Why I Use MLS Photos

[rescom]

I was doing a defualt appraisal the other day and here comes the owner with his smart phone and he started taking pics of me and my license plate, so I started taking pics of him...

We were taking photos of one another for about a minute. He was screaming "private property" I was screaming "public street".

I then sped away continuing to take photos. Leason learned. No more default appraisals on the weekend.

How is this a lesson learned? There is a pretty good chance that this person is unemployed and therefore is going to come out taking pictures whether its the weekend or weekday.

Besides, who cares if he screams private property. Like you said, public street. There is nothing I can do if someone decides to sit out side my house and take pictures of my property.

 

[J Grant]

Proof? What. It is up to the appraiser to produce the PROOF PER THE SCOPE OF WORK.

No you are wrong. It is not up to the appraiser to produce "proof", such as a photo. The "proof" is their word, their signature.

Though I am all for cleaning up fraud, this is not fraud. There is no regulation in USPAP against using MLS photos. In this case, you were wrong for turning this appraiser in to the board, because you had no basis to do so.

 

[rescom]

That's funny, but probably not a good idea if you were in rural Texas. Instead of seeing a smart phone being pointed at you it would more likely be a shotgun. And if you got the courtesy of just the guy screaming private property and you smarted off like that, you would likely have a flat tire or two.

So are you saying that folks in rural Texas aren't too smart?

They can't be with that approach.

 

[NC Appraising]

Proof? What. It is up to the appraiser to produce the PROOF PER THE SCOPE OF WORK.

No you are wrong. It is not up to the appraiser to produce "proof", such as a photo. The "proof" is their word, their signature.

Though I am all for cleaning up fraud, this is not fraud. There is no regulation in USPAP against using MLS photos. In this case, you were wrong for turning this appraiser in to the board, because you had no basis to do so.

J,

Sure it is up to the appraiser. The same goes with deriving adjustments or verifying the sales and comp data. It's called a workfile.

Is the state suppose to just go by your good word? Or should you have the copy of the tax card in your work file that you used to verify your sales or the phone number of the agent or the HUD 1? How about how you derived your adjustments? No work file for these either? I swear, the data is in my head, I' mean the air?


NC Appraisal Board:

in Charlotte, North Carolina in May 2005, finding an appraised value of $115,000.​

For comparable sales, Mr. XXXX selected three stick built properties and two manu

​

​

factured/​

modular homes from other areas. He made negative adjustments to his

​

​

comparable sales for the differences. Although Mr. zzz signed a certification that​

he had inspected the exterior of his comparable sales, he did not do so.​

I guess he had no pudding to give the board

FWIW, I have never turned anyone into the board. But I'm just getting sick and tired of lazy arse appraisers that are not doing their jobs.​

 

[J Grant]

NC, while an appraiser must keep a workfile, there is no requirement exactly what goes in the workfile, and there is no requirement that orig photos be in the workfile to prove the appraiser drove the comps.

So not keeping original photos in a workfile is not fraud either.

In the case above, it is about adjustments and without more detail it sounds as if the adjustments were misleading, and how it transpired that he did not drive the comps and got a wrong adjustment for stick built houses is not clear from the scant information.

I am much more concerned about misleading market conditions and wrong comp choice and wrong values when I review a report than if they used MLS photos or not. All an original photo shows is that (someone) drove the comp and took a photo...what if that someone was not the appraiser but their HS kid paid to take a picture? How are you going to prove THAT? Plenty of reports with original photos have values not credible and supported and cherry picked comps and all kinds of other problems...

 

[NC Appraising]

NC, while an appraiser must keep a workfile, there is no requirement exactly what goes in the workfile, and there is no requirement that orig photos be in the workfile to prove the appraiser drove the comps.

So not keeping original photos in a workfile is not fraud either.

In the case above, it is about adjustments and without more detail it sounds as if the adjustments were misleading, and how it transpired that he did not drive the comps and got a wrong adjustment for stick built houses is not clear from the scant information.

