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Readers Respond
Appraiser Blacklisting: Fighting
Back
Thanks for the story but my experience with lenders is that most are
arrogant and won't listen or take the time to address the problem. The problem
is that there is no notice, ever. The appraiser only eventually finds out from a
broker. It’s not a good system. We need some legal fix or legislation on a
national basis to correct the problem, not a band-aid for each appraiser to
pursue, which is what the lenders seem to want. - Ron Broyles
Editor: Read the
article.
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Cost Segregation Studies
A good story about cost segregation. I have been doing that for years and
think it should be a staple for real estate appraisers and not
architectural and civil engineers, as it is. - Anthony Cangelosi
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Comp Checks: Learning to Live without You
In this time of slow work why is your magazine telling appraisers to turn
down easy work? Is it because no one ever asks the caller what they think your
time is worth? I’ve asked and I now charge five dollars for this 20 minute
“hypothetical” drive-by appraisal assignment! (Hypothetical because I don’t
drive by.) I keep good notes and a PDF copy of every comp I consider and every
property I don’t consider. The people go to my Web site and read a summary of
Advisory Opinion 19 when they order the report so they get informed as to the
limitations of this service. I am in the process of putting in a full treatment
of Standards 1 and 2 and giving an item by item answer to each issue in each
standard and why my appraisal product complies. If more people charged for (USPAP
compliant) “comp searches” we’d either all have more money or we’d all have
fewer requests for comp searches. I’m finding that my requests for paid comp
searches are growing because I have convinced the people that I do better work
when I’m getting paid. My clients use and appreciate the service because they
see that I support my range of value and sometimes I let them know that their
borrower has the property up for sale currently. - Hans G. Schaetzke II
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I have been an appraiser over 16 years and have seen many outside influences
that have a direct bearing on my ability to continue as a going concern. But the
thing that gripes me most now are Broker Pricing Opinions (BPOs). How are these
NOT appraisals? Why are the regulators allowing these things to be used for
lending purposes? Why are brokers allowed to do what amounts to appraisals, as
non-licensed persons? Why are we as appraisers spending tons of time and money
conforming to all sorts of regulations and brokers are allowed to come in and
take food off our table? Do a Google search on BPO and you find the terms BPO
and appraisals are used interchangeably. Where is our protection? Who advocates
for us? Why can't we do brokerage work? They're doing ours. - Richard
Schofield
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One of the best things appraisers can do is help get loan originators licensed in their states, then take part in the rules-making sessions. Last year, the Washington legislature modified the Mortgage Brokers Practices Act to include the licensing of individual loan originators. There were 13 public rule making sessions of the Mortgage Brokers Commission with staff of the Department of Financial Institutions, between March and August and representatives of the Appraisers Coalition of Washington attended all but one of those sessions. As a result, the following were included at the beginning of the "Prohibited Practices" section of the Washington Administrative Code, which implements the statutes passed by the legislature.
WAC 208-660-500 Prohibited practices.
(1) What may I request of an appraiser?
You may request an area or market survey. While there are no strict definitions of these terms, generally they refer to general information regarding a region, area, or plat. The information usually includes the high, low and average sales price, numbers of properties available for sale or that have been sold within a set period, marketing times, days on market, absorption rate or the mixture of different property types in the specified area, among other possible components. An area survey does not contain sufficient information or is not so defining as to allow an appraiser or reader to determine the value of a specified property or property type.
(2) How may I discuss property values with an appraiser, prior to the appraisal, without the discussion constituting improperly influencing the appraiser?
You may inform the appraiser of your opinion of value, the borrower's opinion of value, or the list or sales price of the property. You are prohibited from telling the appraiser the value you need or that is required for your loan to be successful.
Most comp check requests come from mortgage brokers and now I just explain that I do not want to risk their license or mine and I send them a copy of the above. The new rules became effective on January 1, 2007 so it will be awhile before everyone becomes aware of the changed playing field. If an appraiser does enough analysis to determine a value or range of value for a specified property, then he/she has done an appraisal and better have a work file. If there is no work file, the appraiser is in violation of USPAP and state law, enforced by the Department of Licensing, and the mortgage loan originator that requested the value is in violation of state law, enforced by the Department of Financial Institutions and the two work together! - Barry Wilson, Appraiser's Coalition of Washington
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Appraising Golf Course Properties
I can relate to the recent "Golf Course Location" article. I am a State
Certified Residential Appraiser in South Florida and as you can imagine we have
a golf course practically in every community both public and private.
Approximately two years ago I was appraising a home that was situated on a golf
course. As I was doing a rear inspection of the home, I saw four golf carts race
up to the property with all kinds of yelling and screaming. One of the golfers
jumped out with a club in hand searching for his ball. He was running up and
down as if he had lost a diamond ring. Nevertheless, he found his ball, took an
aggressive swing and as you can imagine, he missed. Oh boy, all kinds of
swearing and cussing was heard as his golf buddies laughed and heckled him. To
make a long story short, he picked up his ball jumped in the golf cart and they
raced off. I was amazed at what I saw and asked the homeowner if this was
normal. He said that this is only Monday morning - you should see this on the
weekends. I looked puzzled but after a minute or so it made all the sense in the
world to me as to why his home was on the market for sale. - Gregory Pou
Editor: Read the article.