Appraisers, brokers and even some lenders say this has only created more problems. David Fuller, the president of the New York State Society of Real Estate Appraisers, says that rather than being paid $400 for evaluating an apartment, an appraiser may receive only $250, with the appraisal management company keeping $150. This has driven experienced professionals out of the business. And the management companies, many of them national operations, have bid out jobs to appraisers unfamiliar with the nuances of New York City real estate.

Allyson Knudsen, a senior vice president for national underwriting of Wells Fargo, says that it uses seven appraisal management companies, including one called Rels Valuation, in which it owns a minority stake. She says appraisers are generally familiar with the markets in which they work. She adds that Rels’s appraisals come in below purchase price about 9 percent of the time, versus an industrywide average of 12 percent.