It would not have been me appraising land in Mason County. It takes way more money to get me to go out there then lenders or AMC's want to pay. The "crack up" is when you say "too many people purchased 5 acre parcels near us that paid way more than what the property was really worth and some appraisers somewhere did a piss poor job IMO." Do you have any real facts to back that up?

The very simple definition of what something is worth is "what someone is willing to pay for it". In the case of a purchase transaction with a mortgage or loan involved, by the time the appraiser is on scene, the value of the property has been established by the seller and buyer. The appraiser in essence is confirming that the property is actually a sound investment for the lender as that is his/her client. The seller and buyer are not the appraiser's client and determining the outcome for those two parties isn't a part of the process.

All that being said, IMO the hardest appraisal to perform is Vacant Land. It should be pretty easy, its just a chunk of dirt. However, there are never enough comparable sales to review, obviously zoning factors in as do available utilities. Throw in a view of water or mountains, or even some salt water frontage and you have yourself a rocking good time.