Appraisal: Incompetence/Recourse

[Ray Ohler]

and is someone who is a "contract breacher" automatically a liar? I don't have to be a judge, in fact, if I was, I would have a large sheet of plastic in front of my bench, but that is another story and I doubt that I ever have to worry about becoming a judge. This can be "read into" all week long (probably will). As far as "contract breachers", throughout history there have been many millions of contract breachers, some of who went on to be famous (some GOOD famous, some BAD famous) . I stand by my ORIGINAL statement. IF and only IF the report contained as many errors/misrepresentations/mistakes or whatever someone who knows the particulars wants to label them, then it is a piece of garbage. WANT ME to read into it? Because I've seen hundreds of reports that were pure garbage and have a pretty good idea why they turned out that way. I have seen (by even some appraisers who I consider "friends") do a report two years ago in a somewhat distant subdivision, have a current report (not necessarily the same subject property) to do IN the subdivision, pull up the old report, change the address, lender, lot size, zoning (although I HAVE seen them "forget" to change those things), plug in new comps (sometimes neglecting to consider recent sales within the subdivision), leaving ALL the "neighborhood description, price range, etc. AND the "standard" site comments AND the "standard" no functional or external BS alone and fax or e-mail the report out within three hours of inspecting the property. All because their "contractural client" needed it before 5. Once again, I repeat, IF, IF, IF. Then again, maybe I lead a sheltered life.

 

[Dee Dee]

Austin,
As I read the original post, the lender rejected the appraisal, and although the homeowner gave their opinion that it should be redone to the lender, the post didn't say that they (the homeowner) agreed that the payment would be anything other than what was originally arranged between the lender and homeowner.
Nobody disagrees with your statement that the homeowner is responsible for paying for the appraisal, but if the lender himself rejected the original one and another appraisal was ordered by the lender that would ALSO be charged to the homeowner, then it should not be the homeowner's financial burden without consentual agreement before the second appraisal was done. PERIOD! If you were told that you had to pay for a bogus appraisal that even the lender rejected, wouldn't you be a bit upset?
I find it difficult to believe that you would think such a practice would be acceptable. This would leave the field wide open for lazy appraisers to do a half-a**ed job, get paid for it, then allow them to charge again for finally getting it right, all at the borrower's expense. Tell me ain't so!

 

[Austin]

I more brief reply and I will let it die. I just took a 90-minute trip to my office to meet two estate executors to deliver about 20 appraisals I did for the estate. I am talking about garbage appraisals now. I have a feeling Ray’s point of reference is residential form appraising and standards. These appraisals I did, and most of the work I do around here, is stuff that nobody else can or will do. These were old residential lots scattered around the city with boarded up dwellings in substandard areas that just all happened to be in the general vicinity of commercial tract assemblage with a range of zoning ranging from single family to multifamily to commercial. If some of you guys read my reports you would probably turn be into the state board. To appraise some of these properties that were unusually zoned or that could be rezoned, I took ten similar sales from similar areas ranging in size from 10,000 square feet of site area 2-acres. I did a simple regression analysis and calculated the trend line on the graph. I then used the trend line as a reference and came up with a value indication by reconciling location and other differences in relation to the trend line. I had to compare single family, multifamily, and commercially zoned lots that were in transition to commercial assembly. If I had done this work by some of the standards some of you residential guys use, this job would have cost the client $50,000, but the answer would not be any better. Assuming it could be done. You can’t sit in Kansas or Texas and pass judgment on my appraisal methods, because you don’t know or understand what I am faced with. That is the nature of the appraisal business, especially when the appraiser deals in troubled and exotic properties. A good analogy is a highly specialized doctor. The only people the doctor deals with are on their last leg and he is their only hope. If the patient has multiple problems that are related to each other, are you going to condemn the doctor for making the best of a bad situation? You do the best you can with what you have and when a prospective nursing student comes along and turns the doctor into the state medical board because he/she doesn’t approve of the doctor’s methods, then something is amiss. I rest my case.

