Appraisal Musings

[Jim McGrath]

Gentlemen ! , (and you know who you are) ...Larry and Jim, .....you have forced my need to dive into my files box with a report from Aug. 27th of last summer. I have looked at the order received then, and the client's exact line reads as follows....."Please make appraisal out to XXXX Mortgage, Inc. its Successors and or Assigns". Exact wording, not seen in any other order in almost a year now. All my comments in this post have related to my memory of that order. Anyhow, I noted client as XXXX Mortgage, Inc. and did NOT add the extra words "... its Successors and or Assigns" and never was asked to do so it the days to follow sending report to client.

Ross, I quoted from this part of your message. I feel when you change the lenders name on the report, you are, in essence, reassigning the appraisal to a new lender. But that was not the crux of my post. The point I was trying to make is that any lender can forward an appraisal report to another lender to use, without adding the second lenders name to the report. It is done all the time.

Jim

Ross (CO) wrote:
O.K., Larry, ...I have to back you up a few steps and ask you to elaborate. Your second sentence stumps me some. When you say "the reason I include this information"...you mean, the words "and/or assigns", yes ?

 

[Larry Lyke]

Jim --

I didn't follow the conversation to its logical conclusion after I started waiting for Ross to think his through and ask a question, so would you be good enough to form a question about your concern and I'll respond to it.

Thanks,

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

And to think USPAPs new direction is "Intended User, Intended Use, and Scope of the Work. From what we are reading here, we all should be doing Narrative Reports at a fee of at least $1,500 each because the Intended User does not have a clue what the appraisal is about.

Received a faxed assignment on Friday while I was in Denver for the USPAP Instructor's Seminar. Seems they wanted to close today. Got another request for a field review...expecting a 72 hour turn around. I can't even create the file in 72 hours. My new approach is "if you cant give me ten days, pay in advance or at the door, and it isn't a cookie cutter, please call some one else!"

What was the old saw....."life is too short to dance with an ugly woman"??

 

[Larry Lyke]

Mike --

I agree with you. A couple of times a year I receive a request to comment on one of my appraisals, wherein I have to inform the caller that he is not an Intended User.

After the initial upset dies down -- because 'after all, I've got a copy of the appraisal.'

I guide them very calmly to the Scope of Appraisal addendum. paragraph number one -- It specifically denies them access to the appraisal, even if they should come into possession of a copy of it.

I let them know that I control who gets to use the appraisal, not the client. The Intended User aspect was agreed to by the client prior to engaging the appraiser.

Further, Mike, I'd rather not comment on the 'old saw' regarding dancing with ugly women. Hey, what if they don't choose me to dance with!

 

[Ross (CO)]

Mike, .... Any discussion within your recent class for such a standardized format for a client's appraisal order form in the future so that traditional clients (not individuals) who source many assignments will have to provide details to the specific categories of ....Intended User, Intended Use and Scope of (the appraiser's) Work ? We can then briefly repeat and mention the client's comments about these things within our Conditions of the Appraisal or Addendum page sections. While I might offer my version of an order page for a client to consider using, and which speaks to these very categories as a line to fill out, I rarely if ever will get my form page faxed to me. I get their form. O.K., fine, but sure as shootin' they have a field on the order for entering "Estimate of Value" and we all know that they just want to help. Maybe such a nationally-standardized order form could be created which has no such place to offer that information.