Refunds

[Bill_FL]

In another thread, the subejct of refunds have come up. Have you ever given a refund for an appraisal you did?

 

[George Hatch]

Return a fully earned fee for a completed appraisal assignment? Nope, never done that, yet. However, I would do that if I had totally screwed up an assignment and couldn't fix it. Of course, messing up on an assignment is going to mean completely different things to an appraiser than it will to a mortgage broker. In which case, my definition is the only one that counts. Clients don't ever get their money back just because the value doesn't come in.

 

[Farm Gal]

I have refunded money exactly ONCE.

I accepted a COD order on a property I had appraised before: a pre-76 mobile home with modifications what Bobby Bucks calls a 'trouse'. This was very shortly after the change in Fannie Guidelines which effectively made this an unlendable property.

Lacking any information on who was going to be lending on such a property, what market stigma might result from having to find non-traditional lenders, I elected to refund the money.

I received innumerable docs from the mortgage broker indicating that he HAD found a home for the loan... all of which docs referenced either Fannie Mae Guidelines or internal lending rules precluding the loan being acceptable... . dim bulb didn't even READ what he was sending me...

The loan closed about two weeks after I refunded the homeowner's money. I sure would like to have seen the fast and probably dirty appraisal report that supported this loan<_< I bet it made NO mention of the steel undercarriage, missing tags and other such pertinent data.

What's a girl to do .

 

[Chris Colston]

Only once.

It was part of the agreement signed by the homeowner who was seeking a "reverse" mortgage.

These are usually FHA type loans. The homeowner is retired and on a fixed income. The "lender" offers to the "pay" the homeowner a monthly mortgage payment. The catch is the homeowner may not sell the house, or else they have pay back the entire sum. The homeowner(s) does get a "life estate".

Anyway the agreement that gets signed with lender (there are only 3 in the country who do these) is if the loan does not close for any reason, the fee is refunded back to the homeowner. My one time, the loan did not close because the subject Condo was not on the FHA approved list.

I have refunded partial fees, based on the amount of work completed prior to cancellation.

 

[Farm Gal]

Chris:

Were you informed of this clause in accepting the order? I have done several Reverses and was unaware of this clause nor do I feel it is MY duty to refund ANY money... seems to me that is a LENDER responsibility!

Says the gal with a couple FHA Reverse Mortgage appraisals on desk or pending .

I am not planning on handing over any money I earned

 

[Jeff Horton]

If I completed it? Nope, never.

Just refunded the fee on one I didn't complete. I got into it found out I was not competant to complete it.

 

[Lee SW IL]

I refunded one fee. It was COD.

A home I appraised before. Which I did not catch until later.
I did not remember I was in this house before, until the end of the inspection.

So I did all the field work, worked up the report, and came in at little lower than the 1st report. I couldn't figure out why, as this was in a good, increasing market. I then realized, the square footage was different, my 1st report was like 200 sq ft bigger. :redface: :redface: I transposed a number.

I felt bad and apologized, refunded the fee as they needed the fee to be higher than the 1st. Since I was in error, I refunded their fee. I would not have refunded the fee for any other reason.

 

[Bill_FL]

I was just curious. Have you waived a fee?

I refunded a few. Not for any reason other than out of respect for someone working very hard to make the most of what they had, which was very little. Just tore up the check and mailed it back.

 

[Chris Colston]

Originally posted by Lee Ann@Oct 1 2003, 01:58 PM
Chris:

Were you informed of this clause in accepting the order? I have done several Reverses and was unaware of this clause nor do I feel it is MY duty to refund ANY money... seems to me that is a LENDER responsibility!

I do alot of these (reverse mortgages), too...Florida afterall...land of the displaced New Yorkers and retirees.

That was the first one I ever had to give back. It was the lender's fault for not first checking on the condo, but since it was COD and I had not yet cashed the check I just returned it to the old guy.

He appreciated it, said he would recommend me to his friends. I figured, what's one fee in 15 years?? :mrgreen:

To answer the question....Yes it was right on the order that the fee would be refunded if the loan could not close. Something about that's the way the program is written.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

To answer the question....Yes it was right on the order that the fee would be refunded if the loan could not close. Something about that's the way the program is written.

Are you sure that isn't just something that lender throws in?