What is an appraisal gap and how big can it be?

An appraisal gap is the difference between the contract price a buyer offers and the lower value a lender's appraiser assigns to the property, and it can be any size depending on how competitively the buyer bid above recent comparable sales. There is no fixed or typical gap size, since it depends entirely on the specific property, the specific offer and how the appraiser weighed comparable sales. Joel Boss reviews comparable sales before an offer goes in to keep that risk as small as possible.