Bad reports

[Dean]

I used to do a lot of Field Reviews, but quit after the last one. It was from a fairly well known appraiser who appraised a manufactured home as a site built house. The "trailer" had an addition, then the whole thing was stuccoed. It was the ugliest piece of crap i have ever seen. My field review was 50k, the original appraisal was 165k.

Anyway, recently, i guess because borrowers know that the market is in the toilet in several areas, homeowners have been handing me previous appraisals when i go to do my site visit.
When i get them home and go through them, they are garbage.(generally)
For example, did one 2 weeks ago, many comps within blocks. Previous apprasial goes up to 3 miles for superior locations.

Then the last one, the appraiser stated that the home was actually a duplex, but because he couldnt find duplex comps, he appraised it as a single family. Keep in mind, this is in the 37917 zip code. The tax card and the zoning was for single family. It possibly had been used years ago for two families, but present day use, layout and zoning is single family. (one level house, one front door. (The attic was poorly finished, ceiling height around 6 feet high, appraiser calls it a 2 story home).

So, for those of you who do reviews, what do you do with the bad ones?
Do you report them to the State, or just shrug your head in disgust and move on?
Again, for those who review, would you say there are more good reports than bad, or vice versa.

Im all about helping to clean this business up and getting the bad guys out, but who has time to sit and thoroughly review every bad report you see, them complete a formal complaint to send to the state.

Dean

 

[Willie]

Bad clients = bad properties = bad appraisals = bad(no fun at least) reviews.

Why bother sending them to the state? Send the bad ones to Pamela Crowley. She's the one who takes care of all the bad appraisals in America. :laugh:

 

[Thomas Fiehler]

Dean-I can feel your pain all the way up here in Ohio. My view on the bad reports goes back to the SREA days. If I, as a reviewer, knew of shoddy work and did not report it, I was just as guilty. If we don't police our profession then nobody else will. I probably turn in about 4 or 5 appraisers a year. Not because I don't agree with their value since the state does not care about value but because of the errors/mistakes in arriving at their value. Sometimes it is for fairly minor issues and the State will require some additional classes which I feel is necessary. Other times the # of reports on the same individual has required him to surrender his license. When that happens, then it is for the good of the industry.

 

[Thern Newbell]

If it is blatant fraud, you should report it. Value disagreements on the basis of comparable selection (assuming the sales were not created) seem to be viewed as differences in opinion from what I have heard. That is assuming that the sales used by the appraiser were similarly located relative to alternative sales selected by the reviewer, and the sales were accurately reported. It sounds like what you have is blatant fraud, especially if the appraiser made no mention of the manufactured or mobile home.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

If you don't do something about it... who else do you think will?

Comparable selection is often easy to prove as the cause of an inflated value. It really is not simply a difference of opinion.

 

[Dean]

Thern, even though i cited a couple of examples, i'm speaking in more general terms. It cant be just me that borrowers hand bad appraisals to, or who happens to come across terrible reports.
I didnt recently just quit reviews, it has been a while. When you are seeing more bad than good, its a poor reflection on our profession.
As for the one i cited, no the appraiser made zero mention of it being manufactured.



Dean

 

[Dean]

If you don't do something about it... who else do you think will?

Comparable selection is often easy to prove as the cause of an inflated value. It really is not simply a difference of opinion.

Is that directed to me?
Who said anything about doing nothing?
I have done plenty over the years to help this profession. I have in the past reported bad appraisals. One of the biggest things i have done however is to stay ethical when many of my so called "peers" took the easy money during the refi boom.
Im living proof that you can make a living in this profession without walking over to the dark side. And, i was trained by someone who you would probably label as "skippy".

My post is basically asking what others are doing when presented with bad reports. I posted this in the TN forum as i value the opinion of the people that post here, and, for the most part, i personally know many of the TN appraiser who post here.

I guess the last sentence of my op may have sounded like i just dont have the time to report, or do something about the shady dealings that we come across. To clarify, i have to this point done much, maybe not as much as i could have, but i have definately not just turned and looked away. However, what im saying is, its at the point where there are not enough hours in the day to do everything that i need to, as well as spend hours writing out complaints over dodgy reports!

Dean

 

[Willie]

Dean, for one, I try to not take an appraisal performed by someone else. I almost always refuse it. In my mind, taking an appraisal leads to many more bad things than positive ones. That said, the ones I have acquired are mostly ok. If I have 10 in hand, there normally may be 1 bad one, or even fewer.

Bad appraisals are everywhere, but I don't see them as often as you appear to be. Maybe it's a location thing. If there is fraud or it's just a terrible report, I would turn it in. If it's questionable, I would not do anything at all.

PS I don't do reviews, so I probably am not exposed as much to the garbage appraisals out there.

 

[Dean]

Willie, having been in this business since 99 (although not licensed since that time) i can tell you that the Knoxville market has a lot of so called "skippies". I was trained by one, he spawned many, they too spawned some. Then theres the other well known skippy that lost his license a few years ago. I wouldnt even be able to fathom a guess as to how many skippes he helped to create. That mans operation was legendry in these parts.
I accept previous appraisals, i want to know whats out there, i want to know what my so called peers are doing. The prior appraisals have zero influence on my current assignments.

 

[Thern Newbell]

Comparable selection is often easy to prove as the cause of an inflated value. It really is not simply a difference of opinion.

In cases where it is easy to prove, I agree then it should be reported. I was not referring to a situation like Dean's, but about situations where comparable selection is more difficult because of location (rural or non-subdivision) or property type (unusual design and/or custom home) where sale prices can be more divergent.