Ed Woodruff SRA
Junior Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2003
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- Texas
A bout 10 years ago here in Houston a highly respected appraiser was "dogged" big time by a group of real estate agents. It seems that an area was close to a recently designated superfund site - and in fact some of the houses backed up to this site. The appraiser, of course, mentioned this in her reports, as any legitimate appraiser would. This apparently was the source of anxiety for the real estate brokerage community in that area, as it resulted in a few failed sales - it seems that some of the agents weren't even mentioning the presence of this superfund site to their buyers. Well, after a while her work dried up. Come to find out, there was a massive campaign in the area against her - real estate agents refused to do business with mortgage companies that used her, and a fax campaign was set in place, as faxes with the message "Beware of Koon" was sent out to all the offices in the area (her name was Kathy Koon - this is a famous case - her lawsuit was in all the papers, and she talked about in in classes she taught, as she teaches most of the classes for the Appraisal Institue here in Houston). She sued a group of real estate brokers and agents for interference of a business relationship and won - a pretty substantial sum as I recall. Someone that has a better memory of this case may correct me on some of the details, but it did happen, and it was a well known case in the local appraisal community. I think it is excelent that those low-life agents were made to pay for their actions.