California

[Marcia Langley]

Funny...I live in California and these guy's tell me the same story. And you won't believe this, but I have even taken calls from brokers in other states, including yours, that make the same claim about appraisers in their areas. I guess that means a bunch of those licensed California appraisers have escaped and are now practicing around the country. OMG! Who'da thunk it???? A conspiracy is all I can think...

Exactly. In fact, the last one to use that tired old line on me was in Florida.

This is a universal tactic of MBs and has been for a very long time. Only foolish appraisers fall for it.

 

[Em Tee]

Exactly. In fact, the last one to use that tired old line on me was in Florida.

This is a universal tactic of MBs and has been for a very long time. Only foolish appraisers fall for it.

Yeah, it's in the MB handbook under the chapter titled "All my appraisers do it"!!!

 

[Bama Bayou]

I just tell them I'm not smart enough to value the property from my desk. Then I tell them my fee and that it is COD at the door.

They can take it or leave it.

90% hang up and stop waisting my time. The other 10% argue with me and I hang up.

 

[Mary Tiernan]

I think I would have responded that that may have been the case in the past where some rogue mortgage brokers were able to hoodwink unsuspecting appraisers into business that way, but with the collapse of the financial markets and the FBI investigating fraud, honest appraisers have begun to take back the markets and the dishonest loan officers and their appraiser followers will soon be out of business and you worked too hard to earn this license and you will obey the laws of the state.

Scare the bejeebies out of them, then explain how you do business and maybe, just maybe, you'll get an order.

 

[Elliott]

Here's a response I got when I was emailed a request for an "Opinion."

For the record I did not request that you do a “comp check”. I did not ask for you to provide me with ANY indication of value. I simply asked you to let me know what has sold recently with similar attributes to the subject. This is public information and can be gathered from the multiple (or other such search engine). Because I do not subscribe to those services, gathering that information is a bit more challenging.

Thank you for your time.

 

[SoCal Appraiser]

Just tell him you don't do value checks but you know of one appraisal firm that will be more than happy to help him. Their number: (916) 552-9000. Name - OREA.

 

[c w d]

Robert, write that guy back. Ask him this: If your job was solely to tell the customer whether they could or could not get a loan, if they had to go through you before they could move on to a LO officer who would process their app and get them the loan, and you had to take all their information, do some research that could take from 5 minutes to 2 hours or more, would you do it for free knowing most of the time you're going to tell the customer no and not get paid for it because, why would they pay you if they're not going to get a loan? (Yes, I know it's a run on sentence. Cut me some slack, it's in the context of a phone conversation)

 

[Bama Bayou]

First Emal: In LA before an appraisal job is given out. A lookup value is done by an appraisaer to see if the property is not upside down. In Florida it could be different but I am not asking you to do anything illegial just do a value check before I send an appraisal request. IF the proerty is upside down or lost the value then I might need an FHA appraisal to do a secure loan. OK! Not asking you to do anything that is not normal here in California."

Here's a response I got when I was emailed a request for an "Opinion."

For the record I did not request that you do a “comp check”. I did not ask for you to provide me with ANY indication of value. I simply asked you to let me know what has sold recently with similar attributes to the subject. This is public information and can be gathered from the multiple (or other such search engine). Because I do not subscribe to those services, gathering that information is a bit more challenging.

Thank you for your time.

The emails don't jive with each other. The first email asks you to provide a value, which we all know is an appraisal no matter if you call it a lookup, value check, comp check, bleu cheese ice cream or whatever.

The second email claims he or she was was just asking for comparable data without any indication of value. This is a CYA email.

At least they thanked you for your time which they don't want to pay for.

 

[Hamlet]

Why don’t they understand that they are asking for an appraisal for free? What is so hard to understand about that concept? Why are appraisers the only group expected (and in some cases dumb enough) to work for free?

 

[Elliott]

Bama,
I agree it was a CYA. I read the 'thank you' as a f u, especially since
I didn't get the reverse mortgage request, must have gone to a FHA
appraiser that likes to supply specific comparable sales. Northing
wrong with appraisal shopping, virtually every association that has
anything to do with influencing appraisals (including TAF & AI) agree with
that position, or those opposed to the HVCC.