Appraisals are sometimes a big issue for buyers and sellers. Never mind that there’s a shortage of journeymen appraisers, which is why it sometimes takes weeks to obtain a valuation. That alone is a major headache. But the main problem is that no matter what the buyer is willing to pay, it’s the appraisal on which the lender bases its decision about how much to lend.

If the valuation comes in too far below what the buyers have offered, they either have to come up with more cash to make up the difference, or the sellers have to lower the amount they’re willing to accept. In today’s market, where there’s no shortage of buyers willing to pay above the asking price, the onus usually falls on the buyer to make good or step aside for the next guy.

There’s nothing anyone can do about that. But at least the process is likely to become more consumer-friendly -- and possibly even less expensive -- under a couple of initiatives put forth recently by two big appraisal-management companies. Both aim to override the shortage of appraisers and lessen the time it takes to learn what the appraiser thinks the “subject property” is worth.

In one instance, Computershare Property Solutions is offering lenders a hybrid type of appraisal in which the valuator never visits the property. Instead, a licensed realty broker or home inspector gives the house a look-see, takes pictures and reports findings to a desk-bound, state licensed appraiser, who uses that information and an automated valuation system to come up with a number.

This type of bifurcated system has been in use for some time by lenders making home equity loans, but it is new to financing used to buy a house, says CPS President James Smith. And he thinks it will be successful because it addresses the lack of experienced appraisers, the high cost of appraisals and the long lead-time between doing the work and handing in a complete report.

“Brokers and inspectors know the property,” so they can present an accurate picture of its condition, Smith says. And while appraisers never see the property, they “can do more work and get more done” by staying glued to their computers.

“At the end of the day,” the finished, hybrid product is “still an appraisal,” he adds -- one that can be turned around in four or five days, as opposed to several weeks for a traditional valuation. And at a much lower cost: $145 as opposed to several hundred dollars.

Meanwhile, HomeBase from Valuation Partners is a link that provides everyone in the process -- the buyer, seller, realty agent, appraiser and lender -- a single, central point of contact so they can remain informed 24/7.

For the seller, it sets the appointment and provides all the pertinent information about the estimator, including a photo, automobile information and appraisal license number. And for both seller and buyer, an educational component informs them about what to expect when the appraiser shows up.

CEO William Fall expects the product to help speed up the long, drawn-out valuation process. “With the seller’s and appraiser’s schedules being what they are, it can be difficult to set up appointments,” says Fall. “But when you know when the appraiser will be there, you can say with almost absolute certainty when his report will be turned in.”

Houses sold faster last year than they ever have, according to Zillow.

Median time on the market, from listing to closing, was just 81 days. But June sales occurred quicker still: in a mere 73 days.

Since it often takes 30 days to get to the settlement table from the day a contract is signed, that means houses sold in roughly 51 days last year, or less than two full months. Of course, some listings languish for months, but others sell within a few days.

Many people move from one house to another to enroll their children in better schools. But that often means paying more for their new digs.

Consider two similar houses: They’re just two miles apart, and in the same Cincinnati neighborhood, but each is located in a different school district. One is valued at $137 per square foot; the other, $217, according to a white paper by Collateral Analytics, a firm that develops analytical tools to support banks and investors.

That’s a difference of 58 percent. The biggest driver, the company’s analysis found, is the quality of education at the schools the residents of those houses would attend.

In Cincinnati, the part of town covered in the report has two high schools. One earns an 8 out of 10 from greatschools.org, and a 10 for college readiness. The other, just a couple miles away in another school district, gets an overall rating of 3, and a 3 for college readiness.

Differences like this can sometimes be magnified at the grade-school level. In Mission Viejo, California, the other locale covered in the study, researchers found a whopping $300,000 spread among nine different elementary schools.

Another report, this one from the National Bureau of Economic Research, seems to solidify Collateral Analytics’ numbers. That report, “Using Market Valuation to Assess Public School Spending,” found that communities’ investment in their schools has a direct impact on property values.

For every additional dollar spent in state aid per pupil, it said, house values jump by about $20.

“A better education means a certain type of school,” says Tom O’Grady of Pro Teck Valuation Services, an appraisal management company. “But a certain type of school may end up meaning a pricier home.”

As too many homeowners have learned after a major loss, obtaining a full and fair settlement from their insurance companies isn’t a given.

Too many insurers tend to lowball their damage estimates, hoping the insured will accept their offers and go away. The job of their adjusters is to pay out as little as possible; after all, these are money-making businesses, and the less they pay, the more profitable they are.

Consequently, you must take every precaution to protect yourself and make sure you receive what you deserve. “Be vigilant,” says J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and a former federal insurance administrator who ran the National Flood Insurance Program. “You paid your premiums and you are entitled to coverage.”

Hunter admits not all insurance companies handle claims poorly, so “go into the claims process with an open mind. (But) be ready to stand up for yourself and your family, or you run the risk of being shortchanged.”

Every time there’s a national disaster, such as hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the CFA sends out a bulletin outlining the steps consumers should take to ensure they obtain fair payment for their losses. You can go to the CFA website (consumerfed.org) to obtain the latest one, dated September 2017.

Here’s a synopsis of the latest tips:

-- File your claim promptly. Insurers tend to handle them on a first-come, first-served basis.

-- Obtain and save your claim number. The quickest way for claims departments to find your file is with this all-important number.

-- When an adjuster arrives to survey your damages, find out if he’s an employee of your insurer. If he’s not, he’s an independent adjuster hired as a contractor by your insurer. So find out if he’s authorized to make claim decisions and payments on behalf of your insurer. Also ask for the name of the in-house company adjuster to whom he is sending your information.