I am much more concerned about misleading market conditions and wrong comp choice and wrong values when I review a report than if they used MLS photos or not. All an original photo shows is that (someone) drove the comp and took a photo...what if that someone was not the appraiser but their HS kid paid to take a picture? How are you going to prove THAT? Plenty of reports with original photos have values not credible and supported and cherry picked comps and all kinds of other problems...

Never said it was fraud. But that is why we keep a work file, so the state does not have to play the "I swear game" with you and Smokey.


No. It is what it is. He used MLS photos and was unable to prove to the board that he did drive-by the sales.

Mr. zzz signed a certification that

he had inspected the exterior of his comparable sales, he did not do so.​

And we wonder why we have 3-15 pages worth of requirements now. Appraisers skirting around and not doing their jobs.

Wonder why we got the UAD? Form filling canned worthless reports with MLS photos.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I never use MLS photos and am throughly against MLS photos in an appraisal report, which will have a lot of posters upset with me. But I am old, grouchy, stubborn in my ways and beliefs.

my heroine...

know that Ohio expects the appraiser to view the comparable for every assignment that they use it on. So if I take a picture today and want to use the same house as a comp in 2 weeks, they expect me to go back and view it again.

that's stupid.....down right nuts.

FANNIE IS MAKING THE LENDERS BUY BACK THE LOANS ON ANY THING THEY DIG UP

yep.

the appraiser better have more than his word as back up.

yep. yep.

My long running battles with Geo. Hatch over what USPAP really means, etc. really can be summed up over the statement from JG below..

there is no requirement exactly what goes in the workfile, and there is no requirement that orig photos be in the workfile to prove the appraiser drove the comps.

The question thus isn't what is in the workfile but what isn't. And so how can you be sure that a board will not seek proofs? Our investigator and no small number of instructors have suggested that you need to document IN WRITING any phone conversation you've had with any Realtor, owner, or client. That you have their PHONE NUMBER so the investigator can confirm a conversation took place. EMAILS need to be printed out and placed in file. In fact, printing out the MLS sheet post-report has been an issue. Our sheets have dates. They want to see a date contemporaneous with the report, not printed out yesterday when they asked for the cards.

I consider such stupid, unproductive and time wasting but...I try to err on the side of caution. I don't trust investigators to read "workfile" requirements the same way that JGrant did.

Sadly, the issue is complicated by the stupidity of AMC slash "clients". We had a flat roof property that was purchased, then a roof added. So...if you don't have a picture contemporaneous with the SALE you have a misleading photo. It's a choice isn't it? I had a picture I took at the time of the sale. But I would have used an MLS photo to represent what it looked like at the time of sale.

 

[NC Appraising]

http://www.liability.com/images/claimalert/claimaltertpdf/workfile.pdf

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

I was doing a defualt appraisal the other day and here comes the owner with his smart phone and he started taking pics of me and my license plate, so I started taking pics of him...

We were taking photos of one another for about a minute. He was screaming "private property" I was screaming "public street".

I then sped away continuing to take photos. Leason learned. No more default appraisals on the weekend.

Now that's funny
although it could be hazardous to your health.

That's why I go with stealth photos, try not to let them see me take it.
Couple weeks ago I got chased down by some guy in a Mercedes in a pretty nice part of West Hills. I saw him following me, I knew what he wanted. He wasn't the first. So I pulled over, no sense trying to outrun him in my little 4 cylinder pickup. He got one of my surlier attitudes. What do you want? :icon_lol:

As for using MLS photos, I've done it a time or 2 when my picture didn't come out, and disclosed in the report why. If I didn't drive it because I didn't pick it at first, I go back for the pic. If it's got a long driveway, they get a picture of the driveway entrance.

 

[Michigan CG]

No you are wrong. It is not up to the appraiser to produce "proof", such as a photo. The "proof" is their word, their signature.

Are you trying to be Bill Cosby? What should be in your workfile is most likely up to 50 different interpretations. If you are in front of your state board it would be very wise to have original comp photos.