Reassigning Appraisals and HVCC

[JULIEWEBB]

I just had an appraisal order cancelled with an AMC. It was for a purchase and I found out that the Realtors involved asked the Lender to have the AMC cancel it with me and to reassign it to someone else. How can this be legal? I understand the lender is not telling the AMC who to use, which would violate HVCC, but the loop hole is so big, they can assign it to someone else, if the Realtors don't like that appraiser, they will have it cancelled and so on until they get the appraiser they want. It's not the same thing as telling the Lender who to use, but the end result is the same, which is not going to fix the problems we have in our industry! My "Urgent" question is : Has anyone had any experience with this happening to them? If so, were you able to report it to someone and have it make any difference?

 

[Thomas Fiehler]

Does your State have any AMC laws? I would definitely raise hell with the Agent, Board of Realtors, appraisal board with the State, etc. I hope you have a paper trail so that it could easily be verified! Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[JULIEWEBB]

Thomas,
I called the State Boards office and the State investigator (the only one available to take my call at the time) said the seller (who probably has no idea what is going on) can dictate who goes onto their property and who does not. If they don't want me on the property, they don't have to use me. He went on to say that this choice by the seller could ruin the deal if the buyer's insist on using me, but there is no law in place that says Realtors can't influence the lenders. Now, does this sound right to you? The AMC finally got back to me regarding my inquiry of why the order got cancelled, they said it's because of "possible personal concerns" between me and the borrower. I don't know the borrower from Adam. I don't know who else to raise hell with that would get me anywhere. To my knowledge, we don't have any laws regarding AMC's at this time.

 

[Lakefront boater]

Never heard of such instances as of recently, pretty interesting story.
Usually the agents don't know who the appraiser is going to be untill you call their office
to set up an inspection, or get lock box code if needed to gain access to a property unless owner occupied.

 

[Financially Feasible]

If this is just an isolated incident, then I would just let it go if I were you. I agree that it stinks of things, I don't know... like collusion, steering, influencing, conspiracy (although I am no lawyer and I do not give legal advice)... but, again, I would just let it go.

Think of it this way, suppose you raise h3ll with whomever you can and you end up getting the order, if you use a comma instead of a semi-colon then someone involved with the deal will be likely to report you to the board. Something it's best to, as the old saying goes, "cut bait and walk away".

 

[JULIEWEBB]

Lakefront
I had called the Realtor yesterday and scheduled the inspection....so they knew it was me coming out.

 

[Lobo Fan]

The only way a Realtard can get a new appraiser is to pressure the lender. It is illegal for the lender to pressure the AMC. I have filed 2 ethics complaints with the Realtor board over this very thing. I run into it fairly often, especially in Santa Fe. They hear I am from Rio Rancho and they start twtching like they were a dog pooping prune pits. When I hand them a business card with a Bernalillo address I can almost see their heads explode. Prima donna realtors really make me cranky.

 

[JULIEWEBB]

Ed,
I totally see your point...I imagine they would go through my report with a fine toothed comb. Unfortunatly, I don't believe it's an isolated incident however, I have "let the others go" so, this is more or less the straw that broke the camels back. I'm just so tired of it and am ready to see heads roll. Unfortunatly, though I don't lie or do anything intentionally unethical with regards to my work, I'm only human and I'm sure someone would find some unintentional error in my work that would expose me to the fire. So that is a dilemma I will have to come to terms with. Thanks for the (non-legal) advice
Lobo Fan,
What kind of results, if any, did you see when you filed your complaints?

 

[Meandering]

Real Estate Board for an ethics complaint

State Board for a ethics complaint.

GSE for a HVCC complaint.

 

[incognito]

Hmmm,

I PREACH to the local Realtors that they have every right to (with their clients approval) insist that a well trained and geographically competent appraiser be selected to perform any appraisal. They regularly turn away the carpetbaggers and require a local experienced appraiser. Certainly they can't request by name, but the borrower is entitled to have someone who truly is qualified in all manner to perform a credible appraisal.

In addition, I am encouraging Realtors to include contract clauses which REQUIRE local (or truly geographically competent), qualified, experienced appraisers. The feedback I have gotten from the Realtors is very good.

Unfortunately, (sarcasm) if the AMC is one of the low fee high profit outfits, it may be hard for them to meet this requirement with their approved appraisers, and they actually have to go out and contract a local, experienced appraiser, at a real fee...

Imagine the concept!