the appraisal at $500 to tell everyone involved in the transaction what they already know. If you wanted the appraisal to actually validate things he wouldn't know the agreed upon price to begin with. But under the current system the appraiser is just copying someone else's homework.

A real third party assessment of the value of the property wouldn't be getting paid to validate an answer that already exists.

And how is a buyer supposed to know that the Appraiser isn't just appeasing the lender/real estate agent that sends him all of his deals. I would totally support the process if it was blind calculation without human influence and manipulation.