What I find most profound about this letter is the fact that to my recollection this is the first time any of the major professional associations has come out with an opinion about the conduct of Appraisal Management Companies.
A few of the state boards have , including mine. They also recomended that brokers and LO's be licensed and have criminal pentalties for pressuring appraisers.
In Ohio too, and this should be done in every state. However, all the legislation will not and has not changed anything without enforcement.
I don't think it is a matter of collecting on our E&O that makes us such attractive targets. It is a ruse to hide the lax enforcement of existing laws. It is easy to point to the appraiser and say they inflated the value, but they don’t ask the question why the appraiser would do such a thing. Surly the evil genius of the whole scheme is much higher up the food chain than the lowly appraiser. The appraiser who inflates value is either poorly trained or coerced. Therefore, the problem clearly lies in the lack of proper education/training and enforcement in every aspect of the industry.