Review for Valocity/IndyMac Made Me Mad

[Carnivore]

Charles,

I sincerely hope that happens. Indymac runs a straight shop I hope they keep it that way.

Brad E. is who I as thinking of.

 

[Brad Ellis]

Robin,

Sorry to be late in this response but just saw the string.

OK- Valocity will NOT ask you to do something unethical for IMB. However, the truth is the end goal and it is certainly possible that your first report did not address the situation adequately. But, I do not know for sure.

Now I wrote the specs for the scope of work- personally. Why additional comps? Because I was just plain old sick and tired of seeing the field reviewer get lazy and just agree with value when it was pretty clear that the original was wrong. How would I know? Appraised value is $300K and uses comps 6/10-1 mile away when I have 50 sales of homes of similar size, year built, etc. within half a mile selling in the low 2's. Of course, nothing automatic but such a circumstance absolutely needs explanation.

So, I now require 1 comp to demonstrate they did not use the 3 highest in the market if you are going to agree with value and 2 more if you will disagree. Level 1 and level 2. The level is up to you as it will depend upon what you find.

IF I am going to court or forcing repurchase on this I need the additional data- and the darn MLS sheets as well on the old ones and the new ones (unless your board prohibits that).

And this does not change the assignment at all- about every one of these is a full SR-3 review that includes an opinion of value; I'm just asking for additional support. And that IS part of the scope of work ordered- hopefully clearly stated.

I do NOT want you to lie and tell me that the original was wrong if it was not. I could NEVER defend that in court if it gets that far and I'm sure NOT looking for bogus stuff. I DO want you to tell me if the original was wrong if it was. Whether or not it ends up in repurchase or in court is not something you need worry about; we would tell you if we anticipated needing your testimony and that is quite rare.

So these retro reviews are SR-3 compliant with specific scope of work requirements from the client (me). Accepting or rejecting the assignment and the fee paid is between you and the agent company ordering them- in this case Valocity.

Valocity WILL question you if they think you are wrong or have not adequately supported your opinion- just like any other client/agent for a client.

Anyone who gets these ought to first think about why they are being ordered. Do you think I want to waste money on geting these unless I actually suspect something? Now, my suspicions cannot always be right, of course. THAT is one of the reasons I'd engage a local appraiser.

Pull out your first report and look it over. Was your report clear in support of the origination value and circumstances? Did the extra comps you gridded out demonstrate that? Was there other data that on paper looked like a much lower value was appropriate but that you know from your own market experience were really not indicative of value?

I get them in daily. About 10-20% are probably just garbage; hence the AMC asking you for either clearer data or more data. Remember you are producing this for a client that can be thousands of miles away.

Brad E.

 

[Brad Ellis]

One more thing-

Of course this is an appraisal and a review. The overwhelming majority of these are and all that is covered in SR-3 and all the other advice and pronouncements from the ASB.

Brad

 

[CANative]

Find honest and competent appraisers who will do reviews the right way and put in the time and effort that is REQUIRED and then stick with them. Direct the AMC's to not run down a list of appraiser names and phone numbers out of the phone book calling until the fee is correct. Otherwise, you get what you pay for. Look at all the time wasted going back and forth with a lazy, ding dong appraiser just to get it right when it should have been done right in the first place.

An appraiser can't do a proper amount of due diligence for $175. I don't care what Joe Moore or anyone else says.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Brad, how much did IndyMac pay Valocity and how much did Valocity pay the appraiser??? I don't think you are getting what IndyMac is paying for when using an AMC. The truly competent and ethical appraisers rarely accept the insulting fees and unrealistic turn times the AMCs demand. How much EXTRA is IndyMac willing to pay to use AMCs???

 

[The Warrior Monk]

FTR, I quit doing reviews for many reasons, one of which is the pay issue. The fee would have to be at least 50% over my (not the AMC's) usual fee to even consider doing the review and followup appraisal.

Lenders don't want to seem to pony up the cash for such a service. It's simply cheaper to have another appraisal done, complete with interior inspection.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

I'm thinking the "Lenders" pay plenty to the AMCs for these.

 

[Tudor]

Brad, how much did IndyMac pay Valocity and how much did Valocity pay the appraiser??? I don't think you are getting what IndyMac is paying for when using an AMC. The truly competent and ethical appraisers rarely accept the insulting fees and unrealistic turn times the AMCs demand. How much EXTRA is IndyMac willing to pay to use AMCs???

IMO the only appraisers accepting these low fees are newly licensed, supervising appraisers (making up for the lower fees with volume and trainees doing the work) or ethical hardworking starving appraisers (starving because of the previous 2 I just listed). So out of those 3, who do you think you are going to get quality work from?

An appraiser friend of mine told me of one AMC (I cannot recall the name) that would start sending out orders in the morning at $125.00 each (for 1004's) and then increase the price slowly until all orders were accepted, usually topping out at $180-$200. That company was looking for quality work, eh???

Another note, just because an appraisal looks clean means absolutely nothing. Some of the cleanest appraisals I have seen are total crap once you start verifying data and researching the market and then realize they made it look clean on purpose (to avoid red flags). Some of those appraisals that look clean are most likely worse then the one full of red flags.

 

[Annemieke Roell]

Find honest and competent appraisers who will do reviews the right way and put in the time and effort that is REQUIRED and then stick with them. Direct the AMC's to not run down a list of appraiser names and phone numbers out of the phone book calling until the fee is correct. Otherwise, you get what you pay for. Look at all the time wasted going back and forth with a lazy, ding dong appraiser just to get it right when it should have been done right in the first place.

.

Here is another reason why being a review appraiser should require special training and its own designation ......

 

[Greg Bell]

I did a review with the Comps and Data all correct and looking good , except the extra 50K on each comparable sale. Must have been a typo..