Is you is or is you ain't?

[Anonymous]

Ben,
I hate to disagree with you but it's not an appraisal if we say it's not an appraisal. If you find yourself near my office stop in, I'll buy the coffee.

 

[Anonymous]

Ben,
I hate to disagree with you but it's not an appraisal if we say it's not an appraisal. If you find yourself near my office stop in, I'll buy the coffee.

 

[Anonymous]

Larry,
Do you remember when the 704 form said that it was to be used for home improvement loans of $ 15,000 or less? If a company wants me to fill in a form for a low fee I will, but I won't call it an appraisal.

 

[Ben Vukicevich SRA]

Walt,

Whatever form you fill in, it is an appraisal. Give a point of value, range of value, open your mouth and tell the neighbor what his home is worth value-they're all appraisals and must be USPAP compliant. We can never take off our pointy little appraiser hats, once licensed.

The 704 is a big trouble form-it is not USPAP compliant without lots of upgrading. I suggest you trash it completely and use at least a 2055 in it's place with the necessary stuff/addendums to make it USPAP 2002 compliant.

I too wish it were that simple not to call it an appraisal but USPOOP has eliminated that for us, forever.

Ben

 

[Larry Lyke]

Kirk --

The 704 in my experience was usually used for home improvement and second mortgages. Like you said, up to $15,000.

Although I did know the lender often had other intentions.

I did my last one probably in early 2000. I switched to the 2055 when it came on board full tilt because I liked the limiting conditions it had.

I try to stay out of the name game and work within USPAP. The lender can use the form as she sees fit.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

OK, check the request first. Did the client ask for an appraisal? 2 - Did you use the word appraisal, appraiser, or stamp your Lic. # on it?

In this state you can call it a fish if you want, but if you have been asked to do an appraisal, then the report is an appraisal. If you use the magic word ANYWHERE in the report, it is an appraisal. If you hold yourself out to be an appraiser by number or designation, it is an appraisal.

EVEN then, in Arkansas, any such evaluation service that states a value indication or a range, etc. is regarded as an appraisal. If you are not certified or licensed you MUST BE registered and so state and stamp, as well as state that the report is NOT A FED RELATED TRANSACTION otherwise it MUST BE signed by a certified or licensed appraiser. If you try to not stamp the report to get around it, then the state will regard it as a violation of USPAP s requirement for a signed certification and state regulation requiring a stamp accompany the signature.

I saw a report recently, certified to a court as an appraisal, in which the appraiser attempted to call the report an evaluation, danced around the subject of calling it an appraisal. But the product submitted has to comply with USPAP because the state agency requesting the appraisal and awarding the contract required a CERTIFIED APPRAISAL compliant with USPAP....

If you are a broker, perhaps you can call the reports a Comparative Market analysis or BPO, but I don't see how a court would view you as anything but an appraiser doing an appraisal

Ter

 

[airphoto]

Ter,

Answer me this, on account of I'm turning in the reports in the morning ..

Have prepared tax assessment grievance on two properties (the old and new Credit Union.) There are no sales. Basis of the grievance is that subject's are "not assessed in a manner consistant with other, similar properties on the roll."

The old credit union building is assessed at $325,000, which is the highest valuation of any of the six banks on this municipality's roll (excepting subject.) Has been on the market two years, and is down to $175,000 ax'ing price ..

The new building is twice the size and is assessed at $1.2 million ..

I'm using the assessor's information to develop a relative valuation. Although this is a valuation exersize, is it an appraisal? I have no definition of "market value" and am not interested in the cost approach.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Did he mean...it's not a complete appraisal? I dont understand! Be very careful what you say..an appraisal is an appraisal even if you don't think it is... at least according to my state's appraisal board. The problem then could be you didn't comply with USPAP and therefore violated the state laws.

Thus sayth the old guy!

 

[Dave Doering]

Walt et.al.,

I think it would be a good idea to read the definitions section of USPAP. The term "Appraisal" is fairly clearly defined and leaves little to personal interpretation, nor is it based upon a specific reporting format.

"APPRAISAL: (noun) the acto or process of developing an opinion of value; an opinion of value (adjective) of or pertaining to appraising and related functions such as appraisal practice or appraisal services."

Many of you might recall that the original FHLMC Form 704 (that predated USPAP) was designed specifically for use on Freddie Mac equity loans of $15,000 or less and had a statement at the bottom of the form just before the value and signature that said something to the effect that "this is not intended to be an appraisal". Even before the implementation of USPAP, most professional organizations required that that statement be stricken from the report as it was a violation of the Canons of Professional Ethics of most organizations (AI, IFA, Society, etc.). I believe the Appraisal Institute's Guide Note comment at the time was "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....to call it anything else is misleading." After the adoption of USPAP, the form was subsequently changed to the 704B which removed that statement since it was considered to be misleading and a violation of USPAP since it made a false or misleading statement.

However, regardless of the format, extent and nature of the inspection or the scope of the appraisal, if you give an opinion of value, whether a specific point, range or even direction of value, you are making an appraisal. To call it anything else is contrary to USPAP.