Appraiser Independence Violation?

[J Grant]

Your last post is a better description.. Agents are on perhaps slippery ground requesting another appraiser as far as AIR but I can't take the time to research agency law as applies to their end. And lenders who allow RE agents to influence selection whether by exclusion or other methods are on very thin air, as you say but that is their problem, appraisers have the problem of should they report, it/speak out if they are excluded from an assigment by a lender at request of agent.

If it is done behind the scenes where RE agent asks to exclude an appraiser and lender does so, and then tells appraiser the assignment was in error or cancelled with no explanation of what really happened, the appraiser won't know.

 

[hastalavista]

Your last post is a better description.. Agents are on perhaps slippery ground requesting another appraiser as far as AIR but I can't take the time to research agency law as applies to their end.

(my bold)
They certainly can be but the one who slides down the hill would be the lender if they are the ones who select the appraiser and they are the ones who have to support their decision to assign, re-assign, and select appraiser in compliance with the appraiser independence.

As a lender, I'm responsible for selecting a qualified appraiser for the assignment. I need to support that decision.
I don't need to support a decision to not select an appraiser for an assignment; I need to support the decision to select the one I did.
If I'm going to re-assign an appraiser after I've given her the assignment and she was qualified to do it, I'm going to have to support that decision as well.
But it is me (the lender) who selects and decides. Nobody else.

 

[CANative]

Aakkk... my popcorn went down the wrong pipe.

 

[Michigan CG]

Selection by exlusion means the agent had a hand in selection and they are not the client, they have a vested interest etc. Why are appraisers supporting this in any way shape or form would be the question

The Realtor is not selecting the appraiser, they are telling the lender that one appraiser is not acceptable. The Realtor is not saying that they want a specific appraiser, just not the rude one/out of town one/etc.

 

[J Grant]

Mich, I understand what you are saying, but a RE agent saying X appraiser is not acceptable ( to them), has just inserted themselves in the selection process. The lender selected appraiser X , presumably because X is qualified . The agent says they don't want X to appraise the property. They have now entered the selection process, if lender goes along with it and dismisses X from the assignment.

As far as rudeness being a rationale for it, a RE agent's idea of rude may be very personal and also a back door way of excluding an appraiser who came in low on a former deal...all they have to say is an appraise who is not deal friendly is "rude." Appraisers are supposed to be selected for qualifications and competence, not personality. There are excellent appraisers who are gruff and don't make small talk. Some agents might describe them as rude.

Our of town, it's up to the lender/client to choose competent appraisers. If an appraiser lives out of town but has been appraising in subject area for years, they are competent to appraise there.

RE agents have the right to submit sales and data in an ROV or in VA the appraiser contacts agent via Tidewater. That is a generous conduit for a vested party with a financial outcome to be involved in what is supposed to be a neutral and unbiased (appraiser) service for client.

 

[gregb]

Several times either loan officers or realtors have attempted to have the lender exclude me from an appraisal assignment. Usually the lender communicates that the loan officer and/or the realtor have no reasonable grounds for excluding the appraiser, so the borrower can either go forward with the assigned appraiser or choose another lender. Once in a while I will decline an assignment based on past experience with an owner or a realtor.

 

[J Grant]

Good to hear there are lenders with integrity.

 

[BarrySW1963]

Hmm, as far as letting agents decline the use of certain appraisers... what is that children's book about giving a mouse a cookie?

 

[glenn walker]

JUST MOVE ON AND BE DONE nobody is coming to save you . Why lose a client over this non-sense. Be happy it ended before any more problems arise. Next you will have the buyers and sellers filing a complaint saying because of the uncooperative appraiser their transaction had to be extended by an extra 5 days

 

[timd354]

Several times either loan officers or realtors have attempted to have the lender exclude me from an appraisal assignment. Usually the lender communicates that the loan officer and/or the realtor have no reasonable grounds for excluding the appraiser, so the borrower can either go forward with the assigned appraiser or choose another lender. Once in a while I will decline an assignment based on past experience with an owner or a realtor.

Most of the time when real estate agents or brokers attempt to exclude a particular appraiser they do not have a legitimate reason to do so. However, every now and then there is a legitimate reason for the real estate agent or broker to request that a different appraiser. However, it is up to the lender to make the ultimate decision of who will appraise the property.

Whether or not anyone thinks that the real estate agent referred to by the OP in this thread had a legitimate reason to not allow the property into the property, it was the appraiser's initial unprofessional and insulting/hostile email that directly caused the issue in this case. If were the lender, I would have had a long talk with the appraiser about the inappropriateness of her email and if she copped an attitude, I would have removed her from my approved appraiser panel. If she handled the discussion professionally, then I would have retained her on the panel and level set expectations with her that if she created any further problems down the road by sending similar unprofessional and inappropriate emails to agents, she would be removed from my approved appraiser's list.

Lender's engage appraisers to provide a valuable and necessary service, they don't engage appraisers to create additional problems and peeve off potential sources of future business.