To ensure that the buyer (and lender) is paying a fair amount for the home, buyers insert an appraisal contingency, which allows the buyer the ability to walk away from the purchase without penalty if the appraisal returns a value lower than a set value (usually the purchase price). Aside from walking away, the buyer can renegotiate for a lower price with the seller, request that their lender make an exception, and approve their loan as if the property had appraised to match the purchase price or make up the difference between the purchase price and appraised value via their own funds. In most cases, if the buyer makes use of the appraisal contingency to walk away, they are likely to receive a complete refund of their earnest money. However, buyers must be cautious and include this in the contract to avoid problems at a later stage.