Old boss changed report and signed my name.

[McPheeters]

Mr. Phillips,

Good post. ... You know, what is not discussed so far would be the two very different circumstances of a single person appraiser office calling their spouse, who is fairly trained to "package" a report, and having them insert exhibits then affix a signature and send off a report that was all completed in all other ways..... Versus a kind of office situation the O.P. had wherein the O.P. became aware of FHA and VA certifications being falsified while at the same time allowing access to the O.P.s signature by the same untrustworthy people. I would have to say that in the first case the appraiser kept control. But, and this is not meant as harsh as it sounds but I can't help it, .... in the second case the appraiser involved is very foolish. "Control" in the second case can be seriously doubted.

Webbed.

My red. That is porobably a common practice in small family-run shops, and one that may well be considered acceptable in a casual way; however I would bet that in court one might find themselves unable to completely defend that practice as "in control" of the signature. My office operates under the husband/wife scenario, and I can tell you with all certainty that I am the only one affixing or removing my signature. But hey, I'm kinda weird about my signature anyway......

 

[Webbed Feet]

Ms. Crowley,

I am ready to commit blasphemy this morning....

I have long suspected that questions sent to the ASB do not reappear in the ASB's questions and answers in the form those questions were originally presented in. Far too many of the "questions" are too clean, too sanitized, too left open with loopholes by being broadly (or carefully) worded to so make them perfectly fit the answers. ... Sorry ASB, but the human element of even a bit of bad grammer is missing.

My personal opinion is questions come in worded in ways the ASB does not want to play ball with in any responding published answer. So a request goes out to .... certain people one might say.... to please ask a "similar" question that has been all cleaned up to remove any disturbing element of the question that might not be something wanted to be delt with. Yes, I am taking a wild *** guess about the possible process going on. But it is all that makes sense to me in order to try and answer to myself why everything is so clean and sanitary. As to why the questions work so wonderfully well with all the answers all the time.

End result? I strongly suspect that very often the answers are only to 50%, or less, of the content of the real questions that may have included all the elements of concern to real estate appraisers. So we get something back that barely covers the issues and often leaves gaping holes unanswered regarding the realities of what we are dealing with in the real world. All too often my reaction is one of asking myself as to why this word or phrase, that word or phrase, was not included in the question so that the question demanded an answer that actually had to address the entire problem(s) at hand most real estate appraisers are having to confront in the real world on that issue? Versus all of us getting something back that still leaves most of us twisting in the wind on the issue with unanswered questions about it.

Once again, it seems to me just exactly like the answers were written for a question that was specified later to fit the answers. It's as if a few people really think all the rest of us are just too stupid to notice all of it is considerably too neat and tidy.

Webbed.

 

[Webbed Feet]

My red. That is porobably a common practice in small family-run shops, and one that may well be considered acceptable in a casual way; however I would bet that in court one might find themselves unable to completely defend that practice as "in control" of the signature. My office operates under the husband/wife scenario, and I can tell you with all certainty that I am the only one affixing or removing my signature. But hey, I'm kinda weird about my signature anyway......

Mr. Woolley,

I had to sleep on some things asked of me yesterday. So you might like, or dislike, the thoughts I woke up with on this today.

A) Start with the husband / wife "one man office" problem. In this case the appraiser has an on-going relationship with extremely high levels of trustworthiness in place (hopefully!). The appraiser is informed, knows about each circumstance, and is giving permission in a very limited situation. I may alter my opinion, but if I were on a board, at this moment, I'd have to say control was maintained.

B) Take this to the open larger office situation wherein the owner(s) of the office demands to have the passwords, and thereby signature access, of all of mulitple appraisers working for the owner(s). I say we now have an animal of an entirely different color. This color must certainly be shaded by the element of expectation of trustworthiness present in the situation. The degree of the expectation just dropped to the bottom of the bucket even when no breach of trustworthiness has been known to occur by any of the appraiser staff by the owner(s). Let's go deeper. Toss in it is known throughout the office the owner(s) are violating preprinted appraisal certifications in the reports going out the door. Now the trustworthiness just jumped out of the bucket completely. If I, or you, sat on a board in judgement over such a situation what do you think that I, or you, would decide regarding "control" over an appraiser working there facing a board complaint?

C) The next one, and I think Ms. Crowley's and your ears might perk on this. .. ... Now we move on to an AMC, or "portal" type of operation, that appraisal reports are being transmitted to. First, we need to go right back to the expectation of trustworthiness, and this of course in a present time consideration demands all appraisers must consider recent and current events in order to determine that. It is our duty to the public trust, right? After trustworthiness, in each and every individual case is the appraiser's permission obtained, is the appraiser completely and in every possible way informed in detail exactly anything, approved or not approved by that appraiser, being done with that appraiser's signature? I betcha see where my opinion on this one is headed! ... Exactly where does any trust come from out of an entire country of real estate appraisers in some third party businesses that are not disclosing what they are doing in the background with signatures of those appraisers? How about when a copy of an appraisal report altered by a third party is NOT being returned to the appraiser for the appraiser's approval regarding that alteration? .. In fact, the appraiser never sees what got altered how, but the appraiser's signature is stuck back on something the appraiser has never seen in any final and complete report format? Perhaps there may be a claim the appraiser is shown the alterations via computer screen before the appraiser clicks on "send." But the reality is the appraiser has no way of assurance what was shown was what intended users later got?

Ok, on "C"..... Here it comes, my nasty opinion for all involved. Real estate appraisers cannot participate in something full of unanswered questions, no assurances, absolutely no proof regarding what is going on with their signatures and something later represented to be a certified report from those appraisers that is something other than what they originally signed. The end result cannot possibly be construed to be what those appraisers certified to be their reports. There is no reasonable expectation of trustworthiness that can be made regarding the situation. There is no reasonable expectation any intended user is going to receive something with content that factually represents the appraiser(s) opinions in any manner that is not out of context or missing crucial information.

I'll plagerize a saying, but at least say it is not original of me. The saying has to be attributed to others long before me. The above is just my opinion, sometimes I am right!

Webbed.

 

[McPheeters]

Webbed:

A) the key word is "hopefully".....

B) I concur.

C) Absolutely!

And here is the solution (my blue):

"Real estate appraisers cannot participate in something full of unanswered questions, no assurances, absolutely no proof regarding what is going on with their signatures and something later represented to be a certified report from those appraisers that is something other than what they originally signed."

To those of you following this thread and using or contemplating using portals such as Appraisalport where your sig is tampered with: Consider saying NO.


Thank you again Webbed for another articulate and detailed post.



Paul