-- Many insurance companies have repair programs in which they offer to send out one of their approved contractors to estimate your damage and repair it. Nothing wrong there, but you are under no obligation to use them. You are free to obtain your own estimates, perhaps from contractors you have used in the past and are satisfied with.

-- Keep good records, including the date, time, name and a brief description of every exchange you have with your insurer. If an adjuster misses an appointment, make a note. If possible, take your own photos of your damage. And keep receipts when you pay out-of-pocket for emergency repairs -- and alternate living arrangements, if the house is uninhabitable.

-- If your claim is denied, demand that the company identify the language in your policy that serves as the basis for its decision for offering you so little, CFA’s Hunter advises. “This approach has several benefits,” he says. The insurer may be right and you may not know it, so by pinpointing the appropriate language, you can make your own determination.

-- The company may have slipped new limitations into your policy without adequately notifying you. For example, many insurers have added percentage deductibles, which shift a greater share of the loss onto you, but some have not have given customers the option to select the level of coverage. If that’s your situation, it’s time to consult an attorney.

-- Be aware of other new limits that may have been added recently. One such limit is a ceiling on replacement-cost payments that says insurers no longer cover the additional costs involved in bringing a damaged house up to current building codes.

-- Once an insurer gives you the reasons for its actions, it cannot produce new reasons later. “You have them locked in, which is an important protection,” says Hunter.

-- If you review your policy and find that, under a reasonable reading, you think you’re entitled to the full amount of your claim, “you will likely win if you go to court,” says Hunter. “Courts consistently rule that if an insurance policy is ambiguous, the reasonable expectation of the insured party will prevail since the consumer played no part in writing the language.”

If you believe the insurer’s offer is too low, complain to more senior staff. Hunter suggests going to the executive in charge of consumer affairs, who is paid to keep policy-holders happy. Refer to the records you’ve kept since the claims process began.

“The more serious the insurance company sees that you are in documenting how you were treated, the more likely they will make a more reasonable offer,” says Hunter.

Also, complain to your state insurance department. Every state will seek a response to your beef from your carrier. And some states will actually intervene on your behalf.

According to Hunter, “if your treatment by your insurer was particularly bad, courts in many states will allow additional compensation if the company acted in bad faith.”

Other choices: Contact a lawyer or a public adjuster (PA), an adjuster who works on behalf of consumers, as opposed to insurers. Many PAs once worked for insurers, and know the world of policies and coverage inside and out.

One of the main reasons for the lack of homes for sale is that people don’t want to give up their low-interest-rate mortgages. Another reason for the low inventory: Folks are leery about being able to find a suitable place to replace the one they have now.

Buyers can’t do anything about loan rates, which at this writing were at their highest point in seven years -- but still reasonably priced at less than 5 percent. But there are ways to make would-be sellers more comfortable about finding another house.

They’re called seller contingencies, a catch-all phrase that covers any number of ways to allow owners a sensible amount of time to move on. If the seller is unsuccessful, the contract becomes null and void and the buyer has to continue their own search.

One contingency that has become more popular of late allows the seller to remain in the house for 30, 60 or even 90 days while shopping for a new place. Renee Cox, broker-owner of Acorn Real Estate Professionals in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a market she says is “going gangbusters,” has successfully used this clause several times.

Typically, Cox says, sellers are allowed 30 to 60 days to shop. But if this is the house you really want, she adds, you can always give the seller more time.

The drawback to such a tactic is that the buyers don’t really know if they have a deal or not. It’s the reverse of a sale that is contingent on the buyers selling their house in order for the deal to proceed. In that case, the seller doesn’t have a strong contract, either.

Also, buyers may not want to tie themselves and their money up for long periods of time. With so few houses for sale, they may miss out on other top-of-the-line places that come on the market while they’re waiting -- and waiting, and waiting.

Other issues pop up, too. Lenders may not be willing to work with buyers whose contracts are so iffy. For example, they may not want to lock in the interest rate for longer periods, especially in a rising-rate environment such as this. Or maybe they’ll demand a somewhat higher interest rate.

“What’s good for the seller is usually bad for the buyer,” says David Gibson, an agent with Long and Foster Real Estate in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Still, if this is the place you absolutely, positively have to have, it’s worth a try. You just have to be patient. And you might even be able to negotiate a somewhat lower price by being extra patient.

Bruce Ailion of RE/MAX Town and Country in Atlanta, another hot market, says this contingency is a lot like a short sale in which the buyer is betting the deal will be cleared by the seller’s lender. And it can be used in all kinds of situations.

In one deal Ailion worked on recently, the buyer was going to tear down the house and build a more modern one. “The buyer didn’t have to get into the house right away,” he says, “so he gave the seller 90 days.”

Another way to give sellers time to find new digs is to rent the house back to them at a reasonable fee, perhaps just enough to cover your mortgage on the place. Gibson finds this option far more attractive, explaining that at least “the buyer knows he bought the house that he wants.”

David Burke, who hangs his shingle with Evers and Co. in Washington, D.C., likes this option, too. In a seller’s market like this, he says, buyers “really have to be creative.” To persuade reluctant sellers to move on -- “to sweeten the deal” -- Burke suggests allowing them to stay free of charge for two or three months while they search for another house, or offering to pay their mortgage for a couple of months while they house-hunt. And if it takes an extra 30 days, then offer to pay their loan for the extra time.

With this kind of contingency, he says, “I’ve never had a deal go south.”

Of course, in this market, the absolute best way for a seller to be certain they find suitable housing elsewhere is to buy first, then sell the current place. With so few houses up for grabs -- a seven-month supply is normal, but the current supply is under four -- sellers shouldn’t have much trouble getting top dollar.

Absent that, though, it may take some prodding to get a potential seller off the sidelines. One seller contingency or another may do the trick.