NY, FirstAM & WaMu article

[Couch Potato]

LOL.. Like First American and WaMu need a dippy residential appraiser to defend them.

I'm not defending anyone. There are problems on both sides, apparently. But I'm not sure Cuomo is on solid ground in alleging that there was a conspiracy for the purpose of inflating propety values. It seems more like WaMu was righteously frustrated over a lack of quality appraisals and sent some email correpondence with ill chosen words which have now become high profile buzz words. eAp didn't like the idea of being bossed around and having their cut-rate appraiser model monkeyed with so they thought they might play some hardball using FRI compliance issues as spitballs.

Aw Greg, come on. Join the party. Lets lynch them all.

While there is not much I would like to see more than eAppraiseIt and other AMCs disappear, filing a law suit is a long way from winning a case. The government generally gets a minimum of a settlement of some kind due to being in a superior bargaining position to any private party.

The emails clearly show a desire for some appraisers to be chosen over others, but there is a big jump from that to trying to influence value. Time will tell what the result of the case will be. Anything short of eAppraiseIt paying a huge fine or ceasing to do business in at least NY will be a victory for eAppraiseIt.

 

[Kevin A. Spellman]

Washington Mutual is aggressive throughout the loan origination process. They are aggressive with their wholesale division and their retail division. The originator participates in all levels and they have been for well over seven years that I have known them. Their business model at the turn of this century was PRODUCTION and enrichment was given to all participants who assisted in closing the loan. This included the appraisers.

They shut down their approved appraiser list and then eliminated their appraisal department. They sought an AMC who they could possibly controlled and then portray themselves as being distant from the appraisal process. I know several prior Wamu’s employees who predicted this scenario.

The benefited of this EappraiseIT problem is, it will show the lending industry that public trust can only be found with the appraiser and not with a national appraisal service provider.

There is no enrichment for an appraiser with an AMC. EappraiseIT is an amateur service provider and they should loose their clients. They do not deserve to provide service to the lending industry.

 

[Ray Miller]

15,000 views of this thread...5 star rating.


Excellent point..

we gotta stop working with these folks period..got to.

Never happen, they are stale bread and oleo for a lot of appraisers. Those appraiser would not know what to do with a full fee. There happy where they are at.

Never could figure out how you can work below a living wage and pay all of your business expense. I know, I know, it just fill in work.

 

[Couch Potato]

Kevin, it all sounds plausible, but if one looks at posts in this forum prior to WaMu going with eAppraiseIt and LSI, one will find WaMu described as a great client that just wants a good, solid appraisal. Many were upset about losing such a good client, since they would not work for the two AMCs. I have no first hand information one way or the other, but there is definitely conflicting information. Over the next few months I'm sure it will all be sorted out.

The most surprising thing to me is that the AMC being sued is eAppraiseIt and not LSI.

 

[Kevin A. Spellman]

What is the record for the longest post reply we are up to 414.

 

[Couch Potato]

Try looking at the housing bubble thread in the general real estate area; it's 10 times as long.

 

[CANative]

I think AMC's should be required to select qualified appraisers with experience in the local market. There should be a tiered pay schedule based on license level, local market characteristics and complexity of the subject property.

Getting on an AMC list should involved more than sending in license, w-9, and E&O sheet. World Savings/Wachovia has a really neat method of getting appraisers "on the list" which involves a series of applications and required documents. After getting through the "pre-screening" process there is a required 2 to 3 hour orientation meeting in the local area they are recruiting in which includes the entire batch of appraisers under consideration. It's almost like a mini-CE course and there are class handouts.

The AMC could use this process to ensure only highly motivated, competenent and experienced appraisers get on the panel. There should be annual or semi-annual requirements to remain on the list such as online seminars for additional training and updating. There should also be local peer review by senior appraiser's within the local market designated (and compensated) for that funtion.

Pay the appraisers a market based fee for their good work, less a reasonable and consistent discount for their benefit to the appraiser in managing clients and collections (not based on ground down AMC fees) Reward consistently good work, good customer service and response times with intangible items like official "attaboys" or other recognition (which can be used by the appraiser in a more tangible manner in marketing their services with good references) and perhaps some tangle benefits such as year end bonuses, increased number of assignments or reduction in fee discounts.

Sanction poor performance, poor work, and poor customer service at increasingly severe levels until removal from the panel is necessary. Make sure an open, understandable, correctable and fair process is part of the program.

It may cost more for each appraisal this way but it's the borrowr who pays and this can (and has been) passed on to them anyway. I don't think borrowers really care that much. An extra $200 on the appraisal fee is only about $1.40 per month.

I think most lenders would be very interested in an AMC that went to great lengths to make sure that the best appraiser gets matched up with each and every property they are considering making a loan on.

 

[Lloyd Bonafide]

I think most lenders would be very interested in an AMC that went to great lengths to make sure that the best appraiser gets matched up with each and every property they are considering making a loan on.

I would like to think that lenders would be interested in that, and they should be, if they wanted to protect their best institution, but............

 

[Renee Healion]

For those who think the emails and other information came from unhappy employees, the AG issued subpoenas for them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/b...74&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

New York Times, 11/2/07: "Mr. Cuomo’s case is built on e-mail messages obtained through a subpoena to First American."

and in an interview,

"Mr. Cuomo said investigators had spent nine months interviewing hundreds of mortgage industry executives and poring over millions of documents obtained through subpoenas."

That's a lot of work. Wonder what's next on Wednesday.

 

[CANative]

There is new software coming on the market that will allow one to send a "self destructing" email. You can program you email to permanently destroy itself leaving no recoverable record. Set it for a year or set it to destruct while it's being read. The only way to defeat the self destructing email is by some quick thinking recipient who captures it with a screen shot.