Same old comp check, different approach.

[Jim Onderisin]

I've received several phone calls which resemble one another in their approaches. Maybe some of you are familiar with this type of call:

The caller identifies himself as owner of a property and asks if I can appraise it for refinancing. I say I can appraise it but his lender may not accept the appraisal since they didn't engage me directly. He says he doesn't have a lender yet. He'd rather have me appraise it, updating him on the property's likely value as the appraisal process progresses (he's looking for a specific value). He's willing to pay directly for the appraisal, go to a lender I recommend (who has me on its "approved appraiser" list), show my appraisal to the lender and ask it to engage me. He says the lender will hire me, I'll produce the same appraisal for the lender and be paid a second appraisal fee, and he won't have to pay for several appraisals before finding one which "meets his needs".

I'd never received a call like this until this year. I've received 3 like this over the past 2 months. Has this become a trend in our area? Anyone have similar calls? What do you think about this approach? (By the way...I turned the "opportunities" down, if anyone cares.)

 

[Scott Kibler]

I got a voice mail from some guy that was thoughful enough to leave a detailed message which discussed such a process. He even indicated that he was looking for an $800,000 value. I'm too busy to screw around with such nonesence and never returned the call. I kept the message saved for a while but ultimately deleated it. so far I haven't received any other similar calls.

 

[William K]

Did they have an equity line of credit through a lender that was closed on them?

Have had it happen also this year and every time it was a CW, line of credit that was closed because "property values dropped in your area so we are canceling your line of credit" , " if you want get an appraisal from an appraiser and we'll accept it".

I also turned them down after explaining what the lender was up to , 2 people thanked me for my honesty the other said "I'll just call someone who wants to play ball with me!"

( Funny, he never said he was an unemployed baseball player? I love playing ball! :laugh

 

[Jim Onderisin]

William: Now that you mention it, one of the calls was due to the lender freezing a credit line. That caller made an appointment for me to do the appraisal. At my suggestion, he checked with his lender to see if they'd accept an appraisal they didn't directly engage. He later left a message cancelling the appointment, but didn't give a reason. I didn't call him back to ask, either.

If a lender freezes a credit line because it suspects declined values, is it really willing to take a borrower-engaged appraisal as proof of value? If so, what's wrong with accepting a request for that use? Nothing I can see.

 

[Mountain Man]

Haven't had that call yet, but have had a goodly share of phone calls asking for comp checks on FHA appraisals!!

 

[Jim Onderisin]

Yeah...FHA is the new scam.

 

[xmtpedprl]

Indeed, FHA is also going to spiral out of control, especially in light of how easy they made it to get on their damn list.

I had to take a class, pass an AMP exam (50 questions), the whole she-bang. Probably many of you did, as well. Now it's 'Sign and Send.'

RIDICULOUS.

Dave...

 

[William K]

If a lender freezes a credit line because it suspects declined values, is it really willing to take a borrower-engaged appraisal as proof of value? If so, what's wrong with accepting a request for that use? Nothing I can see.

SOW....It goes to the intended use and intended users are. As well as the function / purpose of the valuation.

We may complete an appraisal but the first question I ask is what is the intended use? "why do you need the appraisal?"
If they say the lender said they will accept it then I know I have a third party who will rely upon the appraisal and are now an intended user and it ( report) needs to be written in accordance with lending guidelines.

Since it is for lending purposes to determine what equity there is ( home equity loan) the lender must engage not the borrower.

 

[Jim Onderisin]

William: I see what you are saying. That makes sense.

Each homeowner has mentioned they are trying to go directly through the appraiser to avoid buying multiple appraisals. They're attempting the same "comp search" approach used by brokers. I'm wondering if brokers are putting them up to this because brokers are now under scrutiny for this practice (finally). The broker would then submit an application to the lender who has the the appraiser on its list and suggest the lender use the same appraiser. The homeowner would pay for another appraisal, but the appraiser would likely discount the second appraisal fee because most work had already been done. Could that be what's going on here?

 

[Suz-E]

Lenders ARE putting them up to this. About a month ago a guy my husband works with came up to him and asked if I could tell him how much his house is worth. My husband says, "So you want an appraisal done on your house? Are you moving?"....just small talk questions. He proceeds to tell him that, NO, in fact he wanted to re-fi and the broker told him to go to an appraiser or realtor and ask to find out how much his house was worth, over the phone, call him back and tell him....THEN he could tell him if he could proceed with the loan. Of course, that PO'd the heck out of me, so I referred him to my neighbor, who is a very honest broker, and she ended up doing the loan without giving him the run around.

I found out at a later date the other broker called him back asking what the problem was, could he not find an appraiser to do a sales check. He then told the broker he went with another lender, and the guy tried to talk him out of it, telling him he would roll in all his costs, etc. When he asked how much the costs were, just to compare, the broker said, "Don't worry about it! They're all rolled in! The appraisal can be high enough to cover it." The guy pressed on, asking how much the costs were, and when the broker told him, it was upwards of $8 grand!!:Eyecrazy:

Back to the original point...YES, they are doing this.