My First Field Review?

[Amy Perkins]

I think most of my field reviews are for fannie mae forensic reports, it has been my experience that they were problematic for some reason.

 

[Amy Perkins]

I've never been able to find anything in USPAP that forbids one from reviewing their own work. I'm of the opinion that "Who better to review a report than the OA? after all, they were inside the subject, or least they certified they were.
Does anyone remember a lender named Penn Funding? Back in the mortgage broker days they were reviewing about one out of every ten and they had one guy reviewing all their work. He used to call me and ask about chain link fences vs privacy fence adjustments. He would also have a cow over $2 K in concessions on a 400k property. I'm going to look him up and see where he turned up. He was a nice guy in CE classes, but annoying as hell on the phone late in the afternoons during cocktail hour with his due diligence over fence adjustments.

Wow, so just because it's not written down explicitly doesn't mean it's not unethical. Obviously you should not be reviewing your own reports because you have a bias.

 

[ucbruin]

"Obviously you should not be reviewing your own reports because you have a bias."

Bias would be the least of concerns....

 

[Bobby Bucks]

Wow, so just because it's not written down explicitly doesn't mean it's not unethical. Obviously you should not be reviewing your own reports because you have a bias.

Amy I was being facetious, however, I can’t think of a better way to shine a light on the AMC model than for a product to be circulated among the quality control eggheads of a lender which has the OA and reviewer with the same name and license number and a gold star review of the former's product.

 

[Non Sequitur]

Don’t sweat it. I highly doubt it’s your first field review, it’s just the first one you know about.

 

[sputnam]

I was just sent a job to bid on... turns out I have to decline it because it is a field review for an appraisal I just did. Should I be worried? I have been at this for 3 years, 2 as an apprentice and nearly 1 on my own, so I wasn't sure how worried I should be about this. Thanks All!

I wouldn't worry about it. Many lenders do routine, random field reviews as a quality control measure...especially for appraisers that are new to them. If you are really worried about it... send it to me and I'll see if I see anything. I've been an appraiser and reviewer for 35 years.

 

[BRCJR]

define 'bad'. You mean high CU score, or complex assignment? I just answered that in post #16.. if, by 'bad', you mean something else, I'd have no idea.

My comments had nothing to do with your post.

 

[Tom4value]

I was just sent a job to bid on... turns out I have to decline it because it is a field review for an appraisal I just did. Should I be worried? I have been at this for 3 years, 2 as an apprentice and nearly 1 on my own, so I wasn't sure how worried I should be about this. Thanks All!

You have seen a bunch of opinions as to why. Here is a take on what usually happens.

I have done many a field review and I can say you really have to screw up for me to go to “Section II”. That of course, is where I disagree with the value and ultimately, the appraisal’s quality to rely upon. It is a rare occasion where I find zero mistakes or inadequacies. Many times I may disagree with the exact number but unless I can prove they are wrong, I chalk it up to 2 competent appraisers coming up with 2 numbers and leave it alone.

Usually they are minor errors (typo on taxes/flood map/lot dimensions). Most issues are failure to summarize. On a 1004, you have to summarize your data. Just filling in the fields and checking off “highest and best use” is not enough. Description of the neighborhood and market is also frequently lacking in detail. However, in the vast majority of the cases, I agree with their data and conclusions and end up stating, “this report can be relied upon”.

If section II is not needed and the Reviewer says it can be relied upon, nothing will be done and you may never even know it was reviewed.

 

[Johnny Knucks]

Was it an ugly deal? Did you do a good job?
Reviews are sometimes done because they think the smell a rat, or just for random QC.
I suggest you adopt the mantra of Alfred E Neuman.

I was just sent a job to bid on... turns out I have to decline it because it is a field review for an appraisal I just did. Should I be worried? I have been at this for 3 years, 2 as an apprentice and nearly 1 on my own, so I wasn't sure how worried I should be about this. Thanks All!

My brother had a saying, "worried but not concerned", which usually applied to women he was dating. I think the same applies here. You should be concerned, but don't worry yourself over this. Every appraiser gets reviewed, and it could be for any number of reasons. Sometimes it's random. Every once in a while, I'll get one back with umpteen some revisions out of the blue, and that's usually how you know that appraisal has undergone either a desk or field review. Also, if it comes back weeks or even months later, you can be pretty sure it went through a desk or field review.

Should you be worried? Go back and review the appraisal first. Try to find any errors you may have made, or other issues such as the selection of comps, adjustments, etc. I've reviewed dozens if not hundreds of appraisals, and I can tell you that the vast majority of them have pretty serious mistakes, but I've yet to review one that I thought was a fraudulent report. If it has a few mistakes, that's fairly normal. As long as the value isn't way off, you should be fine, but the big thing is to learn from this. If you have some concerns, why not call the person who ordered the review, and maybe they'll be forthcoming about why, or maybe not. Hopefully this helps alleviate your concerns.

 

[Johnny Knucks]

You have seen a bunch of opinions as to why. Here is a take on what usually happens.

I have done many a field review and I can say you really have to screw up for me to go to “Section II”. That of course, is where I disagree with the value and ultimately, the appraisal’s quality to rely upon. It is a rare occasion where I find zero mistakes or inadequacies. Many times I may disagree with the exact number but unless I can prove they are wrong, I chalk it up to 2 competent appraisers coming up with 2 numbers and leave it alone.

Usually they are minor errors (typo on taxes/flood map/lot dimensions). Most issues are failure to summarize. On a 1004, you have to summarize your data. Just filling in the fields and checking off “highest and best use” is not enough. Description of the neighborhood and market is also frequently lacking in detail. However, in the vast majority of the cases, I agree with their data and conclusions and end up stating, “this report can be relied upon”.

If section II is not needed and the Reviewer says it can be relied upon, nothing will be done and you may never even know it was reviewed.

Most of the reviews I've done are because of sloppy work on the part of the appraiser, but I've rarely had an issue with value. Once, I remember that I had a slightly higher value opinion, and right after that I got an order from the very same neighborhood using the same comps I'd just reviewed. I've gotten appraisals back weeks later with a slew of requested revisions, at least half of which are absurd, and that's when I know the appraisal was sent out for review.