Move to Arizona, Brian Weaver
Illinois consumers are lucky. Not so in Arizona.
The Arizona Board of Appraisal operates under a rule that an investigation will not be opened, unless the appraisal report accompanies the complaint. This rule was foisted on Arizona by a clique of appraisers out of Phoenix, who set out to emasculate USPAP enforcement in Arizona.
The first version of the rule was to prohibit an investigation into any complaint by anyone, other than complaints filed by intended users. During a Rules Committee meeting years ago, Doug Laney (MAI) and I objected to such a travesty of justice.
Sadly, Doug and I discontinued our drives to Phoenix to attend Rules Committee meetings, and the current version of the rule prohibiting an investigation of a complaint without a copy of the report was approved.
I turned in a complaint with all the evidence necessary to justify subpoena of an appraisal report from First Magnus (Charter Funding). I provided the address, dates, names, witness accounts, etc to the Arizona Board of Appraisal, only to have the day's work assembling evidence and writing up the complaint rejected, because I did not include a copy of the appraisal. This case was a mortgage fraud deal with an umbrella contract at $555,000 and an underlying contract at $370,000. The perp raked off the $185,000 cas to "buyer" at closing. There was an 18 month MLS history at ~$400,000 list price with no sale. The fraud happened outside of MLS, but a real estate broker friend of the seller told me about the details.
When I recently informed one of the Arizona Department of Financial Institution's investigators about the Board of Appraisal rule requiring a copy of the appraisal to investigate such a complaint, he said, "That doesn't make any sense."
However, knowing the background of the Arizona Board of Appraisal and the Phoenix clique that corrupted the Board's ability to enforce USPAP, such a rule makes all the sense in the world. That same clique is instrumental in influencing the appointment of many Board members.
Brian, I wish you were the Arizona Appraisal Commissioner with the dedication that a regulatory authority should have. Your willingness and ability to issue a subpoena to obtain a copy of suspect reports is commendable.
The Arizona Board should be replaced with one appraisal commissioner. The administrative structure of the present nine member Board and its dismal enforcement history justifies such a change. The AZ Dept of Financial Institutions and the AZ Real Estate Dept each operate with one administrator, both appointed by the governor. Both of these departments operate with much more objectivity and success.
