Interior inspection question..........

[McPheeters]

In the process of doing a 2055 drive by with required floor sketch and no interior inspection, i had to go through the house (at the invitation of the homowner) to access the back yard in order to complete the measuring process. The home was supposed to have been "completely" remodeled, but as i am walking through the living room and dining area i dont see evidence of remodeling "complete" or otherwise. An interior inspection was not on the order, however i feel that it is my resposibility to report averything i see even though i was not ordered to do in interior inspection. The lack of remodeling will of course have a considerable effect on the final value estimate as opposed to a home with at least some updating. I could say that i did not do an interior inspection but did in the course of going through the home, not see any evidence of recent updating. The broker is now mad that i went into the house. Oh well, its not his license on the line.......... Am i headed in the right direction?

 

[Rlong]

I have never been asked to provide a floor or building sketch on an exterior only report. I don't think that is reasonable. Anyway, I believe anything I hear or see and believe to be true must be disclosed, even if I wasn't suppose to get that information. On the OTHER hand it IS possable that extensive updating had been done in areas you did not see. If I was doing it (although it seems unreasonable) I would comment that it was reported that remodeling had been done but you did not observe any during your brief visit, or somthing to that fact. What kind of a lender requests a floor plan on an exterior only appraisal??

Bob in CO

 

[Jeff Horton]

Paul, report what you saw and appraise what you saw. To do any less would be lying. The lender is possibly mad because he/she knew the facts and was trying to bump up the loan amount by telling you it was remodled. Doesn't matter why you saw the inside the fact is you did and you know what condition it is in.

Let me ask you a simple question. Is you liscense worth one appraisal fee? Thats what I ask lenders when they try to get me to do something unethical.

 

[McPheeters]

Bob,

I've been getting more and more of these requests to supply floor plans with drive by's. It conflicts with the term "drive by" i know but some lenders are requesting them. Thats right up there with lenders wanting value estimates on Marketability Reports.................

 

[Dave Smith]

IF your were doing a 2055 driveby neither Fannie nor Freddie requires a building sketch. They do require a building sketch (not a floor plan) for a 2055 interior appraisal.

The lender's underwriter can require any d... thing they want to, and too many of them do.

I agree with the statement that we should use and report what we see if it is significant. To do otherwise does put the license or certification at risk. If the lender told us to close our eyes when we did an interior inspection I doubt that any of us would do so. But, that is exactly what we do if we see something significant and ignore it. It seems to me that is misrepresentation.

'Nuf

 

[Ray Ohler]

so I won't. :roll: I'll keep my mouth shut.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

I believe it is impossible to do a floor plan sketch without inspecting the interior. You can give them an exterior sketch, but what if there is a attached garage? It doesn't make sense and I would not give a sketch with an exterior only expection.

 

[McPheeters]

Tim,

I must clarify that i was asked to do a building sketch not an interior floor plan sketch. I apologize for the confusion. Bad appriaser..........no bone!

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Paul, we have to draw the line somewhere. Why would a lender ask you to measure a property without inspecting it? If they want to know the true square footage, then I suggest they are trying to get more than they are paying for and don't want to address condition issues. That should be an appraiser "red flag", forget about the underwriter's "red flags". Why would the loan officer be mad that you observed the interior? Because they are under the impression they can get a higher value that way. Drive-bys are already a demon seed in our profession. Any mutated form of a drive-by does not lessen the liability of the appraiser. I would let them find some other stooge to do their funny business.

 

[wyecoyote]

Exterior only sketch should not include a sketch of the exterior of the house. If they want a sketch then it should be with an interior. Because when your doing a sketch of the exterior only what about looking in the windows you can see a portion of the interior. Hence you have seen some of the interior.