Just reviewed the worst appraisal I have seen....

[ttaM kooC]

I still remember the house I did (not on the water and next to an apartment building) and all the comps were waterfront homes because "that is the only place you can find homes of the same quality as the subject."

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

I just had a really bad appraisal to review yesterday also. Same kind of things. They said they had stables, a chapel, balcony, deck, 2 patios, etc. When all they really had was a patio. They also went 8 miles away for comps when there were comps within a mile that were more recent and more comparable. They came in at 900 and I came in at 300. The subject was 3500 sqft and they were using comps with 5800 sqft. I had to keep looking it over and over because I just couldn't believe how bad it was. I have never seen one that bad.

YIKES! Please send the address and the brief details about this one to me!!!

My email: pec514 @ yahoo. com (remove the spaces)

 

[Robert Dunkle]

I thought I was maybe appraising/reviewing the wrong house!! But that was not the case...interior and front view photos were of the correct house (verified with photos attached to previous listing of the subject).

I've tried to do that before, but it is really difficult in Tulsa County. They do not give the same house numbers on Street, Place, Court, Circle, etc. The first house on the block named Street will be 2002, Place might be 2004 and Circle might be 2006. I was looking for an address on Street and happened to land on Place. Found the number just below my subject and just pulled into the drive on the next house. Shot several pix, then noticed the address through the lens of my camera.......oops!!! And it was not a nice part of Tulsa!.

 

[Steve Gott]

I passed along the reports to the State. Hopefully something happens to this guy....

 

[George Nervik]

Don't feel bad about the "wrong address" thing - it could be worse....

Years ago when I was a general contractor, I had a roofing subcontractor who accidently transposed the house number on a tear-off and reroof. Instead of the crew showing up at 5437 Any Street they went to 5347 Any Street. As it turned out they got there about 30 minutes after the homeowner had left for work, it was a Friday. Nice part is that it was a 20 year old neighborhood at the time, similar cookie cutter houses, so the roofing crew did not suspect a thing. They dove right in, tore the old roofing off and were just about finished when the homeowner pulled in.

I had just met the roofing contractor at nearby restaurant so that we could ride out to a new job together when he got the call over his hand-held radio that there was a small problem. We drove right over and while he was introducing himself to the "confused homeowner", the real client pulled up in his car and asked "I thought you were going to do my house today? The roofing contractor replied - "so did I".

The roofing contractor scribbled out a "hold harmless" and "no charge" on the warranty paperwork and gave the innocent homeowner a free roof - he only asked for a "glowing letter of recommendation" about the quality of his work. The following Monday he put on the roof for the correct client and collected the balance due.

Over the next couple years the roofing contractor did numerous reroofs in the same subdivision - due in no small part to all the good PR he got from both homeowners.

 

[Restrain]

Had the same thing happen to my father. He had an older home with a 4x4 shed porch that stuck out on the front. Came home and found a 4x4 metal porch cover stuck onto the front of that porch. Seems it was supposed to go to the same number house, one street over. Builder said he said it looked odd when he put it up. Well, DUH!

 

[xm72mhd]

Good for you guys. I'm convinced at this point that if you don't want to know about the slimy underbelly of this profession you should not review. I don't want to know, so I don't. I think the reviewers should be paid hazard pay to do this crap.

If ever there are appraisals that absolutely should be turned in, its those that incorporate deliberate lies. The question remains whether anything appropriate that will be done in a timely fashion. I hope the cops, the beleaguered appraisers in the trenches, have prosecutorial support. It is a hand in glove deal. I'm not persuaded that relationship exists here, yet.

I'm working on a commercial appraisal and it happens here, too, to the tune of millions. Following a well known MAI appraisal from @ 1 year ago. Did the cost approach, simply to offend Steven, and voilà, 2.4 mil. Complete the rest of the approaches and voilà, they fit with the CA, sorry Steven. Then I find out the last appraisal was 3.4 mil. I'm sick. What did I miss? Then I did the simple $/SF from the alleged earlier appraisal and compare it to the sales approach. No way! This is where it gets tough to remain objective and independent, but I'm trying.

However, if I turn this guy in, I haven't seen the appraisal, but I know the result is not credible, it will not go down smooth. The owner is absolutely convinced of the earlier result, regardless of overwhelming evidence that it is not credible, and when my appraisal result is published, the deal goes south at warp speed. The messenger will be shot. What a mess. Does anybody see merit in this?

 

[Francois K. Gregoire]

However, if I turn this guy in, I haven't seen the appraisal, but I know the result is not credible, it will not go down smooth. The owner is absolutely convinced of the earlier result, regardless of overwhelming evidence that it is not credible, and when my appraisal result is published, the deal goes south at warp speed. The messenger will be shot. What a mess. Does anybody see merit in this?

Edd,

It would be difficult to file a legally sufficient complaint with no more basis than a difference in the opinion of value and no appraisal report. The report you question may have no problems. It could have Extraordinary Assumption which turned out to be false or Hypothetical Conditions which have not been fulfilled; both adequately described and properly documented in the report. It could also be that the owner remembers things differently.

Of course, the opposite could be true. Without the appraisal report, there is no future in attempting to draw conclusions.

 

[George Nervik]

It could be said that filing a complaint without some sort of documentation could be an ethics problem for the complaining party. I usually just ask for a copy of the other guys report - and you would surprised how many times someone just sends it right over - frequently by email as a color pdf.
Just ask - yee might receive.

 

[xm72mhd]

Edd,

It would be difficult to file a legally complaint with no more basis than a difference in the opinion of value and no appraisal report. The report you question may have no problems. It could have Extraordinary Assumption which turned out to be false or Hypothetical Conditions which have not been fulfilled; both adequately described and properly documented in the report. It could also be that the owner remembers things differently.

Of course, the opposite could be true. Without the appraisal report, there is no future in attempting to draw conclusions.

I understand all of that. But don't you find that, at least with respect to the public trust, that our job is perceived as being in the realm of producing results that are accurate. You may be correct about the EAs and the HCs, which simply underscores my point that this is a mess. This profession has got to come to develop some accountable transparency. This intended user and intended use stuff coupled with non-existent confidentiality are the culprits. I believe they are much abused and due to that have lost any positive effect that may have been intended by including them as defining anything an appraiser does.

Anything with an HC or an EA should not conclude with something called market value. They should be called hypothetical values or extraordinary values, but never should they be permitted to use the term market value. And if anything in this profession, when the objective is market value, is held in confidence the appraisal report should automatically be suspect for any kind of substantive or credible conclusion. And it should be called confidential value, not market value. Darn it Frank, explaining away these kinds of disparities is port of the problem. I should just be able to blow the whistle as to a significant disparity of some kind, nothing more, and the board investigator takes a look and if it is OK then maybe its OK, but I shouldn't have to spend my time doing this USPAP investigation crap gratis for the board.