What to do when you KNOW something is wrong

[Otis Key]

Scary when I consider the few appraisers from here that are sending me these situations, the fast growing number of them that are coming in to me, and the amount that must be out there that nobody is reporting.

If my last monthly meeting had any impact upon those people, I think there will be more joining us here on the AF and then maybe adding to it - I know that I scared the heck out of them at the last meeting - it went into double time of normal.

 

[hastalavista]

Pam,

Will you have a website soon that I can reference to my clients?
(sorry if you posted it already; I missed it!)

If so, can I suggest you make it a "sticky" and post/lock it so its available for easy access/reference?

Thanks!

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

My “Mission Statement::

When I started asking for the EVIDENCE of the pressures we appraisers are subject to on a daily basis, it was because all my loud mouthed activism was constantly being met with, “Where’s the evidence. We can’t do anything without the evidence.” Now, I’m not going to get very far with this if the only evidence I ever have is just what comes in to me. So, back in June ’06 I started this thread asking all of you to send me the evidence.

As the amount of evidence you all are sending to me grew and it became very evident that what I was reporting was working to help all, my time spent doing this grew also. About 2-3 months ago I starting trying to find a way for me to do this full time, which meant I would need some sort of income. Ray Miller posted a thread asking forumites to help me out and that has been very much appreciated! Nobody that’s not independently wealthy can keep going doing anything without an income source and I really don’t want to be a forum charity case! Now, some forumites have gotten together with me and we’ve been talking over ways to make this work and produce enough income to cover expenses with something for me to live on. I don’t need much, don’t need or want an expensive Ocean front estate or Hummer. Just enough to keep me out of the slums and allow me some pleasures is good enough.

Maybe I’m a Pollyanna; maybe I’m a bit masochistic. I think of myself as more altruistic and I certainly don’t want to commit suicide doing this. I think I caught on that some think I’m in this for ‘glory’. Guess only time will tell. Anyway, I tend to believe that the cycle of mankind’s struggle of good vs evil is at about the zenith of the evil right now and I believe in fighting that evil. I believe that good MUST win and the good people MUST fight evil together. (Please note that I’m not bringing any religion into this; it doesn’t belong here.) This doesn’t mean I don’t know that what I’m doing will probably bring the wrath of many powers that be down on me. Shoot, it already has! I STILL believe there are enough truly honest and good people in this world to overcome the evil and greed that currently have overtaken the real estate industry. Anyway, I believe in what I’m doing and hope it can do the appraisal ‘profession’ the good that I expect of it.

From this, I and a few other forumites have been working on putting together a website database of the evidence. To provide the evidence as they all have been telling me is necessary to do anything about it - and to prove this isn’t all about appraisers being dishonest and to blame for it all. We now have a long way to go to clean out the real estate appraisal business. I believe, with the evidence of where the pressure is coming from that put the ‘Skippy’ appraisers at the top of the food chain, that eventually the ethical appraisers will rise to prominence as ‘Skippy’ and their masters are slowly taken out of this game. My ultimate goal is to be able to direct the regulators, lenders, investors, mortgage fraud investigators, etc. to the Forensic Appraisers database that is building. To point out the real $$$ benefits of using the competent and honest appraisers and paying a decent fee for QUALITY appraisals.

Participate or not.
It’s YOUR choice as I’m not about to tell anybody they have to participate or else….
Or degrade anyone that doesn’t want to participate.

This is FREE to all appraisers that want to participate.
Donations are gratefully accepted and I hope to pay them all back if this works like I believe it will.

I’ll post the website address as soon as we get it going. Should be very soon.

 

[MS Rebel]

For all of those that missed Ray's post ... here's the link:

http://appraisersforum.com/improving-profession/110905-not-meeting-baptist-but-i-5.html

We can help make a difference.

 

[Dana Beckmann]

I would love to help, BUT, my office rejects any and all request for a "Pencil Search" as soon as they are recieved with no research done.

 

[Annemieke Roell]

I would love to help, BUT, my office rejects any and all request for a "Pencil Search" as soon as they are recieved with no research done.

Great! So send the requests and addresses to Pam for her database.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

This is working so very well, that the website to post your reports and upload the evidence is almost ready.

www.MortgageFraudWatchList.org

The watch list will be subscription access only, NOT public.

There are people on my email list from QC and fraud depts of the GSEs and many national lenders, some regulators for the Feds and States, mortgage fraud investigation firms, etc.

