Blacklisted

[Atlanta CG]

Did an appraisal for ******** in Wilmington, N.C. here in Atlanta. The home was a stucco 2 story property with 7 damaged windows (so obvious that I took a photo to prove my point). They claimed a previous appraisal 18 months ago was at $255,000. I'm at $225,000 and still higher than any sale in the 300 lot subdivision over the past 18 months. They added an enclosed porch in back. The home is tired cosmetically on the interior and is somewhat smaller than others due to the open space above the living/dining rooms & family room. Was called by Doug and told the report was useless to him due to the explanation and pictures of the rot and the lower than the previous value. He asked me to return the check. I told him I did the report, sent it to him, it was honest and fair and I earned the fee.
He then told me they have 180 branches and that I would be blacklisted at all of them. I am going to send a letter up to N.C. Attorney General's office, but with all the reports about the N.C. Appraiser's Board, I'm hesitant to contact them.
Frankly, I have no regrets as the report was well done and would be supported by other HONEST appraisers. But I am concerned that offices can blacklist appraisers just because they did not meet the value for one of the officers. He said, "I'm not hiring a home inspector, just an appraiser to use square footage and come up with the value".
I'm obviously upset because it just happened, and I know this goes on. But somehow, it should stop
Upset in Atlanta

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Put together a statement similar to what you've just written and send copies of it to Fannie, Freddie, FHA, VA, your state regulatory agencies, your state Appraisal Board, the media, your local, state and federal legislators, and the SEC. Also to all supervisors, managment personnel, CEO and board members of ********.

SOB!

 

[Restrain]

You might want to talk to an attorney. By blackballing you to all branches because you conformed to USPAP and did a good report, he is effectively harming you emotionally and economically. This is the reason that companies no longer give out any information as to employees to other prospective employers other than "yes they worked here".

Sic 'em!

Roger

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

Sometimes the veiled threats of "blacklisting" actually cannot be done, anyway. Is there any reason that one "loan officer" can have that much influence and "pull" anyway? Is "Doug" that influential in the company?

I had kind of a "situation" with ******** this week, myself. Subject was purchased in 2000 for $195,000. Estimate of value $300,000. Loan officer called and kept trying to get us to commit to new value-we refused. He FAXed the order anyway. When the appraiser called for the appointment, the homeowner was abusive and made statements like, "if I pay you, it had better come into the value I need, etc." plus he "wanted to talk with us about the appraisal after it was done (we told him if we had lender's approval)." Anyway, we finally decided that life was to short to argue with rude people and risk our licenses, so we informed the lender that in our opinion to accept the assignment would be to violate USPAP regulations on performing an appraisal when someone is demanding a pre-determined value. He couldn't understand why we couldn't just tell the homeowner. I told him that we had....repeatedly. Anyway, I'd rather clean toilets than put myself and my son (the trainee who actually had the appointment - I was going to accompany him) in this kind of position.
Actually, in this case, no one put any pressure on us to continue - I apologized and gave him two other local appraisal company recommendations. Perhaps someone else might not have the same problem that we did.
The bad ones are going to happen, and I'll just bet you that you won't be blacklisted from ********. I would, however, document everything and report the comments to whomever you think best, or perhaps just keep in the file, complete with date, time, etc.

 

[Verne Hebert]

Hey Judy

You bet they can. People network.
I have been blacklisted here for 6 years. More than a couple of great stories. I get no (that is zero in English) mortgage work locally.

Mortgage companies don't want good appraisers. Don't want experienced appraisers. Don't want accurate appraisers.

THEY WANT THE COMMISSION!...........AND THEY WANT "AN APPRAISAL"

 

[Kevin Shannon]

"I get no (that is zero in English) mortgage work locally."

Wow, that's sure something to be proud of.

Hey Verne, think if you were appraising anywhere else but Flathead Montana you'd still be in business?

Doubt it.

 

[Mountain Man]

Hey Pam or Wayne,
This needs to be moved over to "Clients - Good, Bad, Ugly" so all can see these scum for what they are.

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

Oh, I don't think ******** is a bad client - don't get me wrong. Once I explained our situation to the loan officer and told him I was absolutely not blaming him, he seemed to understand. And I did give him the name of several other companies to call. This was just a coincidence - not a complaint against ********. Other appraisals I have done for them have gone just fine with no pressure at all. It sounds to me like John in Atlanta just got ahold of a mean one.

 

[Mountain Man]

Yeah, could be. I have seen some things posted about others that were great for me, but rotten for others. Just depends on the local management.

 

[Leon Stewart]

Hey Judy

You bet they can. People network.
I have been blacklisted here for 6 years. More than a couple of great stories. I get no (that is zero in English) mortgage work locally.

Mortgage companies don't want good appraisers. Don't want experienced appraisers. Don't want accurate appraisers.

THEY WANT THE COMMISSION!...........AND THEY WANT "AN APPRAISAL"

Verne:

You just described how this System works. In this case Doug made an error and told the Appraiser that he would "Blackball" him, but normally the Bank, Loan Officer, Mortgage Company, etc., would not say anything, but would not order any Appraisals from this appraiser in the future.

There is no SEC, Appraisal Board, FHA, FNMA, Freddie, etc., that can require a user of Appraisal Services to order Appraisals from any specific Appraiser. They can go through the motions of firing the loan officer (Doug), but that doesn't mean that his replacement would continue to order work from this Appraiser either. Like you indicated this process goes "word of mouth", and in many cases "Lender to Lender" by the process of Appraisers using Lenders as References.

This System of controls that governs the Appraiser and the Appraisal Process is obsolete and should be scrapped and replace with a System where the Appraisal Process is truly independent of the Loan Process. That is the only way this problem will ever be corrected.

leostew