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One of the means for homeowners to refinance their homes if they do not have enough equity for a conventional loans is the FHA loan.  However there is a catch to this.  If your loan to value ratio is over 85% it will mean that two appraisals will be required by two different FHA approved certified residential appraisers.  For many people this can be pretty costly, and many will not be able to afford this.  I just was asked to do a drive-by for one home that had been appraised, but the other will need to be a full interior.  A drive-by is fairly cheap when all the data from the previous appraisal is available.  However a full interior means a fee of anywhere between $350 to $375.  That means that a homeowner could have $700 to $750 invested in appraisals.  Some companies may eat the cost of the second appraisal if the first appraisal comes in at a particular value, but there is always the risk that the second opinion of value is different.  I'm also not sure how underwriters will evaluate the differences in appraisals.  Appraising is not an exact science, and it is very easy for two appraisers to have a difference of opinion of 5 to 10 percent; depending upon how good the comparables are.  So if I come in at 150,000 and the first appraiser came in at 160,000, it doesn't mean that one is wrong and the other is right.  It simply means the two appraisers looked at the property just a bit differently.  It is clearly within the margin of error. 

Personally I believe a desktop review would be better, or a field review if necessary.  I think doing two appraisals requires too much time and costs the consumer too much money; although it helps my bottom line.  The one drive by appraisal I did could have easily been a desktop review.  I'll see on the full interior appraisal.