Does your State Appraiser Board accept anonymous complaints?

[wickedness1]

IMO, the state boards have seen enough complaints over the years to quickly evaluate if there are any "real issues" that need addressed. They can pick out distraught homeowners as well as vindictive peers within a matter of minutes just based on their cover letters, etc.

Boards are constantly getting complaints from HO's that appraisers either over valued causing a foreclosure or under valued & they lost their loan.

 

[Bob Ipock]

Personally, I'm not sure where I stand. I can see arguments on both sides. However, one thing that is not persuasive is a comparison between anonymously turning in child molesters, etc. and anonymously turning in people who are likely your competitors. Those two situations are so unlike, IMO, as to not be comparable at all.

The point (a hyperbole to those that missed it) is that one sees a crime, a criminal offense, a pattern of fraud, or public endangerment.............it needs to be reported. If one does not have the ability (call it balls, nerve, courage, guts, decency....) to sign there name to a complaint...they STILL need to report it.

NONE of what I have said applies to anything over that what a citizen or appraiser considers a vaild, honest, reasonable complaint. None of this applies to bogus complaints. Those who file bogus complaints should be prosecuted when possible.

In 18+- years I have never seen my state board issue what I considerd to be an excessive punishment. In that same 18 years I have seen hundreds of appraisers get off easy. Some over and over and again. The "suspended sentence" theory of punishment keeps these people working and cranking out more appraisals and more trainees.

One factor is the NCAB is not allowed to issue fines. If that were the case, convictions and fines would go through the roof of the $3,000,000 headquarters. God help us if they ever are allowed to issue $$$$$ fines.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

The point (a hyperbole to those that missed it) is that one sees a crime, a criminal offense, a pattern of fraud, or public endangerment.............it needs to be reported. If one does not have the ability (call it balls, nerve, courage, guts, decency....) to sign there name to a complaint...they STILL need to report it.

Thinking we see a violation and seeing a violation is the difference between Lightning and Lightning bug to paraphrase Twain.

 

[Stone]

The point (a hyperbole to those that missed it) is that one sees a crime, a criminal offense, a pattern of fraud, or public endangerment.............it needs to be reported. If one does not have the ability (call it balls, nerve, courage, guts, decency....) to sign there name to a complaint...they STILL need to report it.

NONE of what I have said applies to anything over that what a citizen or appraiser considers a vaild, honest, reasonable complaint. None of this applies to bogus complaints. Those who file bogus complaints should be prosecuted when possible.

In 18+- years I have never seen my state board issue what I considerd to be an excessive punishment. In that same 18 years I have seen hundreds of appraisers get off easy. Some over and over and again. The "suspended sentence" theory of punishment keeps these people working and cranking out more appraisals and more trainees.

One factor is the NCAB is not allowed to issue fines. If that were the case, convictions and fines would go through the roof of the $3,000,000 headquarters. God help us if they ever are allowed to issue $$$$$ fines.

No, I didn't miss the point. I understood what you wrote. I just don't agree it is a valid argument. Many crimes warrant anonymous tips being taken seriously. However, when the most likely complainant is a business competitor, there is some serious potential for abuse. I have no doubt that most wouldn't abuse it, but the potential is there.

I can understand some of the arguments for anonymous complaints. But, I haven't seen a good answer for Terrel's question:

Why shouldn't an appraiser be uncomfortable turning someone in?

So, upon further review, I guess I lean towards not wishing for anonymous complaints from business competitors. If someone wants to turn in a complaint and put someone in the regulators' headlights, let them take responsibility for it.

 

[JSmith43]

Maverick, would it be helpful to post a poll? I believe the readers willing to post on this topic are filtered out somewhat. You might get a better read of the room temperature on this topic with a 2 question poll.

The thread has been interesting since lots of views have been presented. Here is mine: I believe an appraiser's livelihood, since it is license dependent should rank as high as we rank freedom.

So, I am all for knowing the accuser, even though this may lower the number of complaints, both good and bad.

If you are going to file a complaint, step up.

 

[Elliott]

Besides appraising, what other areas allow anonymous
complaints? Judges, attorneys, CPAs, doctors, IRS, state
employees, the mother who swats her kid at the grocery store,
the kid toucher. And why.

 

[Bob Ipock]

All of them. Why, I have no clue.

I wondered myself and did a little web search.

The Whistleblowers laws cover employees.

For license boards, it may be up to the state . Texas has a big fight now where doctors want to stop anonymous complaints.

http://stxc.blogspot.com/2007/12/texas-medical-board-says-on-10.html

The IRS...of course they do.

http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search...box.search&clickstreamid=-5351149801106669281

Social Servies, or Child Protective Serves....of course they do.

http://ci.new-richmond.wi.us/index.asp?Type=DYNAFORM&SEC={0163F919-CD32-4D01-A5CC-02AEFFA32B21}

This is so, so, so common.

http://www.c-s-i.org/

People call the police every minute of the day tp report speededs, thieves, liter bugs.....you name it. Many agencies PAY for Crime Tips.....including the IRS.

