Removing the appraisers name prior to review.....

[McPheeters]

I just had an idea about how to possibly reduce the damage of a "rip the appraiser apart" review that occasionally finds it's way into our lives: have the name, address and signature blacked out or removed prior to delivery to the review appraiser. This might take out the personal aspect in that the reviewer has no idea who he/ she is ripping apart. Seems that some review appraisers are attacking the appraiser rather than, or in addition to, reviewing the appraisal. I would suspect that ego (and a whole lot of other things i havent thought of yet) are at work in this scenario. Any thoughts about this subject and possible solutions?

 

[Ruth Langkawel]

To assure lack of bias or hidden agenda on the part of a reviewer, I believe that the appraisers name, address & license number should be obliterated from all pages being presented to the reviewer.

Until this past year, I have returned all review orders that reveal this information. I do not want to know whom I am reviewing. I don't want any information that could supply grist for the rumor mill.

Then some mental giant decided that reviewers are also licensing police. The 2000 version of the field review form requires that we verify the status of the appraisers license on the appraisal date!

So now, for the ever dwindling fee expectation, appraisers not only appraise, but they must be mortgage license police (d*** difficult to collect an unpaid fee from a lender that is not licensed to do mortgage lending in your state), and appraiser license police :? .

Note the word expectation above. I set my fees, not my clients. And I charge what I need to make my business viable. Let the spineless hagglers get what they deserve. And guess what? I've been too darned busy to spend the time that I'd love to spend discussing the business with my compatriots on this forum :!: ...proving that the cream does always rise 8) :lol: .. as I am the most expensive appraiser in my market - to my best knowledge.

DISCLAIMER: Lest anyone take offense to any of my tersely stated opinions, I assure everyone that I carry no animousity( :wink: ) toward my peers; my opinions are offered with the utmost respect for all respectable appraisers, and with understanding of the pressures that we all operate under; and my statements are not aimed at any individual, unless I name them. My passionately stated comments are offered as encouragement to fight back against those pressures. We will only be given what we demand. This is no business for the compliant.

PartingThought: Could the proper biblical translation be "The MEEK shall inherit the GRIEF of the earth"!?! Talk amongst yourselves.

 

[McPheeters]

for that sincere and to-the-point post. I belive all reviews,and the appraisal process in general should be approached with such professionalism and candor.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Ruth,

I'm very proud of you! You GO girl!!!

Miss you here.

 

[Joe Birrell (NY)]

Almost all reviews I see do have the name removed. The reviewers are only as ethical as the rest of the industry is, which is the problem. On the other hand, the quality of work out there is so poor that tearing a report apart dosn't take much. I've reached the point where reviews are not welcomed due to the amount of work involved trying to decipher what's in the report, especially when you have to start providing additional comps, etc. and lender dosn't want to pay a reasonable fee.

 

[Ray Ohler]

at least as far as this market is concerned. I started turning down "reviews" in 1995-96 from a secondary lender precisely for the reason that the reports COULD NOT be properly "reviewed". Too many factual errors from beginning to end AND WAY overstated values (value is an opinion - but when faced with the extreme factual errors; which weren't really errors IMNSHO; the values were SO ridiculous). My client then asked for "re-appraisals" based on the physical attributes of the subject properties (unless based on exterior inspection, something was OBVIOUSLY wrong) as described by the "original" appraiser. I did some checking and many of the property values I s***canned and my client didn't take the loans on, wound up in foreclosure within 1 year. My reward was that I lost a client. But, this isn't a perfect world.

 

[Leon Stewart]

Many years ago, most Appraisal Review Request redacted the Appraisers Name, designation and address. That process was designed to keep Reviewers from showing favoritism to a member of his/her Appraisal Organization or an Appraiser he/she knew personally, and being excessively critical to someone who didn't meet that criteria.

leart3

 

[Restrain]

Whether the review has the appraiser's name attached often depends on the quality of the report that they are sending to me. If it's a cursory review just to get a loan approved from an 'unapproved lender' then I generally see the appraiser's name. If its a quality control review, I generally don't see the appraiser's name, especially if they expect that I'm going to rip it apart.

 

[Blue1]

I for one am glad that the appraiser's name is NOT removed on some of the reviews I have received. At this time I am refusing to review any work done by certain appraiser(s) in my area because past experience has taught me it does not pay to review their work due to the myriad of errors found in their reports. I think a better system should be set up for the review process....maybe all appraisals should be sent to the state board and reviewed. With the advent of complete digital reports, they could be screened by a "review" computer program and the suspect ones could be flagged for a more probing 'human" review. In any case, if everyone knew that all appraisals would go through the state board, I believe the quality of the work would increase........just my opinion.

 

[Leon Stewart]

Blue:

You didn't indicate who would pay for the State to Review all Appraisals? Maybe they could increase the Licensing Fee, say $ 1,000 or $ 1,500. That might help in adding the needed additional Staff.

The best solution would be to create an Agency that would handle all appraisals. They would maintain a roster of all appraisers, receive all request for appraisals from lenders, and order all appraisals from the Appraisers. Consequently they could administer the entire Appraisal System, and their operating cost would be covered by deducting a percentage from each Appraisal.

That setup would eliminate lender pressure, and much of the fraud that exist in the current system, but lenders would fight this idea to the end because it takes away their control of the process, and their munipulation of the Appraisers and the Value conclusion.

leart3