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An Appraisal Management Company (AMC) is an independent intermediary that lenders and brokerages use to order, assign, and quality-check property appraisals, keeping the lender and the appraiser at arm's length from each other.
Rather than a lender or broker choosing and contacting an appraiser directly, an AMC manages the whole assignment: selecting a qualified, licensed appraiser from its roster, coordinating scheduling, and reviewing the finished report for completeness before it reaches the underwriter. Several AMCs — Solidifi, Nationwide Appraisal Services, and FCT among them — operate across the Canadian broker channel.
The arm's-length structure exists to protect appraiser independence: neither the lender nor the brokerage arranging the deal is supposed to influence the appraised value. For brokers, that means the AMC — not the broker — controls which appraiser is assigned and when the report is delivered, which can affect a file's timeline heading into conditional approval.
Appraiser designations still matter: appraisers working through an AMC in Canada typically hold a professional designation, such as AACI or CRA, through the Appraisal Institute of Canada.
Preserves appraiser independence: using an AMC helps keep the lender and brokerage from directly influencing which appraiser is used or what value is reported, a safeguard regulators and lenders both rely on.
Fee usually borne by the borrower: the AMC's coordination fee is generally bundled into the appraisal cost the borrower pays, disclosed as part of the deal's closing costs.
Used alongside, not instead of, other valuation tools: lenders may still rely on an automated valuation model for lower-risk files, reserving a full AMC-managed appraisal for higher-value or higher-risk deals.
Definitions reflect Canadian federal and provincial rules as of the “Updated” date above. Not advice for any specific file.
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