 

[Ray Ohler]

I'll shut up. Evidently, no one reads precisely WHAT is written. They all try to relate things to their way of thinking. THAT is understandable. Human beings have a brain which is a lot like a computer hard disk. That is, over time it stores events based upon THAT persons experiences. When some "outside information" is "entered", the brain then dissects it and compares it to what is in the "database" (hint: local practices). As far as "form" reports, I've done just as many "narratives" than I have "forms". I've appraised more CRAP than any other appraiser I know in the local market. NOW, that said, I COMPLETELY understand where Austin is coming from. It's not the METHODS used that were the question (at least that is what I read). It was several physical misstatements that in my opinion rendered the appraisal GARBAGE. How the owner came in possession OR whether or not the owner HAD a right to possess it doesn't matter to me. Fact is, they (HE OR SHE) did. Don't anyone take the "brain" reference to mean that I think I am an EXPERT on the human mind. I AIN'T and don't profess to be. Austin, you think your APPRAISALS are garbage OR the SUBJECT PROPERTIES? Don't answer, I already KNOW the answer and no, I'm not calling your appraisals garbage, the PROPERTIES probably were. Sometimes you have to "twist" guidelines, sometimes you have to use "imperfect" market data, sometimes your number may not coincide with someone else's "opinion". THAT doesn't make the report garbage. Misstatements of fact DO.

 

[Dee Dee]

Ray,
You and I seem to read things the same way. :lol:

Dee Dee

 

[Terry Russell]

Thank you.

I learned quite a lot from the replies and posts from those of you who participated.
1) I should have paid for the first appraisal and walked away.
2) The first report should have been forwarded to the state board.
3) My original posts should have been more informative and better constructed for clarity.
4) And lastly, the first report was not professional work. If in viewing the report, I see a half-page photo captioned Comparable #4 3221 Saddle Mt. Rd. and there is no structure in the photograph and no reference to a comp with that address in the report, I have a strong tendency to question every single item submitted in the appraisal of a piece of property of which I am quite familar with. I live there. I did heavily scrutinize the report and it was riddled with errors.
A few posts argued that those type of infractions of fact are not significant.
I firmly believe they will prove to be quite significant. Just read back over the posts to this topic.

Oh and jtrotta if you are going to frequently use the word wether as spelled here, you may want to switch to whether. Unless, of course, you are refering a "wether" which is a castrated male goat.

And it WAS the quality of the report, which DOES carry weight in the analysis by the lender, and of course the final value does matter, but I am way too green to say how far one must bend to reach that number. Terry

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Terry,

Another 'Welcome Aboard' to you. Sounds like you will make a fine appraiser!

 

[Dee Dee]

atc,
Good for you!
I've always believed that a mark of good character is not necessarily that a person will argue forever that they are right, but when they are willing to admit, and correct themselves, when they've made mistakes.
Stay the course, work hard, and like Pam says, you will become a fine appraiser.
Hope we see more of you here in the future. Best of luck to you as you go through your schooling!
Have you found a mentor yet?
Feel free to pop in and ask any questions you have.

 

[jtrotta]

atc services;
thank you for your attention to detail (wether) from this casterated old goat 8O (ouchie) - as you will note, in my own simple way - you have passed the test for reading the numerous posts and caught what I've said-you should do very well in the begining - but the real test is when you get into it for a few years and have to produce numerous reports for various clients. It is the quest for perfection we all seek, but in some cases the 90 hour hurry routine can take a toll.

Wish you all the best and a succcessful recovery :lol: from posting here 8)

 

[Leon Stewart]

If the Appraiser/Appraisal is that bad, why is any Lender(s) using him/her? In most areas, if a person dosen't do the type of work that the Lender desire, they wont use him/her. You wouldn't have to report him/her to any State Board, he/she would be out of business from a lack of work. That is how the system should work.

leart3