Is this legit?

[Phil McDonald]

I dug into the Broward County site.

The phone number connects to a guy named Raymond Goergen according to a records site. Their write-up says this:
"6919 West Broward Boul, Plantation, FL 33317 is the residential address for Raymond. This address has been used for business registration by 307 companies. These are some of the names: Plantation Junior Woman's Club Foundation Inc and Plantation Junior Woman's Club, Inc. 37 persons linked to this address. Their names are Adrienne Dixson-Shelton, Diana Velez, and 35 others. Raymond uses the landline number (954) 302-3283 (Broadwing Communications, LLC)." No other digital footprint that I could find. ICANN shows the domain registered to Domains by Proxy, LLC in Tempe, AZ (a registration privacy provider). No appraisal licensing record in FL shows for Raymond. No record of the business on the FL SOS corporation or fictitious name search tool. No ads, so the scam looks like they are selling referrals to local appraisers.

Broadwing may be the actual entity and their reviews on Indeed.com suggest scam.

Long Walk's Scam Alert(c): 98.67%

That is some good research, Thanks! I also noticed that they were using registered agents and proxy URL registrations but could not dig deep enough to uncover who they are. Those Indeed reviews are interesting. It sounds like they even hijacked the name of a previous legitimate company that got bought out. Very crafty, maybe it is owned by that Nigerian prince who keeps sending me emails.

As a broker, the rules regarding advertising and disclosure are very strict. I don’t see anything in our state rules for appraisers indicating similar specifics, just general “not misleading” statements. I know in other states there are specific rules indicating that an offer to provide appraisal services requires a license or certification in the state etc…

Google probably will not be quick to pull them down for being a scam since they are obviously paying for a bunch of ads all over the country. I am not sure the state would do anything either since our rules regarding appraisal advertising are so broad.

With that said, I will still bring this to the attention of Google and the state. We all lose some credibility in the public eye if there is a scam in our industry.

 

[Long Walk]

It sounds like they even hijacked the name of a previous legitimate company that got bought out. Very crafty, maybe it is owned by that Nigerian prince who keeps sending me emails.

As a broker, the rules regarding advertising and disclosure are very strict. I don’t see anything in our state rules for appraisers indicating similar specifics, just general “not misleading” statements. I know in other states there are specific rules indicating that an offer to provide appraisal services requires a license or certification in the state etc…

It's weird because Level 3 shows up in the research as an owner. That is a national provider of telecom. How are they connected? Who knows! LOL

So true about other state requirements. Maine is notorious for disciplining appraisers and non-appraisers. Better have yourself squared away before talking about appraisal in the Pine Tree State.

 

[Phil McDonald]

It's weird because Level 3 shows up in the research as an owner. That is a national provider of telecom. How are they connected? Who knows! LOL

So true about other state requirements. Maine is notorious for disciplining appraisers and non-appraisers. Better have yourself squared away before talking about appraisal in the Pine Tree State.

Based on the dates of the reviews, here is my speculation. it looked like the original company was a legitimate company that was acquired by Level 3. After that happened, the scam company grabbed the name as a DBA and started operations under a once credible name.