Bobby Bucks
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2002
- Professional Status
- Real Estate Agent or Broker
- State
- North Dakota
I completed a report about 2 weeks ago for a sale in a cookie cutter subdivision. All comparables
were very similar, all within $5,000 of the subject price wise, as for heated area, one was within
75 sq feet, one was 150 sq feet larger, the 3rd was 125 sq feet smaller. Subject and comps were
all within 2 years of age, all sales were less than 3 months old. All had 1 car garages, originally
built by the same builder, standard builder grade carpet and vinyl. No concessions with any sales.
A slam dunk. Borrower/purchaser had switched lenders before closing and I never heard
anything....I assume they accepted the borrower’s original copy with “Real Bank & Trust” as the
client and got a proper release.....now the problem. It appears they switched to a seedy mortgage
company before closing.....probably a relative is a loan officer with the mortgage co. is my guess.
Anyway, I get a call today from a grumpy appraiser who left me a long message. Some
background on this character is necessary first. He’s a frustrated old goat who resents the digital
element in the industry. He still uses a 35 mm camera and suspects everyone who uses anything
digital as a fraud. He cranks out about two 1004’s a week when he’s on a roll......He habitually
under appraises and has been booted from Relo lists for this reason. One family is considering
suing him for an estate appraisal for the same reason. He was about $100,000 under value on a
house with some excess land. The property sold for cash 2 days after going on the market and he
actually crowed about how good a job he had done on the report. The property was resold 3
months later for $100,000 more than his value.....needless to say, the family is not impressed with
this “conservative” appraiser. He also gets his jollies by doing any review assignment that comes
his way. It gives him a feeling of power I suppose. He once made life miserable for a friend of
mine for a month for a similar type report. His message on my machine was as follows....”This is
John Doe/appraiser and I’m doing a field review on your report you did a few weeks ago. I have
some major concerns with it. You didn’t make an adjustment for comparable #2 and its site had
1,200 more square feet than the subject. (the subject site was 18,000 sq feet)...... I also noticed
you adjusted comparable #3 upward $1,000 for a patio. You stated the subject had a 24’ x 20’
deck. I don’t agree with this adjustment. I also noted you didn’t adjust comp #2 for having a
larger front porch. Tax records show it had at least 50 square feet more porch area than the
subject. This should have been adjusted. You need to call me back ASAP and justify these
adjustments and justify your failure to make an adjustment for that larger lot.” Well I did call him
back. I told him where he could put his review and reminded him that I was not being reviewed,
that it was the prostitution mortgage company who was suspect and he could do whatever he
wanted to do....CLICK end of conversation......my question now is was I completely out of line?
Of course I would never do this in a normal situation when a response was justified. If this bozo
does a scathing review I intend to simply ignore the entire matter. I’ve polled 2 fellow appraisers
and one said he would have done the same thing I did and would also ignore them if the review is
negative. The other said he always treats reviewers with great respect regardless of who it is. He
furthermore said I should respond if he does a negative review. My beef is this.....to respond to a
negative review is very time consuming to say the least and in a case like this why even waste any
time? Is it written than one has to reply?
were very similar, all within $5,000 of the subject price wise, as for heated area, one was within
75 sq feet, one was 150 sq feet larger, the 3rd was 125 sq feet smaller. Subject and comps were
all within 2 years of age, all sales were less than 3 months old. All had 1 car garages, originally
built by the same builder, standard builder grade carpet and vinyl. No concessions with any sales.
A slam dunk. Borrower/purchaser had switched lenders before closing and I never heard
anything....I assume they accepted the borrower’s original copy with “Real Bank & Trust” as the
client and got a proper release.....now the problem. It appears they switched to a seedy mortgage
company before closing.....probably a relative is a loan officer with the mortgage co. is my guess.
Anyway, I get a call today from a grumpy appraiser who left me a long message. Some
background on this character is necessary first. He’s a frustrated old goat who resents the digital
element in the industry. He still uses a 35 mm camera and suspects everyone who uses anything
digital as a fraud. He cranks out about two 1004’s a week when he’s on a roll......He habitually
under appraises and has been booted from Relo lists for this reason. One family is considering
suing him for an estate appraisal for the same reason. He was about $100,000 under value on a
house with some excess land. The property sold for cash 2 days after going on the market and he
actually crowed about how good a job he had done on the report. The property was resold 3
months later for $100,000 more than his value.....needless to say, the family is not impressed with
this “conservative” appraiser. He also gets his jollies by doing any review assignment that comes
his way. It gives him a feeling of power I suppose. He once made life miserable for a friend of
mine for a month for a similar type report. His message on my machine was as follows....”This is
John Doe/appraiser and I’m doing a field review on your report you did a few weeks ago. I have
some major concerns with it. You didn’t make an adjustment for comparable #2 and its site had
1,200 more square feet than the subject. (the subject site was 18,000 sq feet)...... I also noticed
you adjusted comparable #3 upward $1,000 for a patio. You stated the subject had a 24’ x 20’
deck. I don’t agree with this adjustment. I also noted you didn’t adjust comp #2 for having a
larger front porch. Tax records show it had at least 50 square feet more porch area than the
subject. This should have been adjusted. You need to call me back ASAP and justify these
adjustments and justify your failure to make an adjustment for that larger lot.” Well I did call him
back. I told him where he could put his review and reminded him that I was not being reviewed,
that it was the prostitution mortgage company who was suspect and he could do whatever he
wanted to do....CLICK end of conversation......my question now is was I completely out of line?
Of course I would never do this in a normal situation when a response was justified. If this bozo
does a scathing review I intend to simply ignore the entire matter. I’ve polled 2 fellow appraisers
and one said he would have done the same thing I did and would also ignore them if the review is
negative. The other said he always treats reviewers with great respect regardless of who it is. He
furthermore said I should respond if he does a negative review. My beef is this.....to respond to a
negative review is very time consuming to say the least and in a case like this why even waste any
time? Is it written than one has to reply?
The other issues are equally ridiculous. 8O 
