A Requested Number Versus Market Value

[Julio E. Sune Jr. (FL)]

Just received a request for an appraisal assignment by fax* with the following instructions (requirements).

Property Address:-----
Owner/Borrower:-----
Property Access Phone Numbers:-----
Estimated Value: $1,400,000.
Please stop work and notify us immediately if the appraisal will NOT come in at $1,400,000.
*[Mortgage Company is from out of state]

A subsequent telephone conversation went like this:

JES- Regarding your request, do you know that the property is currently listed with an asking price of $1,150,000??

L/O- Huh??…..Well…. Just say it is not listed. I need an appraised value of $1.4M or the loan will not work.

JES- An appraisal communicates to the client an estimate of real property value which reflects all pertinent market evidence. You are not asking for an appraisal, you are requesting just a number which can be defined as word or symbol using in counting or in noting a total, in your case, to “fix” a number. An appraisal is NOT the number needed in a file in order to make a deal go through.

L/O- Can you hold a minute? I have to ask my boss.

(20+ second on hold)

L/O- Er.. well.. my boss told me to call someone else.

JES- Have a good HONEST day!!---(click)



:evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Mountain Man]

:roll: and he'll find someone too. :evil:

Hey, just for kicks. :idea: Keep the request handy, check in about a month to see if a security deed has been recorded. If it looks like it's near their "needed amount" go ahead and get a copy of the SD. Then wait, sooner or later...... I'd bet you'll get a review request.

 

[Francois K. Gregoire]

Julio,

You're not alone in getting this kind of request and instructions from the client. Be assured, many of these clients are dim enough to make the same requests of members of appraiser regulatory boards.

Also be assured, those same members of the appraiser regulatory boards have long memories and deal appropriately with the appraiser when the current and recent listings of the subject property are ignored in the appraisal and not mentioned in the appraisal report.

 

[Stone]

We should all remember conversations like this the next time we blame lawyers for the high price of insurance. (Something I find myself doing at times) If all appraisers responded the way Julio did, E&O rates would be very low.

 

[Ross (CO)]

Don't you just wish you had a tape recorder connected to that incoming call ? ! We increasingly place calls to certain types of businesses when the initial greeting to us states something to the effect of....."your call may be recorded for training purposes", etc. etc. Well, at least one gets the hint that telephone decorum is expected. No threats, no 4-letter words, be cordial. In some states, there just might be authoritative agencies who would want that sort of recorded "evidence" because word-of-mouth (on our accord) is simply not sufficient to prove that these coercions actually do happen in the real world. How much degradation has actually worked its way into the fabric of our work-a-day lives ? ......that we feel we need to forewarn the other calling parties that we are taking the liberty of recording this call......"for training purposes". One might think that seeing and reading these same coercions in-print (the many orders we have been faxed) would be sufficient to change the regular operational practices of some ! Even that variety of evidence is swept by many under the proverbial carpet. We are the last line of defense in situations like the one Julio faced. His peers are either with him.....or they are against him. I'll stand with Julio.

 

[Jeff Horton]

Don't you just wish you had a tape recorder connected to that incoming call ? !

I am going to have to read my help files but I think my answering machine software will record conversations. And in Alabama it is perfectly legal as long as one party on the phone knows that they are being recorded. Both don't have to know. I learned that during a law suit . Very handy to know.