A Ghost Of A Chance

[Otis Key]

According to the article, all the appraiser did was include a copy from the Village. Is that an error? Who knows? It's known. What if the first appraiser did not include what is "commonly known" (since it's published) and the buyer went through with the purchase and then "the ghost" returned? Who is going to get sued over that one?

Right or wrong. The "assistant business editor", as she is shown in the article, mixed apples, oranges, tree bark, coyotes and ink. She, intended or not, linked appraisers to NAR and NAR's rules by this article.

 

[Lobo Fan]

I just discovered that a family friend was considering buying that house and turning it into a B&B. The ghost story was disclosed by the Realtor and two neighbors. It seems that one neighbor makes a point of talking with any visitors to the house.

 

[Tawfik Ahdab]

CLedet Posted on Mar 17 2005, 11:13 AM
  QUOTE (Tawfik Ahdab @ Mar 17 2005, 09:51 AM)
Now it's mortgage fraud, and Anne Drago let herself be quoted.

Will someone notify Fannie and Freddie? 


Hyperbole doesn't help our cause. Considering ghosts don't exist, I wouldn't have mentioned the orange peal assults. But to be fair to the first appraiser, he didn't either. All he did was scan in a document that mentions, I'm sure among other pertinent information, the ghostie

The second appraisal misleads by ommission, and I hope unvoluntarily so.

This property has a history which would give many prospective buyers the creeps.

The result will be a limited pool of buyers. To keep this information from the ultimate client (who in reality is the secondary-market end-user) is very misleading.

I don't make market perceptions, but they should be acknowledged, and any adverse impact on marketability noted.

This property has been misrepresented in the appraisal and the loan knowingly sold to the lending institution by the informed mortgage broker who facilitated this fraud.

This is not hyperbole. These shenanigans typify the large percentage of crappy loans on GSE books or those sold by them.

 

[Lobo Fan]

It was the fraud part that piqued my interest. The ghost could have just as easily been a leaky roof, a failing septic system, or a toxic waste dump. The lender went out and got a second appraisal to overlook an inconvenient fact in the first report. The history of the ghost is a fact. The ghost himself might not be.

I will bet a lunch that the first appraiser was never paid.

Here is the e-mail I sent to the reporter: As an appraiser I greatly enjoyed your article about the haunted house in Corrales. I wonder if you knew that the story involved criminal fraud? Ordering a second appraisal to overlook a situation raised by the first appraisal is fraud and violates several laws and statutes. The second appraiser could be subject to disciplinary action.

Lenders coercing appraisers to overlook obvious defects is an all too common problem. Instead of a ghost the problem could have been a leaky roof, or a failing septic system, or a toxic waste dump.

An even worse version of the same problem is lenders pressuring appraisers to overvalue properties to make the loans easier. This is a disservice to the lender and also to the homeowner. The homeowner could easily end up with a loan principal larger than the market value of the home.

While your story is amusing, it touches upon a far larger problem. Bad lenders like Ameriquest were forced out of New Mexico by the predatory lending law. Yet there are still all too many lining up to take their place and engage in similar practices.

I will bet the first appraiser was never paid for what appears to be an honest and factual appraisal. The appraiser that got paid was the one that concealed inconvenient facts.

 

[Otis Key]

I still come back, which Tawfik hits on, to the fact that the first appraiser did not state it in the appraisal. He/she only include documents that were published by the Village, which subsequently becomes classified as public knowledge. The first one did nothing wrong; the second one probably, benefit of the doubt, didn't do anything wrong, but also do perform due dilligence by at least stopping by the Village offices, which they encourage. They are very helpful at that office - I was just there last week.

 

[Caterina Platt]

Including the article is 'full disclosure' on the part of the first appraiser. True. As the situation is presented, there is no stigma or material information mentioned other than an old tale which I believe has been kept alive for fame and intrigue purposes. Perhaps the way to have handled the situation would have been to include the article and make specific commentary as to the presence or lack of of market resistance, whichever may apply. Otherwise, I'm the one perpetuating the 'stigma and rumour' by implying through the inclusion of the article that it has an effect on value but making no commentary or professional conclusions to it's effect or lack of on the property.

 

[Tawfik Ahdab]

Caterina wrote:

[/QUOTE]I'm the one perpetuating the 'stigma and rumour' by implying through the inclusion of the article that it has an effect on value but making no commentary or professional conclusions to it's effect or lack of on the property.

I agree with this opinion, and even if there is no effect on value, there is definitely an impact on marketability. The proof is in the pudding. The lenders didn't want to do the loan.

 

[DB]

The lender may have been looking for a way out on this one ... did it say whether or not the second appraisal was for the same amount as the first one, or if it was for the same lender?

Personally, unless the "ghost" taps me on the shoulder and asks me for a business card to pick his teeth with, I wouldn't have reported it. Heresay from a locally written article and input from a nosy neighbor do not qualify as data for my report .... jmho ...

 

[Caterina Platt]

Originally posted by Chuck Mackley@Mar 17 2005, 10:26 AM
I just discovered that a family friend was considering buying that house and turning it into a B&B. The ghost story was disclosed by the Realtor and two neighbors. It seems that one neighbor makes a point of talking with any visitors to the house.

Whoops Chuck! I missed this post. Hmmm... wanna bet a couple neighbors really don't want a B & B near them? Just a thought.

At any rate, a haunted place to potentially turn into a B & B (assuming clear passage from P & Z), would likely have a positive impact on the value. Which may be another wrinkle althogether. What's the H & B U? Aha!

Oh, nevermind. There I go complicating things.

Back to work on my own screwed up, complex, underbid assignments.

 

[Ray Miller]

Anyone else been in a cow camp in an early april bilizard and look into the fire and see Old Sam McGee?? Or ride the high country over the Chuskas Range on a cold winter day, having your horse spook, you look up and see the like of Bridger, Freemont, Carson and Liver Eating Johnson crossing over the pass in front of you. Sure will make the shivers run up and down your spine.

Just ask Officer Jim Chee if there are chindi out and about.