Some of the feedback I've received from some on my email list is that what is being sent in is working exceptionally well for them - they are finding problem loans with this target auditing. They are able to use the order forms and emails as evidence to help go forward with investigations.

A person with one of the GSEs is now calling mortgage brokers who's 'orders' insist on a comp check first and/or includes verbiage that makes that order basically illegal for any appraiser to accept and issuing at least verbal 'cease and desist' orders to them; admonishing them about making sure they are selecting appraiser and ordering appraisal in compliance with USPAP!!!

I have been able to refer appraisal orders for a few that have sent reports to me and will be building on this.

EVERY suspicious activity you report through me is worth it!!!!!

Report those 'bad' emails and faxes!!!
Do everything you can think of to get everything in writing!!!

Report the sales you find as you're checking for comps where the sale appears to be 'wrong'; cash back deals, sales above the last listed price, builder / developer concession offers and incentives, highly inflated flips.... whenever you see something that you know just isn't 'right'.

The investors holding these loans rarely ever find the bad ones until it goes into default. We, the competent and honest appraisers CAN help stop this madness, at the point of the order and prior to funding. We can help by providing the addresses of sales where the sale price was obviously raised. We can help take out 'skippy' because 'skippy' will be showing up in too many of these loans to ignore anymore.

This is working, and working very well. We can prove our worth now.
Please send everything you find, everything 'wrong' that you receive, to me.

For now, you can use either email address:

pec514 @ yahoo. com (remove the spaces)

or

Report @ MortgageFraudWatchList .org (remove the spaces)

If you need to fax it, send it to: 321-281-4734

Very soon, you will be able to post (and upload the evidence) your reports directly through the website. Until then, please send them ALL to me any way you can.

Please leave EVERYTHING on those orders and emails, etc. EXCEPT YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION. All of these reports will be kept confidential for the one reporting. I need your information, but only to be able to refer a possible review appraisal order and/or to ask a question or two of you to help clarify the issue. Sometimes, you might be asked, through me only, if you are willing to talk to someone else about it, but the decision to do so is strictly yours. I will never provide your name as the 'reporter' to anybody else.

Thank you so very much to all who have already participated! You have helped prove we CAN make a difference!!!

 

[JSmith43]

I like the subscription idea.

How about a TV series with some sort of twist on America's Most Wanted formula, or Dog the Bounty Hunter?

Yes, I am serious. Call an agent or a writer. This could be a reality based soap opera of sorts. Plenty of people will watch the bad guys go down, as long as the case is serious and not too USPAPPy technical.

 

[xm39hnu]

How about a TV series with some sort of twist on America's Most Wanted formula, or Dog the Bounty Hunter?

Yes, I am serious. Call an agent or a writer. This could be a reality based soap opera of sorts. Plenty of people will watch the bad guys go down, as long as the case is serious and not too USPAPPy technical.

You could get Tom Foster to write it.

 

[IntegrityAppraisalinc]

Incompetent UWs

I think there was a movie about arresting the criminals before the crime actually happened. Something about predicting the future.

Accomplished facts will bury the system. My suggestion is that it is better in the overall scheme of things to go for the low hanging fruit.

Additionally, I have misgivings about a so called system that tries to turn us into anything that remotely resembles brown shirted spies.

Point to the obvious, yes, but let the professionals sort it out, IMO.

-I agree, let them educated themselves. Of course, there is nothing more that I'd like to see than a stop to the madness of value inflation and those responsible for it, however, I question the competency of lender's UWs' in sorting out the chaos. I have turned down SO many appraisal assignments over the years that have obvious overblown estimated values. But then where do these transactions go?? To Slappy's Appraisal service that doesn’t bat-an-eye at potential fraud, even though it’s obvious to anyone, just by simply reading a report, that the value is not justified. These reports will float throw, meanwhile UWs' will call-out the most idiotic points such as "cost-to-cure painting a section of millwork or trim" (had it happen recently) as well as so many other ridiculous claims. I agree that things need to change, but the changes need to be emphasized more constructively as what is so obvious to you and I isn’t so to some UW's (apparently) and the result is that we all could be thrown under the bus. I think sending out umpteen numerous PDF collections of research is a blind way pointing out the flaws in the system. We need more petition signing and support from our industry organizations and committees! :new_2gunsfiring_v1: