Appraisal Review Specialist

About the role

The Appraisal Review Specialist at Zillow Home Loans (ZHL) is a key member of a new India-based collateral risk team focused on driving both loan quality and operational efficiency. This role is responsible for reviewing residential real estate appraisal reports for U.S. conventional mortgages and, over time, may support FHA appraisal reviews as well. You will provide a collateral risk opinion that supports sound underwriting decisions, ensures alignment with agency/investor guidelines, and helps streamline our end‑to‑end mortgage operations. This team sits tangential to underwriting and partners closely with processing, helping to reduce defects, rework, and cycle time while protecting ZHL from collateral risk. Zillow Group is a strategic, mission-driven organization focused on delivering exceptional experiences and measurable outcomes. Our work spans cross-functional partnership, scalable programs and operational excellence in support of Zillow's mission. We bring deep experience working across diverse teams in a dynamic, high-growth environment, balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution to drive meaningful business impact. We are seeking an experienced professional to support our workforce expansion in India. Collateral risk & appraisal review ● Review residential appraisal reports for conventional and FHA loans, ensuring they meet ZHL standards and applicable investor/agency guidelines. ● Assess collateral risk by analyzing subject property characteristics, market conditions, comparable selection, adjustments, reconciliation of value, and property photos. ● Identify appraisal deficiencies, inconsistencies, or red flags (e.g., market anomalies, condition/quality mismatches, unsupported adjustments, data errors). ● Recommend appropriate actions, including appraisal clearance, revision requests, desk reviews, and escalations, to protect ZHL from collateral-related loss. Quality, efficiency, and risk management ● Apply a defect-prevention mindset, focusing on clear, actionable feedback that reduces rework from appraisers and downstream teams. ● Balance quality and speed, consistently meeting or exceeding SLA expectations for turn times and review volume without compromising risk standards. ● Support implementation of appraisal review tools, checklists, job aids, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that drive consistency across the team. Cross-functional collaboration ● Partner closely with processing to surface collateral-related conditions and resolve issues quickly. ● Work tangentially with underwriting to help structure effective appraisal revision requests, escalation paths, and edge-case interpretations. ● Communicate clearly in writing and in meetings, documenting review outcomes, rationale, and recommendations in a way that's easy for non‑appraisal experts to understand. Continuous improvement in a new team ● Share recurring defect patterns and risk themes with leadership to drive process, training, and policy updates. ● Contribute to a learning-oriented, collaborative culture, including participation in calibration sessions, quality huddles, and knowledge sharing within the team. This role has been categorized as an Office position. "Office" employees regularly work at the Zillow India office for approximately 80 to 100 percent of their time each month. Employees must live within a reasonable commuting distance of the office. Zillow has not defined a reasonable distance, and expects employees will use judgment in determining this for themselves and understand the implications re: time commitment and cost of daily commute. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role are eligible for incentive compensation subject to applicable laws and relevant Zillow policies. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location.