Home appraisals are taking longer to complete and costing more, and that is vexing home buyers, mortgage borrowers, real estate agents and loan officers along the northern Front Range. “As the Denver real estate market has roared back, we’ve been met with a shortage of appraisers to keep up with the record number of homes that are going under contract and being sold each month,” said Anthony Real, chairman of the market trends committee at the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. Rael’s research shows that the cost to appraise a standard home in metro Denver, which ran around $350 a few years back, is now costing closer to $600 and looks headed on its way to $800.