"fake" Appraisals On The Clark Howard Show

[Alby Heredia]

I'm not a big fan of drive-bys myself, but...

This was on the Clark Howard radio show the other day and I generally appreciate what he has to say. I didn't hear it on the air, but here is a link to the quote below from Fri. May 14. ClarkHoward.com

And I always thought the problem was number hitters hitting too high of a number.

I love how consumers always presume that the higher number is the "right" value of their house.

Drive by appraisals on the way out
Clark wants to warn you about “drive-by” or "fake" appraisals being done for home purchases these days. These are not legitimate appraisals because sometimes the appraiser may not even visit the property. Some just create a computer model of your home and pick a number. Others glance at the property as they're driving by at 35 miles per hour and come up with a number. Sometimes the numbers are way too high or way too low, which happened to Kevin, one of Clark’s producers. When he had two appraisals done on his home, there was a $68,000 difference between the two. Usually when you have a fake appraisal, you lose about 15 percent of the value of your home. As a result, you’re going to see a shift back to doing real appraisals, which is good news. But if you get an appraisal that is really low, go back to the lender and dispute it. Get information on other homes around you and find out the “comps” or comparable values.

 

[Farm Gal]

Probably cribbed that from a Ken Harney (None of our favorite columnist) article... but went least common denominator and took the 'fake' line off what Harney wrote which was of course derived from the Fitch report

Boom or bust the use of full appraisals is getting some more ink and airplay.

Go spread the word.