When the Client Wants a Number Before You Even Start

I picked up a referral recently for a divorce appraisal. Right away, I could tell this one was going to be… interesting.

The guy gets on the phone and lets me know he’s been in real estate for years. Investor. Knows comps. Knows the process. You’ve heard that intro before. Usually means one of two things: either this will be a smooth conversation… or it won’t be.

In this case, it didn’t take long.

He tells me he needs an appraisal for a divorce. Pretty standard. Then he pivots and says, “Before we do that, I want you to do a pencil search. There are sales between $2.5 and $3.5 million. I want to be above $3 million.”

And just like that, we’re off the rails.

I told him straight up, that’s not how this works. Not even a little. He doubles down and says he’s done it before, paid appraisers a few hundred bucks just to “see if they can hit a number.” That might have flown somewhere, sometime, with someone. But not here.

Especially not on a divorce assignment that could end up in court.

I explained it to him as clearly as possible. I don’t do pencil searches. I don’t take assignments with a target value. And I’m definitely not putting my name on something that needs to be defended in a legal setting if it’s built on a predetermined result.

The reality is simple. The sales are the sales. I analyze the property. I compare it to the market. If the value supports what you want, great. If it doesn’t, that’s the answer. There’s no “working it” to land on a number that makes one side happy.

At one point, I just said what we were both thinking. “Sounds like she’s buying you out, so you want the number as high as possible.” He didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, I do.”

And honestly, I respect the honesty. That’s his motivation. No issue there. But my job isn’t to match his motivation. My job is to produce a credible, supportable appraisal. That’s it.

That’s the part a lot of people don’t understand about non-lender work, especially in situations like divorce, estate, or litigation. These aren’t “soft” assignments. If anything, they require more backbone. You’re not just turning in a report. You may have to defend it. Every comp, every adjustment, every line.

And if you cave early in the process because someone is pushy or confident or claims they “know the market,” you’re setting yourself up for a much bigger problem later.

These situations come up more often than you’d think. Confident clients. Aggressive clients. Clients with a number already in their head before you even look at the property. The key is knowing how to handle it without getting rattled or bending your process.

Stay calm. Be direct. Set expectations early. And don’t take assignments that are clearly headed in the wrong direction.

Because once you agree to “try to hit a number,” you’ve already lost control of the assignment.

If you want to get better at handling situations like this and learn how to grow your non-lender business the right way, you’re not alone.

Join the Appraiser Referral Network. We’ve got close to 1,600 appraisers sharing real-world experience, passing referrals, and helping each other navigate assignments just like this.

If you’re serious about building out non-lender work, this is where it happens.

Check it out at referappraisals.com.