Vacant or Tenant-occupied?

[juck224]

I completed a refinance for a single family home. It was fairly straight forward and I was accompanied by the owner during it. It was just remodeled and he told me a tenant would be moving in shortly, however it was vacant (no personal belongings, empty closets, etc) when I inspected it. I marked the occupancy box as vacant. I then received a very angry three way phone call from the owner calling me a liar and other names due to me marking the box as vacant, and the lender is now asking I market the box as tenant occupied while also providing a signed lease showing it was leased as of the effective date. This is a good client so I’d like to make this easy if possible. Can I reasonably chance the box to tenant occupied without a potentially misleading report? Or am I going to have to leave this as it is. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Fernando]

Something fishy is happening and you're drag into it.

 

[juck224]

Something fishy is happening and you're drag into it.

This is what I thought. Very weird and unprofessionally handled by all. Even got roped into a three way phone call with the borrower and LO yelling at me before I could ask who was calling and what was happening and explained any communication must be sent by the lender, my client, to me directly via a revision. Very odd stuff and I’m not answering until I can make sure I’m 100% in the clear. And if I DO change this, definitely going to add CYA statements explains EXACTLY the situation in the report. Hmm

 

[Fernando]

I thought I heard it all. Very creative.
Did client forewarn you of the circumstances of the vacant unit?
If legitimate, it could be argued that it's tenant occupied. And you could comment in BIG BOLD LETTERS that it's vacant at time you saw property.
Then you can have argument that it's vacant and put comment in BIG BOLD LETTERS that owner/client have lease contract starting effective date.
And I would put another BIG BOLD comment again in report.
I be interested if another more knowledgeable Fannie forumite would have a definite answer in what to do.
And I would be interested if new UAD 3.6 would address this issue. If not, new UAD 3.6 is useless.

 

[Surf Cat]

No.... even at the risk of losing your client. You should not change it to tenant occupied unless that was actually true as of the effective date. Based on your description, it sounds as if you have evidence with your inspection photos showing the property empty, devoid of furniture, empty closets, kitchen with nothing on counters Etc.

Marking a vacant property as tenant occupied when you observed it vacant would create a misleading report.

Keep property marked as vacant. Add clarification within the report that as of the effective date, property was vacant however, a lease agreement was signed on XX date, with a move in date of XX. Provide a copy of the signed lease within the report.

That's the best you can do. That is, unless they want you to reinspect when the tenant is in..... that's a new report though, with a new effective date.

 

[Fernando]

No.... even at the risk of losing your client. You should not change it to tenant occupied unless that was actually true as of the effective date. Based on your description, it sounds as if you have evidence with your inspection photos showing the property empty, devoid of furniture, empty closets, kitchen with nothing on counters Etc.

Marking a vacant property as tenant occupied when you observed it vacant would create a misleading report.

Keep property marked as vacant. Add clarification within the report that as of the effective date, property was vacant however, a lease agreement was signed on XX date, with a move in date of XX. Provide a copy of the signed lease within the report.

That's the best you can do. That is, unless they want you to reinspect when the tenant is in..... that's a new report though, with a new effective date.

That's the right way to do it but he doesn't want to lose the client.
What if there really were a signed lease and the tenant moving in later? It's his call.
I'd had partial vacant unit and owner said tenant living there. Who am I to judge how people live?

 

[Trihard]

They probably need the income from the property to qualify for the loan, thats why they yelled at you. Sounds like you are dealing with some pure scum. New effective date with a new appraisal assignment, with a new inspection showing photos of the tenants stuff in the photos. Charge the borrower a full fee again.

 

[Fernando]

When they later ask for the 1004D form, charge a premium.

 

[Surf Cat]

the lender is now asking I market the box as tenant occupied while also providing a signed lease showing it was leased as of the effective date.

Is this in writing in an email?

If the lender threatens to withhold payment, remove you from their panel, or blacklist you, tell the lender that you will have no choice but to file a formal complaint through the Appraiser Independence Requirements (AIR) portal or with your state's appraisal board.

Also, take explicit notes of a timeline of all conversations, email notifications of what went down.

 

[Trihard]

When they later ask for the 1004D form, charge a premium.

The lender or AMC wont pay him for a 1004D as the original appraisal, I assume is as-is. They will try to get him to go back out there for free under a revision. That is the standard scummy behavior of the lenders and AMC's in this industry.