Review: Appraiser I'm reviewing calls me

[RSW]

I'll bet that appraiser doesn't get much sleep tonight!

 

[Tudor]

You could have scared the sheet out of him and just hurriedly said you didn't have time to chit chat, you were reviewing a POS appraidal that would be going to the state board by the end of the day. By the way, I didn't catch your name

Too Funny

 

[Metamorphic]

I was doing a review and ended up calling the appraiser because it was so bad I had serious doubts about whether it was a fraudulent use of their name and signature. It wasn't . Ouch!

 

[GulfBoating]

Metamorphic are you doing review appraisals as an "Appraiser Trainee"? How do you sign the reveiw form with your state certification number or your state license number. Looking at the form I don't see a place for trainees. I don't see any place for the supervisor appraiser? I am new on this site but I have been appraising for over twenty years. I am all for quality control but I do think we should have better control over reviewers. Metamorphic I don't know your knowledge or abilities I am questioning Appraiser Trainees doing review appraisals. Does anyone else have a problem with Trainees doing review appriasals.

 

[RSW]

I believe Metamorphic has been licensed but his status has not been changed on this forum. If I remember correctly.

 

[Metamorphic]

Metamorphic are you doing review appraisals as an "Appraiser Trainee"? How do you sign the reveiw form with your state certification number or your state license number. Looking at the form I don't see a place for trainees. I don't see any place for the supervisor appraiser? I am new on this site but I have been appraising for over twenty years. I am all for quality control but I do think we should have better control over reviewers. Metamorphic I don't know your knowledge or abilities I am questioning Appraiser Trainees doing review appraisals. Does anyone else have a problem with Trainees doing review appriasals.

We've been through this before. I work with a registered appraiser; its his assignment. We sit down and look at the appraisal together and figure out where we're going with the review. We discuss the appraisal in detail as we do the field work for the field review. I retreat to the computer and do the write up. He reviews and signs. This works out great for both of us because I have a very strong technical writing background so he gets stuff that reads better than if he had written it himself, and I enjoy and learn a lot from the mistakes of others. You know, just like how the whole "trainee" thing is supposed to work.

About 2/3'rd of the people here don't think trainees should participate in reviews, the other 1/3rd think its a great way to get experience. Quite frankly, with the utter dreck I've seen in the 2 reviews I've done, I don't think its that hard of a job. The bad appraisers aren't sufficiently afraid of a negative consequence to even bother to be sneaky about committing fraud or pushing value. Its not like you have to be a friggin appraisal genius to match up the report photos with the photos in the MLS, notice that the columns in the comp grid that should add up automatically were defeated so that they didn't add up, clue into the fact that plat map shows a river on the property, but that there's no river near where the appraiser claims to have appraised a property, or notice that the comps had hundreds of thousands in high end amenities that weren't mentioned or adjusted in the comp grid.

 

[PropertyEconomics]

I was doing a review and ended up calling the appraiser because it was so bad I had serious doubts about whether it was a fraudulent use of their name and signature. It wasn't . Ouch!

Not picking on you .. I swear .. but did you have your clients permission to call the appraiser? My question arises because its your mentors assignment not yours as you have noted, and calling an appraiser while doing a review, without the permission of your client would be a violation of the confidentiality provisions of USPAP. I would think, since its your mentors assignment, they would have to contact the client and then contact the appraiser, not the trainee.
Im not doubting your arrangement at all .... but Im just curious.

 

[Joyce Potts]

Anyone one find it odd that an appraiser really has no where to turn to file a complaint on this kind of unethical behavior on the part of mortgage brokers, yet every state has an appraisal board that usually can't handle the case load?

 

[Metamorphic]

We did call the client and told him there were a couple of things about the report that looked pretty fishy, and basically said, its in neither of our interests to review a report if it wasn't done by the person who's name is on it. We got permission to contact the appraiser to check that he did in fact appraise the property. What ever the appraiser told us about the property was a confidentially issue between him and his client.

 

[Vernon Martin]

....out of the blue. I've only done a preliminary search of market data and have not even looked at the guy's appraisal in depth. I ask him what I can do for him and he says "I was told you needed to speak with me". Obviously, the client is playing games because I didn't tell anyone any such thing.

I personally don't want to speak with the guy. I plan to do my review, note what I've found and give an opinion of value (as required by the client). Beyond that, I have absolutely no reason to talk to the appraiser being reviewed, nor do I want to. Personally, I think it's not a good idea to talk to the appraiser being reviewed. Everyone's works should stand for itself. No further explanation is needed for a review process.

How would you handle this?

This does happen to me. I tell the appraiser that my client (the lender) requires that all communication go through them, and this is true. They have the option of providing my review report to the mortgage broker who hired him, and he can respond accordingly.

This occasionally leads to a teleconference between me, my lender client, the mortgage broker, and the broker's pet appraiser, but considering that the original appraiser is not usually hired to be objective, the teleconference is typically over in a short time. Simple questions like "This apartment building was finished in 2000. Why does it still not have a certificate of occupancy?" typically end such teleconferences quickly.