Psycho Appraiser ?

[Wally Jones]

I had a call from a mortgage broker this morning (Judy - that would be Steve & Diane at AGM). He asked for guidance. (He may think twice about asking for my help again!)

Seems they requested an appraisal from a Suwannee County appraiser. It was to be COD. Appraiser said no problem. A few days passed and they called the appraiser. Answering machine. They called the homeowner who confirmed the fellow showed up, did the inspection and collected a check. Calls and faxes to the appraiser over the next two weeks resulted in nothing. In the meantime, they hired another appraiser who finished the report within 36 hours and the deal closed with no problems. The seller confirmed that his check to the first appraiser had been cashed.

He wanted to know what recourse he had with the first appraiser. I recommended he send a letter requesting the guy get in touch with him ASAP to discuss why he hadn't completed the appraisal (it's been almost four weeks). I suggested he mention that if he didn't receive a response that he would have no recourse but to submit a complaint to the Appraisal Board and the state Attorney General. Well, being the impatient type, he faxed this to the guy and within 60 seconds he got a phone call. The appraiser cussed him out good and promised that if he submitted a complaint that he would "kill" him! He repeated it and also said he would kill the seller if they pursued with any sort of complaint! Yikes!

All I could think to tell them was to notify the Suwannee Sherrif's Dept. so that the threat was at least on record and to make sure he wrote down the details of all the events. I'm pretty sure he's not intimidated by this nut (he gave him directions to his house so he could make good on his threat!), but I was too flabbergasted to give any good advice (I tried that to begin with and look what happened!).

Anyhow, just thought I'd see if y'all had any smart suggestions on how to handle this mental case. (I know, there may be another side to this, but the mortgage broker is my brother in law and not given to exaggeration.) I suspect this guy has used threats before and probably will again. He needs help.

Thanks for listening!

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Wally,

Your Brother-in-law needs to file a complaint with the local Sherrif right away. That's way beyond unprofessional!!!

To fall for this threat and do nothing is worse than reporting him.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Would you mind privately emailing me the guy's name and his company's name, if you know it? I do some work in Suwannee County, but more often refer people to the few people that work regularly over there.

I want to make sure he's not one of 'em! (I don't know them very well.)

Thanks,
Kathy in FL
[email protected]

 

[Wally Jones]

Kathy,

I don't know the appraiser's name. Since my brother-in-law didn't volunteer it, I don't feel right asking him. This turned even more bizarre.

My bro.-in-law faxed the guy a second time to request he return the seller's appraisal fee. He mentioned that the seller was a minister and the Bible says it's not a good thing to mess with God's messengers. He had a call from the guy within a few minutes and said he'd be returning the money and that he had enough trouble in his life and didn't want any from God! Sure enough, he was at the seller's door that day with a check plus an extra $25 for his incovenience. He kept asking the seller to forgive him. If this hadn't come straight from my bro.-in-law I would have thought this a nice story, but probably not true. Strange things happen!

Anyhow, a complaint on the guy was sent in. If I find out his name, I'll let you know.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Hmmm...well, at least he made it right. I've had psycho days, myself...this job will do it to you.

I'd still like to be sure I'm not sending people to him, though.

Kathy in FL