Don’t blame the real estate appraiser if it turns out that house you’re trying to sell or buy isn’t worth what you thought it was. That was the message today from the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers.

Real estate agents, homebuilders and others have tried to blame the market’s distressed condition on appraisers, saying that real estate appraisers are at fault for producing opinions of value that don’t match a home’s listing, contract or sales price, delaying a recovery in the housing market. Appraisal Institute President Sara W. Stephens, MAI, called that accusation “nonsense.”