<span style='color:darkblue'>In 1995 (six months after I started my own business) I sued in small claims court (what I heard at the time to be) the largest mortgage company in North America. This was a FNMA 1004 residential job where my "negative comments" ruined the deal. I believe they had no intention of paying, regardless what was said on the phone for three or four months. I received a check two (mailing) days after the principle of the local office was served by the county sheriff's office on his return from lunch with a business prospect or two (per his secretary). The check also covered my "court costs" to file ($25 or so?).
The clerk of court told me that I needed to do nothing more since the "case had settled." She said the case would just be dropped by the courts. She was right, it was automatically dropped. BTW, he (i.e., the branch "owner") had been pissed that I listed the Mortgage Company's name instead of His Name as the defendant in the filing. Silly me. I called the clerk of court, and she changed it for me on the phone -- well, she did on at least some of the paperwork. (Hey, I don't mean to give anybody any ideas here, right?)
However, three months later I received a frantic, angry call from the principle telling me that the mortgage company's Dunn & Bradstreet Ratings had just been downgraded due to this unresolved suit. I told him what I was told, and then contacted the courts by phone again. They checked into it on the spot. It turned out that a plumber had also been stiffed, and that it was that unresolved lawsuit that had done him/them in.
Moral of the story: If they are ripping you off, they are likely ripping off other people too.
But there's more to the story:
In 2000, I "developed" a new commercial client from a new start bank -- they called me from the phone book, I think. I had done four or five jobs for them and liked the loan officers that I worked with from both locations in the county. I even tolerated (because they had a good record with me) a reviewer by that bank who turned out not to even be an appraiser and had virtually no knowledge of appraising -- Ooops, take that back: She had just enough knowledge to be real dangerous, or a royal pain in the drain, for an appraiser.
Her end of the conversation went something like this after I turned in a report to her:
"Word is around here that some appraisers are not
completing all the approaches on Limited Summary
Appraisals -- this has to stop. I need you to do
the income approach on this proposed church
appraisal you just turned in."
(Say whaaat!!)
I apologized dutifully and tried to figure out how in the world to comply.
Well, I've done work for some of the most desirable commercial clients in the Southeast. These banks' review staff heads are almost always very competent MAIs (and I mean "real" MAIs -- not the cheap impostors who have ended up with the designation somehow, as apparently more than a few of them have). I had assumed she was particularly knowledgeable as she was every bit as authoritative and self-assured-sounding as any experienced and qualified reviewer I had ever worked with in the past. I have learned from a reviewer in the past too. Never learned anything quite this radical and bizarre: but, hey, if it is being done by my peers, who am I to challenge the wisdom of the masses...
It happened to come out in a subsequent phone conversation that she was not an appraiser (and never had been) -- but did attended a whole day-long seminar for her new job (which apparently included "How to Deal with Appraisers") but was otherwise fairly new at this lending and appraisal review stuff altogether accept for some residential loan work.
That explains it -- Real well. She was nice but firm, and sure talked a good game for not having a clue what she was talking about -- parroting her new boss who knew even less, but sounded even better. Who was the new boss? The principle of the past mortgage company branch office I had sued six years earlier. When hand delivering the "upgraded" report (with income approach), everyone was gone for the day on that Friday afternoon except him. We introduced ourselves to each other, and looking back, I suspect he did not get the connection at first either -- but he did later on I would imagine. He probably remembered my company name from years before, and on the way back to the office, I remembered his rather unusual name too.
I was cut off from that point on -- I have never got another job from that bank. Was it his doing, or was it a function of the reviewer's embarrassment when she finally learned that income approaches are rarely done on churches, and are absolutely never done on limited appraisal agreements (as I had somewhat meekly tried to explain at the time).
I do not know. However, I will say this: Our "new arrangement" has absolutely suited the hell out of me!
Oh, in retrospect, would I have sued in the same way again in 1995 if I had had a crystal ball forecast for a half decade into the future -- No. I would have sued at least a full month earlier!
Regards,
[me]
NC State-Certified General R.E. Appraiser
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PS. Pamela, this was the post I mentioned a few weeks ago that when I wrote it I would alert you about. I will email you with its URL in a minute to see that you see it.</span>
