Crying Homeowner...really.

[Dee Dee]

Boy, this is a first for me.
Had a lender call me up saying that he had a homeowner who was about to lose his home to foreclosure. Apparently the man had already been to several lenders and was turned away, so my client told him he would call an appraiser to see if the home was at least in the value range that the guy needed to qualify for a loan. I pulled a range of comps and it was pretty obvious that the home couldn't come close, so I let the lender know that it would never work. I suspect that the lender knew the guy was desperate, and he knew it was a long shot that anything could be done. Cripes, the house was only 650 square feet total, one bedroom, very few updates and built in 1965. The only other comps that were even close were built in the 90's and sold for $15,000 less than what this guy needed. It was impossible.
So what does this lender do? He tells the homeowner that the deal couldn't work because his appraiser couldn't find any comparables, then gives the guy my name and phone number.
Next thing I know I have a grown man on the phone, crying his eyes out that he is going to lose the home that his grandmother once owned, that he was laid off from his job, that he has wife and a 10 month old son...etc....and that I was his last hope of getting his life back. The man begged me...he begged!!!!
I pray to GOD I never have another call like that again for as long as I live, but there wasn't a thing that I could have done. In spite of knowing that this isn't my fault, I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
After the strained conversation was over, I called the lender and told him that if he EVER did anything like that to me again he was going to find out how humiliating it is to be beat up by a girl.
Any words of advice from you wizened old appraisers? Like, can you ever reach a point where this kind of thing doesn't bother you?

 

[Ray Ohler]

what do you do? Add more fuel to the fire? If this guy does not have the house mortgaged to the hilt, there are some legitimate ways of fending off a foreclosure. I don't know how well you know this loan officer but if this guy (borrower) is in that much financial trouble, how much you want to bet the loan probably carried 8 points and was 3% above market. THIS is what gets a lot of people there. And besides, if his house is already mortgaged for more than its worth, some appraiser got it there. Now, you come along and "find his equity" just to "help him out". Fine. Loan goes to term or gets refinanced down the road - NO PROBLEM. If it is only a temporary "stay" (the new mortgage), and it winds up in default, guess what? You're the appraiser that got it there. And you better believe that your discussion of a "comp check" will surface once again. You make a business decision. If the crap hits the fan, don't cry just pay the fines, buy the mortgage back, give up your license, whatever and move on. This may sound like I'm being "non-sympathetic" but I assure you I'm not. I've done too many foreclosures, too many "cram-downs" and listened to too many "victims", some of them were, a lot of them weren't. As far as it bothering you, like I said, sure it does but it's one of those down sides of the business. If you really want to help, you must have a local "neighborhood" legal assistance group. Good luck.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Dee Dee,

After the strained conversation was over, I called the lender and told him that if he EVER did anything like that to me again he was going to find out how humiliating it is to be beat up by a girl.

That was a good one! That LO would really deserve it, too. What a jerk!

Now, you already know how manipulative some people can be. Especially anyone that would do what that poor crying sap did to you. YOU cannot save people from their own stupidity! This guy is no different than an alcoholic or drug addict. He will bring himself down and will atempt to blame and drag everyone else he can along the way. He was trying to USE you! This equals abuse in my book. I'll bet some other LO and Appraiswhore 'helped' him into this situation already. Maybe even the same LO that gave him your number.

Natural selection...... survival of the fittest..... etc. Maybe a nice primal scream out your back door would help you. :lol: Don't let someone like this get to you!

 

[jtrotta]

DD
you know where this LO is ?? is he close by?? have a cell phone??

if he's close by grab 2 brown paper bags (1 inside the other-longer burn time); grab some fresh dog dodo - place in the bags; drive to your favorite LO - call him on the cell (when your right there) and ask him to meet you at the front door - fire up the bag, aftere he gets thru stomping, walk right up to him and with all your strength smack right on the nose - guarantee he'll hit the deck and will never do that again :lol: :lol:

 

[Roger]

I've seen a number of similar cases over the years and you can't help but feel sorry for these folks.

I have just told some of these people that they would be better off being renters than owners.

There are some people that don't have the financial skills to own and maintain a single family residence, no matter how small, and as far as I have seen, there is no government program that can give these people the skills that are required.

 

[MARKETVALUE]

Dee Dee,

Remeber you are the sum of all your choices, this homeowner is no different.

I would let the LO know that he/she is not to give your number to anyone until after an ORDER is confirmed.

Sorry you had to deal with this dead beat HO.

