The short answer is “it depends.” Some lenders have set policies against desktop appraisals, and some allow the loan officer to make the decision on whether a desktop appraisal is acceptable. For some banks, the decision may depend on whether it is a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan.
If you are representing the lending institution, you have to consider the possibilities for fraud. Sencer Appraisal has completed a number of site inspections and discovered that the borrower provided lists of equipment to use as collateral, where the lists included assets that did not actually exist, were not in the condition they claimed or had been sold months or years previously. (One borrower even gave his bank old pictures of sold equipment and “forgot” to mention that he didn’t own the assets anymore.) If a bank officer has seen the equipment, or the lending institution has a long-time customer with an established relationship, then it might have enough trust to rely on an appraisal without an inspection.