Kevin Brewster
Freshman Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2006
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- Utah
What I experienced
Excellent post. Thank you Vernon.
In early 2000 I appraised a very high quality custom log home for a local mortgage broker who sold the loan to IndyMac. The owner eventually defaulted on the loan during the economic and real estate downturn after 9/11. IndyMac took the property back and had my appraisal reviewed. The review was full of personal opinion and innuendo. The reviewer did not find one error in the report but included sales of vastly inferior houses. I easily refuted all the points made by the review, sent my response and waited to hear from IndyMac. In the mean time IndyMac listed the property with an agent that had never sold a high value property and was not a part of the group of agents in the market area that had the experience and contacts necessary to sell such a property. After the agent did not perform, they hired an agent located in a distant metropolitan area that had never sold a property in the county in which the property was located. The second agent never listed the property in the local MLS because he wasn't a member. After an extended marketing time the property sold for well under market value. I received letters from IndyMac demanding I pay any losses they suffered. I replied with a letter explaining how badly they messed up by selling the property for far below market value. Surprisingly, they ordered a second review on my original report. The second review came in much closer to my original value and at almost twice what IndyMac had just sold the property for. There was a log home comparable sale within a mile of the subject property that had sold recently. It was inferior to the subject in terms of quality but no quality adjustment was made in the second review. I sent another letter to IndyMac pointing out that the second review was also flawed because a crucial difference in quality had been ignored. I included pictures of the interior of the subject property showing granite, marble, custom everything, top quality appliances, etc. I also included interior pictures of the recent log home sale used by the second reviewer showing cheap countertops, Home Depot cabinets, Sears appliances, etc. That was the last I heard from IndyMac. A while later I learned from a client that I was on the IndyMac black list. I have never followed up on who bought that house at such a fire sale price but I have my suspicions that it was purchased by an insider. I found out later that the original mortgage broker who sold the loan to IndyMac had been changing some of my reports to remove negative comments, etc. I documented everything and sent it into the Utah Division of Real Estate. When I followed up with the Division of Real Estate a few months later it was obvious to me they weren't going to do anything with the information I had provided. When I warned other appraisers about the mortgage broker who had changed my reports they shrugged their shoulders and kept working for the crooks.
After that I decided that I wouldn't work for any mortgage brokers except a couple that I knew well and trusted. I also decided that I didn't want to work for dysfunctional organizations like IndyMac because they were obviously very poorly managed and put me at risk.
I hope the people that were at the top are carefully investigated by the Feds.
Best wishes to the honest, ethical and competent.
Excellent post. Thank you Vernon.
In early 2000 I appraised a very high quality custom log home for a local mortgage broker who sold the loan to IndyMac. The owner eventually defaulted on the loan during the economic and real estate downturn after 9/11. IndyMac took the property back and had my appraisal reviewed. The review was full of personal opinion and innuendo. The reviewer did not find one error in the report but included sales of vastly inferior houses. I easily refuted all the points made by the review, sent my response and waited to hear from IndyMac. In the mean time IndyMac listed the property with an agent that had never sold a high value property and was not a part of the group of agents in the market area that had the experience and contacts necessary to sell such a property. After the agent did not perform, they hired an agent located in a distant metropolitan area that had never sold a property in the county in which the property was located. The second agent never listed the property in the local MLS because he wasn't a member. After an extended marketing time the property sold for well under market value. I received letters from IndyMac demanding I pay any losses they suffered. I replied with a letter explaining how badly they messed up by selling the property for far below market value. Surprisingly, they ordered a second review on my original report. The second review came in much closer to my original value and at almost twice what IndyMac had just sold the property for. There was a log home comparable sale within a mile of the subject property that had sold recently. It was inferior to the subject in terms of quality but no quality adjustment was made in the second review. I sent another letter to IndyMac pointing out that the second review was also flawed because a crucial difference in quality had been ignored. I included pictures of the interior of the subject property showing granite, marble, custom everything, top quality appliances, etc. I also included interior pictures of the recent log home sale used by the second reviewer showing cheap countertops, Home Depot cabinets, Sears appliances, etc. That was the last I heard from IndyMac. A while later I learned from a client that I was on the IndyMac black list. I have never followed up on who bought that house at such a fire sale price but I have my suspicions that it was purchased by an insider. I found out later that the original mortgage broker who sold the loan to IndyMac had been changing some of my reports to remove negative comments, etc. I documented everything and sent it into the Utah Division of Real Estate. When I followed up with the Division of Real Estate a few months later it was obvious to me they weren't going to do anything with the information I had provided. When I warned other appraisers about the mortgage broker who had changed my reports they shrugged their shoulders and kept working for the crooks.
After that I decided that I wouldn't work for any mortgage brokers except a couple that I knew well and trusted. I also decided that I didn't want to work for dysfunctional organizations like IndyMac because they were obviously very poorly managed and put me at risk.
I hope the people that were at the top are carefully investigated by the Feds.
Best wishes to the honest, ethical and competent.
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