That's It! I Have Had It With Lenders.

[Phil Rice]

Doug says:

It's true, other appraisers are our own worst enemy.

You nailed it, I am in total agreement.

That "other appraiser" is trying to steal business from you and other honest appraisers. I do not use the word "steal" lightly. The other appraiser is dishonest and is not playing by the rules. The other appraiser is going to continue the same practice on all of his appraisals as long as it keeps working (i.e., producing the desired results – more business for him and therefore, less for you).

It would be nice if "someone else" would do something about this situation. My advice is to check into how things work in your area. Try to get past the lip service (i.e., BS) and ask yourself, is "someone else" (anyone) going to actually do anything? If so, send them a thank you note.

If no one else is going to do anything - what are you going to do? My advice is:

1) find a way to survive in this environment, or
2) do something to change the environment, or
3) find another job.

Doug, did you get a copy of the appraisal done by "our worst enemy"? File a complaint with the state board. If it is an FHA appraisal, file a complaint with HUD. Will this solve the problem? Nope. Will it be a step in the right direction? Yep. Will one complaint be enough? Nope. Will it be a long slow process? Yep. One complaint will not cause Skippy to lose his license. 3 or 4 complaints might. Before you can get to 3 or 4 complaints, you have to have the first one.

I am not aware of any quick fix where someone else does all the dirty work For those who are wishing that “someone else” would make it illegal for a Mortgage Broker to pressure an Appraiser – wishing is not going to make a difference. Writing letters to government officials advising them that there is a problem is a step in the right direction, but in my opinion, is not going to make a difference. The problem is not going to just go away. There is not “someone else” that is going to ride into town on a white horse and solve this problem. There is only “us”. What are we going to do?

Be proactive. Do something to make a difference. File a complaint against Skippy – figure out how to file an effective complaint, make it part of your business plan. Find out what works and then streamline the process. Do it like the survival of your business (your income) depends on it. And then file another complaint. And another.

 

[jeff samolinski]

Doug:

Yep I know-so why does it even say that at all? There is a need for an inter-agency meeting to happen to get all parties involved to play by the same rules-as it is now we are constantly at odds with the needs and wants of those we work for-this profession needs some updating and USPAP needs to be changed to reflect the conflicts that are inherent between the parties involved in the process.

Been trying to get that point across from a while now but there are many that want to defend USPAP to the bitter end.

 

[DB]

To defend something doesn't mean you have to agree or understand or even not question things. If you don't ask questions, how do you ever learn anything. I am a Christian and try to follow the Bible, and will defend it to my own end, but I have questions. Everything that you don't understand should be questioned. Somethings you can figure out on own your own, like stories and parable and things of that nature, but some the USPAP statements roll over on themselves and it is so apparent and obvious that it doesn' take a genious to ask the question. Still though, with it's flaws, it is the dominating regulatory force in our industry.

I guess what I am saying is...... If you were hanging on by your fingernails, 400 ft off the ground, you might PREFER a 2 inch rope that you could really get your hands on and you know isn't going to potentially send you to the bottom, but you would settle for a piece of yarn and a HOPE that it would hold until someone grabbed you.

Somehow, appraisers are going to have to get involved in the process of re-defining USPAP and get the politicians out. Even appraiser politicians.

 

[jeff samolinski]

Somehow, appraisers are going to have to get involved in the process of re-defining USPAP and get the politicians out. Even appraiser politicians.

Now there's a mouthful especially the part about appraiser politicians-those boys that are appraisers and are on all those boards that regulate us appear to have slipped into the appraiser-politician role a little too much for me-afraid to stand up and make waves for fear of losing their position.

 

[Dan Leggett]

Don't forget to enter the relevant information in the "Let's Give The Names..." post.

(Is there anyway that post could be made into a sticky?)

 

[DB]

Done. It's there now. Thanks for the suggestion!!

 

[Mike Boyd]

I may be wrong but it seems that 75 to 80% of the discussions in this forum are related in one form or another to this issue. It has been a problem since the word APPRASIAL was invented! I think the only issue now is that it creates a USPAP violation. Frankly, I see nothing wrong in telling a lender that the value they say they need is out of line. Or, after inspecting the property, telling the lender that it will not come close to the expected value because of ....whatever, and charging an inspection fee. Certainly, we would like it to be a perfect world where a specific value is not important. But, it IS important. It can be crucial! Who do you think gets stuck for the appraisal fee if the loan does not go through? It typically is NOT the big bad mortgage company. It is either the loan agent or the homeowner, neither one of which can likely afford the cost of an appraisal report if the deal does not go through. Especially, the loan officer who may have 6 or 7 applications he is working on trying to make a living. We complain about AVMs but that could be at least a partial solution to the problem. However, the lending industry discovered that in many cases, that is all they needed to be able to make a lending decision.

We, as appraisers, have ALLOWED others to define our industry, to tell us what we can and cannot do. Here is what I think we, as a group, should do.

1. Only accept appraisal requests on a form that states...."upon acceptance of this order, appraiser will perform an AVM or a comparative market analysis. If the client has requested a specific value and if the AVM or CMA does not demonstrate that the requested value cannot be met, client agrees to pay $50 for that AVM or CMA and the appraisal request will be cancelled. If the AVM or CMA appears to support the value requested, the appraisal request will be completed. The appraiser's judgment will be deemed final.

2. Or, we should lobby to loosen USPAP requirements so that it is not a violation to state that the requested value cannot or is unlikely to be met.

3. In either of the above cases, appraisal fees should become almost standardized and be increased to cover the additional time numbers one and two would involve.

Who, you might ask, has the time to push through such changes? I say, the appraisal organizations such as AI (joke) or the Appraise's Guild. That is what you pay dues for.

Mike

 

[TEL2002]

MIke,

I don't think your idea is bad...however, I don't believe LO's and Lender's will pay $50 for an AVM that tells them it is a dead deal. They will view this as having to pay 3-4 times $50 before they finally find a skippy that will do the job for full fee. My experience has been that they always 'shop' their comp requests to 3-4 appraisers.

 

[DB]

That is why I am saying that the playing field needs to be leveled, and I know I am not alone in this thought. It may not even be original, except in my mind. George Hatch, in another thread, had a great suggestion, in that, the LO's and MB's should be removed from the appraisal process all together and the orders should be coming from appraisers, to appraisers. At least we would be dealing with someone who speaks our language and knows our position.

 

[Mike Boyd]

Doug,

Do the words Appraisal Management Company sound familiar?

Mike