exactly what AIR, Dodd-Frank/Reg Z, and North Carolina’s own broker rules (NCREC Rule A .0120(c)) are all about.
Refusing an assigned appraiser physical access to the property because of who they are fits squarely within what regulators call “blacklisting,” and industry guidance is blunt about it: “Coercing, intimidating, and/or blacklisting appraisers are all activities that violate appraiser independence and are illegal in all 50 states.”
State license law adds another layer
Most state real estate commissions have adopted parallel rules barring agents from steering, vetoing or retaliating against appraisers, and appraisers who feel blacklisted are advised to file directly with the state real estate commission, the appraiser board, the lender/AMC’s compliance office and even GSEs like Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac via their complaint hotlines.
It also depends…
Bank appraisal — The agent has essentially no legal standing to exclude an assigned appraiser — a textbook violation. I am assuming the agent in the Reel is meeting an appraiser on one of her listings that went to contract.
Cash sale or private valuation — The specific federal protections in Reg Z/AIR don’t technically apply, so her latitude to control who accesses her listing is somewhat greater. However, state license-law ethics and potential antitrust exposure can still apply, especially if she’s publicly organizing other agents to do the same.
Final thoughts
Blocking a lender-assigned appraiser like this agent is doing is already illegal, and it puts the seller’s closing at risk. If such a delay results in a reassigned appraiser and a lender flag, it is a failure of the care she owes her client. Worse, her stated target is appraisers who are also competing listing agents, meaning she’s protecting her own client pipeline, not the seller. That’s a fiduciary putting her own interest ahead of her client’s.
The actual final thought — Being from Connecticut.
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