Have you ever been stopped by a preforeclosure occupant?

[Don Clark]

8)

While teachin a course in Northern virginia a few years ago, a student, who also does appraisals in DC said he will only do drive by's in certain areas of DC, and has solved the problem of picture taking. He has mounted cameras on each side of his car, and when he drives by, slows down and stops for anout 2 seconds, take the photo, and moves on. True Story.

As a VA appraiser I do a lot of liquidation/foreclosure appraisals. All are pre foreclosure. The stories are too numerous to tell. However, a friend, and my mentor of years ago, is being sued as a result of doing a foreclosure appraisal. He knocked on the door(right house BTW), kids came to the door. He asked to speak to the mother. Mother came to door. He explained his purpose in being there. She let him in but asked that he not go into any bedroom or bath room. He complied. Took photos of front and back, measured front and sides, and was in back yard taking the rear photo when old mother came screaming out the back door, told hime to leave and leave now. He did. Now she has hired a lawyer(liberal) who contends he caused her children anxiety by telling them they would lose their house(which he did not), and that he should have known that they had filed for bankruptcy(no way to know that). he called VA, they said take care of it. In other words, he is out on his own, no help from VA.

Be careful out there. The license you save may be your own.

Don Clark, IFA

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

I take a different approach. My car has large signs on the door that says...."Affiliated Appraisers. Residential Specialists, 528-6400"

"Mr Homeowner, I have been contacted by (Client) to perform an appraisal of your property. I have been ask not to discuss the appraisal with anyone other than (Client). I am sure you can contact them for more information. Thank you for your cooperation."

Have never had a problem. Now sometimes when they require a full inspection including interior..I have been denied access. When that happens, I leave my card, say thank you and proceed to do it as a driveby.

Being sneaky and lying will just come back to haunt you. If you feel unsafe in an area...take someone with you. Call the cops if necessary, ask for someone to "standby" while you do your inspection. If you still are squimish about it...decline the assignment.

 

[Frank Bertrand]

try being a census enumerator when you absolutely have to go to EACH property and either do an interivew or leave
official guvmint documents. ID card with Flag doesn't cut it.

My wife's been an enumerator for the last 2 census and the job is NASTY. But it cuts down on the boredom. this is Rural upstate pa where the guvmint is not liked.

Drive bys are easy. you're in a car!!

so it goes...

 

[Leon Stewart]

I have never heard of any Lenders ordering a pre-foreclosed drive-by. If a Pre-foreclosure is needed by the lender, it seems as if you would have to do an interior. Otherwise what's the benefit. All the foreclosures that i've done have been full appraisals with an AS IS Value, an AS REPAIRED Value with interior photo's, and a schedule of needed repairs with cost estimates.

I've known occupants/owners who have vandalized properties once they vacate, so any kind of drive-by Appraisal would be worthless.

leon

 

[Ross (CO)]

Leon, ...... Usually this sort of drive-by order has extra text stating " do not contact homeowner for information about the property"...relying on the assumption that we did that with all drive-by's anyway, but certainly giving the heads-up notice to you. You might call the client and ask if this is a pre-foreclosure situation when you see that wording and clarify the purpose of the report and define better the scope of your work. If you find the property appearing to be vacant or is burned out or the Cadillac SUV is 1/2-inserted in the front living room window then your client clearly gets a strong hint for what is going on and explains better why they have not received a check for the last 5 months and no one answers the phone. Short of those dramatic discoveries, they get a preliminary and limited-by-scope valuation of the home with everyone understanding that no interior inspection was done.

 

[Leon Stewart]

If you say so, but it's my understanding that once a borrower becomes deliquent on the mortgage the Lender will send him the standard form letter (Registered) explaining what actions are pending, and if the borrower fails to respond, the Lender turns the case over to the Lawers to instigate foreclosure proceedings with the newspaper Publication and the Sheriff Sale and everything to get possession of the property.

I've never done a so called pre-foreclosure appraisal where the lender will have an appraiser drive-by the dwelling and prepare a Report. I've only done A Report once the Lender has acquired possession legally, and at that time done a full appraisal. If a lender wants to check out the property by just having someone drive by, he could have someone out of his office do that and report what they observed. Viewing the property in a general sense don't have to be an Appraisal function. At least I don't think so.

leon