Check for specifics in your states.

I will not ever file an anonymous appraisal complaint. I take too much pride in only filing valid complaints. I WANT them to know it was me.

 

[xmmcsmielr]

Arizona Accepts Anonymous Complaints

Arizona accepts anonymous complaints.

An argument for anonymity is that trainees, who realize that their trainer is a lying sack of mierda and plays the "how much do you need" game with clients, would not be inclined to report those trainers to their state boards. Other business arrangements would discourage appraisers from reporting violations, unless the complaints could be anonymous.

A friend of mine, who works mainly as an expert witness, was the brunt of an anonymous complaint that was punative and unfounded. It cost several years worth of anguish and defense, as well as lost work during that time. An Arizona Board member supported the grinding investigation and review of my friend's report, because she was affiliated with an ongoing business relationship with the opposition in the court case. This Board member subsequently resigned from the Arizona Board of Appraisal, when it was revealed that she had not disclosed her conflict of interest. In this case, requiring a signed complaint may have revealed that conflict before the grind proceeded for so long.

I signed all six of the complaints that I've turned in during the past decade or so, and all that I've accomplished is to make blood enemies of the six appraisers, because the Arizona Board of Appraisal is incompetent and can't find its collective derriere with both hands, when it comes to USPAP enforcement. As a result not one of the complaints I've filed resulted in any significant sanction.

So, for the rest of my career, it makes no difference to me what the Arizona Board does regarding anonymous complaints. The only interaction I will have with that disappointing body is to defend myself, if anyone of the appraisers I reported retaliate and turn me in.

It would have been better for me, if I had turned in the six complaints I filed, without signing my name ..., for all the good it did to help enforce USPAP.

If an appraisal board is honestly free of any conflicts of interest (which is unlikely) and has a good record at just governance, including effective USPAP enforcement (which has not happened in Arizona), then requiring signatures on complaints is the best policy. An accused appraiser should be able to face his/her accusers in an open forum, and anyone filing a complaint should have the stones to face the liars who issue fraudulent appraisal reports openly, notoriously and continuously.

There may be cases which justify witness protection, and an exception should be made to protect appraisers who participate in USPAP enforcement from dangerous perps.

If a board conducts themselves like the Arizona Board has since its inception, failing to apply any effective sanction, anonymous complaints are an excellent policy. The persons signing the complaints are protected from retaliation by the authors of the reports that were turned in.

It is really such a waste of time composing a complaint about a bad appraisal in Arizona, that risking retaliation for an unlikely benefit that an appraiser will be penalized effectively for bad work by the ABOA is not worth it.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

It would have been better for me, if I had turned in the six complaints I filed, without signing my name ..., for all the good it did to help enforce USPAP.

some states are too agressive. some not enough. often it boils down to resources. Our state runs on a very small staff. Only because they are willing to put in long hours can the job be done at all. They need more staff. That translates to higher fees because it is internally funded by appraiser fees.
I was in a bankruptcy hearing where 2 other appraisers were attending. i was a witness. the opposition had an appraiser who did some absolutely ridiculous reports involving large poultry farms. He was a reciprical appraiser from Oklahoma. I told a board member about the issue and ended up sending him a copy of the report. That report was considered "anonomous" but the board already had been informed of this guy's work on several other similar bankruptcies. In fact, he had done 12 reports and all 12 found values about 50% of that found by the original appraisals. When the investigator looked over the report, she obtained the transcripts from the court..so my butt was on the hook too.
The end result was the lawyers who were heading this class action suits / bankruptcy filings accused me of professional envy as they obviously put two and two together. The board did not disclose that to them and I did not. Not that it mattered. The other 2 appraisers in the room who were there as representatives of their clients who were also being sued separately, were prepared to do the same if their case came to court. The end result was that the appraiser was required to surrender his license in Arkansas and cannot apply for a license again without addressing this issue. Of course, that puts a real kink in the lawyers cases because their star witness is persona nongratis in the courts. Apparently much the same happened to him in Missouri where he was slow roasted in court in Kansas City and had a complaint filed there.
Again, though I wasn't there, my name was bantered about again.
In a separate case I found out that a person was throwing my name around a lot too...as some sort of support for her position before the board. I tried to help her once only to get myself in an argument with the board investigator and that settled down only long enough for this person to go to one of my clients and accuse me of "stealing her business."... geez. Helping people gets harder every day. BTW, i suspect her name will appear in our next Bulletin as sanctioned.

 

[Brian Weaver]

In Illinois we accept them. Some are very good. Most are weak. I work them the same way I work those with identifiable complainants. The only problem, if I need more info from the complainant...I have no one to ask.

By and large, appraisers or reviewers are the one's submitting anonymous complaints. Consumers would put their complaints on billboards if they could. Lenders have departments that write fairly good complaints.

The worst? FHA. Worthless, poorly documented, and ancient history.

Fannie Mae? I've seen ONE since last April. Fannie likes to whine that ALL of their complaints languish here in Illinois.

What complaints?