NY, FirstAM & WaMu article

[Stone]

Pam,

It's a little early for me on the West coast, but I promise to drink to your health at cocktail time today.

Absolutely. Same here!

 

[eric van horn]

I don't see why eAppraiseIT would inflate the appraisals or how, besides altering the appraisals after they were submitted by the appraiser. I haven't done a lot of appraisals for E, probably less then 100 and never has anyone come back to me for any value issues. In fact the only AMC that has ever asked me for a value reconsideration was RELS and that only happened 1 time so far.

Are there people on this forum that have actually had E or another AMC pressure them to increase their values?

I've had problems with them calling to ask "is it done yet?" every five minutes, but never anything about value. In fact, the lack of pressure is pretty much their only saving grace.

 

[Smokey Bear]

Is Eappraiseit now going to sue Cuomo for libel and slander?

 

[JRS at OBX]

Pam,

It's a little early for me on the West coast, but I promise to drink to your health at cocktail time today.

Here here!!! woohoo

 

[Oregon Doug]

OMG!!!! I am not surprised about Eappraiseit but I am genuinely shocked about WAMU. Why, I don't know, but I am...

I'm shocked that you're shocked. I've known about WAMU since sometime in the early 90's when they were buying their way out of a hole. I often question the integrity of appraisers who tout doing work for them.

Oregon Doug

 

[moh malekpour]

NY Attorney general filed a civil lawsuit against eAppraiseIT

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/ny-attorney-ag-.html

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office charged today in a civil lawsuit that the nation's largest mortgage and property services corporation, its home appraisal subsidiary and the nation's largest savings and loan giant conspired to inflate the value of home appraisals, earning higher profits for the bank but leaving homeowners holding potentially risky debt loads.

And the attorney general says his office has the e-mails to prove it.

According to civil court papers filed in New York City, at least 50 e-mails between executives from the mortgage and property services conglomerate, First American Corporation, its wholly owned subsidiary, eAppraiseIT, and Washington Mutual document a "raise the value" scheme.

According to the attorney general's office, the scheme was hatched in an effort to satisfy the demands of savings and loan giant Washington Mutual that would in turn allow IT to write an increased amount of loans for more money

"The independence of the appraiser is essential to maintaining the integrity of the mortgage industry. First American and eAppraiseIT violated that independence when Washington Mutual strong-armed them into a system designed to rip off homeowners and investors alike," said Cuomo in a statement.

While profitable for Washington Mutual, the loans, especially in a declining housing market, put consumers at risk of being "upside down" on their home loans, the AG's office said. In that situation, should they attempt to sell or refinance their property, they might owe more in loans than the property is actually worth.

"The blatant actions of First American and eAppraiseIT have contributed to the growing foreclosure crisis and turmoil in the housing market. By allowing Washington Mutual to hand-pick appraisers who inflated values, First American helped set the current mortgage crisis in motion," Cuomo said

 

[Ms. Janet]

Doesn't eappraiseit have some kind of insurance covering the appraisals they provide to WAMU? Isn't that why they weren't all that concerned about appraisal quality?

 

[Smokey Bear]

The plot thickens. Hopefully, in the end, so much info will come out against them that they'll be forced to pay Pam's legal fees for a frivolous lawsuit.

 

[Tom Barclay]

I've had problems with them calling to ask "is it done yet?" every five minutes, but never anything about value. In fact, the lack of pressure is pretty much their only saving grace.

I don't think that the issue is one of individual appraisal pressure to increase values; just those appraisers that routinely "ignore" the "value needed, estimated value, etc" are never given any more work. Those that cooperated by meeting a target value were rewarded with continued employment. The rest of us were left high and dry.

 

[Ms. Janet]

I'm shocked that you're shocked. I've known about WAMU since sometime in the early 90's when they were buying their way out of a hole. I often question the integrity of appraisers who tout doing work for them.

Oregon Doug

I'm shocked that I'm shocked too....