MRM

 

[Dee Dee]

Ray,

Although it's a common practice in my area for appraisers to do comp checks for their clients, it's not my normal way of doing business.
The man had already paid for two appraisals and spent two months getting nowhere, so I knew there had to be a good reason for it. Red flags were already flying. I would have done the job pro bono if it could have helped, but it would have required me to stick my neck out too far for someone who most likely would have ended up in the same situation again a year from now. I saw no point in wasting any more of this man's time, especially since the clock was ticking for him and foreclosure is right around the corner. I have little doubt that he'll be talking to yet another LO today, perhaps another appraiser will 'make the value'. I can't and won't.
You were right when you suggested that perhaps the LO was charging this guy an arm and a leg and had padded lots of $$ for himself into the 'value' he said he needed to get, but even after he backed down under pressure from me it was an impossibility. My opinion of this LO dropped about 20 notches because of it.

Pamela,
Yeah, I considered the possibility that this guy was putting on an act. If it was then he would win an oscar for it. He was desperate and fighting not to lose his composure.

jtrotta,
We used to do the flaming turd bags for Halloween pranks when I was a kid.
Man, it's been a bizarre week for me! I woke up this morning thinking 'Thank God it's Friday'....then I looked at my calendar and realized I've lost track of what day it is. Two reports to get typed up and I think I'll just pretend it's Friday anyway.

 

[David S. Roberson]

Dee Dee,

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts the loan officer TOLD this guy to call you with a sob story, so he could make another loan. I assure you the LO doesn't give a rat's a** whether this guy loses his house or not. He just wants the commission.

 

[Austin]

Let me tell an interesting story about “crying clients” that have problems with appraisers: I have been appraising for 25 years. If I count all of times the phone has rung with a crying voice on the other end, 95% of these complaints come from one neighborhood within a ¼ mile radius of a certain intersection. Now, what are the odds of that happening? There is a reason for this strange occurrence. This neighborhood is one of the old uptown subdivisions near a small university. The dwellings were built in the 20’s and 30’s and are very stylish and good quality construction. It is the neighborhood where the movers and shakers of the period lived. There is a wide range of styles, etc., but most of all, there is a wide range of property condition. Some of these houses are in good condition but not modernized. Some have been completely renovated. Starting on a particular street that adjoins Main Street in front of the university, the houses start off being very high quality and more detail. As you move away from the university it is like a scale. The style, appeal, and property condition gradually diminishes but GLA stays in the same range. The people that live there now are yuppies like young lawyers, teachers, city employees, etc. I did an appraisal on this particular street recently consisting of about 100 dwellings, and in the last 8 years about 80% of them have sold. I researched the entire street and there is no value pattern. If you graph the GLA vs sale price, the graph looks like a shotgun pattern. I think there are two reasons for situation. First: In older houses of this style in this market the trend line for gross living area is flat, meaning that size is not a value-influencing factor. The variable driving price is level of renovation, and design/appeal in relation to the proximity to the university. When Realtors and most appraisers run into this situation they always make this mistake: They pick one of the comp sales from the university end of the street, calculate the sale price per square foot, apply it to the subject on the opposite end of the street and come up with all kinds of wild price indications. Second: The other factor is that this class of people are the ones that think they know it all and want it their way. If they need a higher appraisal and you don’t give it to them you are a bad person. In other words, the 60’s generation.
To illustrate, I did an appraisal on one of these houses once for a single parent female math schoolteacher typical of the person that lives in this area. She called up mad because my appraisal was $10,000 less than she paid for it two years prior. She told me my appraisal was all-wrong because I had the gross living area wrong. Her Realtor friend told her when she purchased the house that it had 2,400 square feet and I reported 1,800 square feet and she was going to sue me. I replied, lady your house measures 30 x 60 feet. She said, “so”? I said, what is 30 x 60? She said, “I don’t care, my lady friend who is a Realtor said it had 2,400 square feet. I said, “You are a math teacher, what is 30 x 60?” Then she says, “I have a separate apartment unit in part in my house that I rent for $300 per month and you didn’t give any credit for that.” I said, “Lady your house is zoned R-1b single family residential. You can’t rent apartments under that zoning classification.” She said, “my Realtor friend said it didn’t matter.” After thinking about this, I concluded that the problem was that this woman didn’t like men. She was going to sue me because I was a man, but her Realtor friend was a woman, so whatever she said had to be right. This is typical thinking of the 60’s yuppie crowd. If they say 30 x 60 = 2,400, that is the way it is. It is called outcome based appraising and or math. Its a 60's kind of thing.

 

[Farm Gal]

GEE Austin are you bored this morning?

Lots of rocks on one itty bitty post!

Despite a certain sympathy for your position re: yuppie whiners, the preponderance of agist/sexist remarks in your long paragraph hit pretty close to my personal description...

Granted that math teachers who can't do math and refuse to listen to reason are annoying, and folks who grew up on Burger King have a bit of a learning curve in the present and days to come...

Couldja wouldja puhleeze use the word "SOME" in front of those barbs?


B 1960, female non whiner (ok occasionally a little) realist who done LISTENED to her depression era Oakie daddy...