The New Appraisal Industry

[George Hatch]

[shrugs] It appears they consider greed and self-interest to be as good a reason as any.

Their motivations notwithstanding, when the discussion is "what is an appraisal?" the fact that appraisers have done no-inspection appraisals since before either of us started appraising becomes an inconvenient truth.

 

[J Grant]

[shrugs] It appears they consider greed and self-interest to be as good a reason as any.

Their motivations notwithstanding, when the discussion is "what is an appraisal?" the fact that appraisers have done no-inspection appraisals since before either of us started appraising becomes an inconvenient truth.

People like you who shrug at greed destroying a profession are part of the problem.

The discussion is not about what an appraisal is. The discussion is what the predators are doing to the profession, which will eliminate or neuter the appraiser's ability to function.
We KNOW appraisers have done no inspection appraisals since any of us started. Do you believe that every other appraiser except yourself is a naive fool who is unaware of this and similar facts?

No inspection appraisals had a logistical reason behind them, or were appropriate to a situation - an REO with no access, a low $ amount HELOC using a desktop, a portfolio review, etc.

This is a new frontier of high $ origination loans, where profiteers are inserting a flood of non-appraiser "data collectors" into the process for no reason other than greed. Considering that taxpayers are backing the system and that it is neutering the appraiser's role as the one independent party in the process, some of us are taking a stand against it. You can continue shrugging.

Your shrug, it's just business, does not make you a realist while we are dreamers. It is an attitude that exemplifies everything wrong with the system. It turns a blind eye to the same driving force of greed that drove the loan abuses that caused the previous market crash. The regulations around loans serve to limit how sleazily the terms of lending can be, unless they are repealed for a return of predatory lending. One can hope right? The return of toxic loan packages, !25% loan to value and teaser rates, flips at closing. But for now, those loan regulations stand, so exploiting the valuation end of the process is the next best thing.

 

[George Hatch]

You made an observation. I agreed with your observation. I just don't agree with the idea that 3rd party inspections neuters the objectivity or impartiality of the role of the appraiser.

I've told you 100 times. Take your stand. I support you. Just because I think appraisers are powerless to unilaterally dictate terms to their clients and users doesn't mean I oppose your attempts to engage in those heroic efforts. I'm not your problem. Your clients and users are your problem and they're apparently going to do what they do where I agree with them or not.

 

[J Grant]

I've told you 100 times. Take your stand. I support you. Just because I think appraisers are powerless to unilaterally dictate terms to their clients and users doesn't mean I oppose your attempts to engage in those heroic efforts. I'm not your problem. Your clients and users are your problem and they're apparently going to do what they do where I agree with them or not.

They might do it less if you and people like yourself that are respected in the profession did not agree with them!

If you support me and people who take a similar position as I do, then why do you keep arguing with us in a way that makes the other side's actions appear benign?

The difference is that in the past, desktops/no inspections had a reason behind them. Inspections, when they were part of the assignment, were normally done by the appraiser or a trainee or appraiser partner. This introduces a whole different dynamic on a large scale - an influx of non-appraisers to do a PDR collection when the appraisers are ready, willing, and able to do the inspection.

 

[George Hatch]

First things first: Nobody in the profession besides the people who have participated on this forum knows who I am or cares about my opinions. Nor should they. And I discourage participants here from agreeing with anything I say on the basis of it being me who said it. If it makes sense to them then that's the only valid reason they should consider agreeing with it.

Secondly: Why would I take a position or "make a stand" which is illogical or intellectually inconsistent with the actual facts in play? I make the distinction between the business interests of fee appraisers (which includes me) vs the appraisal profession as a whole. I try not to conflate the two as if they're the same thing because they're not.

I never forgot how to ride a bike, I never forgot how to fill out a 1004 appraisal report, and I never forgot what USPAP and the state/federal rules and regs do and don't say. I am disinclined to gaslight my accrued understanding just in order to validate your feelings or anyone else's. If I think you're right I'll agree on that basis, if I think you're wrong then I'll disagree on that basis; same as I expect everyone else to do when it comes to my own views.

Thirdly, I don't see any "fight " to make with these trends. I mean, appraisers can certainly decline to perform certain assignments or accept certain fees or do business with certain clients and client types, but that isn't going to alter what those clients and users are willing to buy and use. If one appraiser won't do it they'll just go find another appraiser who will. Until they can't, at which point they'll be forced to start drawing back. That's how the markets for goods and services generally work.

My advice is to stop trying to make any of this discussion about me and my character or my loyalty to the appraisal profession. That's a fallacious argument (argument to motive) and it's never going to resonate with me. You should anticipate going forward that I'm going to reiterate that observation every time you or anyone else attempts it.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

The discussion is what the predators are doing to the profession,

They only "do it" with the permission of the regulators who could stop it in a single letter to all banks.