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"Expert Witness"

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I put a nice fat comment on the first page of my report in bold lettering: "THIS REPORT IS FOR MORTGAGE PURPOSES ONLY".
 
Answering questions about your own report is not acting as a Expert Witness thats a fact witness, being a fact he or she did the original report and since it had nothing to do with the exiting case if Subpoenaed all I would be required to do is say yes or no regarding it I was the one who did the original report.
 
Nancy Heiss said:
Updating: I informed the attorney that I'm declining to be the 'expert witness'. He then requested I send him a colored copy of the original appraisal. I refused, citing only my client was entitled to it (from me). He asked who was my client, BofA only sent a B&W copy. So my new questions (purely due to curiosity) are: why wouldn't a B&W copy suffice? Is this attorney covering all the bases by referring to the appraisal? Seems to me if a tenant signed a lease and decided later not to pay as rent is too high, that's just too bad for the tenant. What difference does an appraisal done 8 months ago for a refi have to do with their non payment? I know this is CA and the tenants have all the rights, but do the owners have to prove why they are charging the rental rate?
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He's lying. The owner gave him the copy.
 
TerryRohrer said:
Do you believe the rent was actually negotiated between the tenant and owner over a copy of the financing appraisal?
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But according to the OP. The rent charged was based on the market rent included in the appraisal.
 
Nancy Heiss said:
Happy New Year All!

An attorney called me yesterday to find out if I was willing to be 'an expert witness' in a case involving a home I appraised in May 2023. The owners are trying to evict the tenants, apparently for non-payment of rent. The tenants are claiming the rent is too high. The owners used the rent estimate I provided on the report. It's unclear to me why exactly this may go to trial, IMO non-payment is non-payment and if the tenants agreed to the rent initially it seems like an invalid argument. At any rate, the attorney was planning on having me testify remotely, if necessary, as to my appraisal process. Does anyone see a reason why I should not agree to this? My rental comps support the rent, and there were a couple others I did not use that also support it, so I don't think my estimate would cause any issue for me. Thoughts? What is a typical fee for expert witness?
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Just saw this post. Your report is for client ONLY, normally it is a lender, NOT AMC or the property owner although finally owner pay the appraisal fee. You can't discuss or share anything about appraisal report / process information to them directly, except contacting owner to setup inspection schedule and/or obtain some property information. You can't share the report with the owner without client/ lender permission as well. Our rent survey is to derivative property value, NOT suggest or instruct how much it shall rent for.
Unless the owner contact you to do a private appraisal / rental survey, then they will become to your client.
For the court fee, I saw other appraiser peer's report said $500 per hour with 4 hours min charge.
For my all non lender appraisal, I always put :" No court service available".
 
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David S said:
Just saw this post. Your report is for client ONLY, normally it is a lender, NOT AMC or the property owner although finally owner pay the appraisal fee. You can't discuss or share anything about appraisal report / process information to them directly, except contacting owner to setup inspection schedule and/or obtain some property information. You can't share the report with the owner without client/ lender permission as well. Our rent survey is to derivative property value, NOT suggest or instruct how much it shall rent for.
Unless the owner contact you to do a private appraisal / rental survey, then they will become to your client.
For the court fee, I saw other appraiser peer's report said $500 per hour with 4 hours min charge.
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I'm not sure where the notion arises that the lender to the client when an AMC engages the appraiser.

Per USPAP, “the party or parties (i.e. individual, group, or entity) who engage an appraiser by employment or contract in a specific assignment, whether directly or through an agent”
 
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