The Nightmarish End of Home Appraisals

List of Banned Words... The Nightmarish End of Home Appraisals. In his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” the late British novelist, essayist and critic George Orwell examined the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of the English language. In a truly Orwellian move, mortgage giant Freddie Mac recently announced its intent to censor an arbitrary collection of words such as “desirable,” “safe,” “well-kept,” “student” and “crime” when they appear, in any context, in the hundreds of thousands of appraisal reports it relies on in mortgage underwriting. It would be hard to make this up.

One of the banned words – “desirable” – will be recognized by students of economics (“students” is another banned word) as the adjectival form of one of the four elements in supply-and-demand theory whose underlying components are utility, scarcity, desire and effective purchasing power. The current thinking holds that if an economic good lacks one or more of these underlying elements, then there is essentially no market for the product and, therefore, no value.

As with all banned words, Freddie’s list will lead to the need to ban additional words over time as appraisers, expunging the word “desirable,” will find synonyms when analyzing market reaction to the views of two homes or to the cul-de-sac location of a home versus the midblock location of a comparable. When discussing how market participants view side-by-side school districts, appraisers will figure out they can use synonyms like “advantageous,” “preferable,” or “beneficial” instead. Soon, these words, too, will need to be banned. In a college town, the banned word “students” will become “matriculants,” a word that will likewise need to be banned.

The attack on the protected speech of independent appraisers erodes their ability to describe how the properties they appraise relate to the preferences of market participants. The censorship is part of a march toward what appraiser and podcaster Phil Crawford has coined “universal basic home value” – a utopian vision among idealogues in which government technocrats dictate the supposed value of a property using algorithms and machine learning. The censorship began with Fannie Mae, and has now predictably spread to Freddie Mac.

Since they were placed into conservatorship in late 2008, the twin mortgage giants have become deeply entrenched in the executive branch of the federal government. Unchecked, they are creating new entitlement programs outside the gaze of Congress. They are increasingly eliminating appraisals and assigning instead what are, in effect, social scores to collateral used to undergird the mortgages they buy and guarantee as they increasingly wield the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

Orwell would recognize Freddie’s word ban as part of a contagion to hide the truth. If done right and over time, according to Orwell, the ban will eventually even conceal a writer’s thoughts from himself. Much like the executive branch censored speech during Covid by pressuring Google, Facebook and Twitter to suppress content, it is censoring speech through Fannie and Freddie, but in more overt ways.

With the current administration’s blessing, Fannie and Freddie have eliminated many critical checks and balances in a radical experiment with the U.S. economy on the hook. The mortgage giants began scrapping or weakening long-accepted underwriting safeguards like FICO scoring, title insurance, mortgage insurance, downpayment requirements and appraisals.

Fannie is even resurrecting the “liar loan,” now called “Value Acceptance.” It allows a collateral value to be pulled out of the ether by parties with a monetary interest in the loan’s successful closing. Fannie then checks the stated value of the collateral against its notoriously fuzzy algorithm – the equivalent of a “Zestimate.”

The use of such data introduces an insidious self-sustaining bias into the system. It steadily inflates home values over time and thwarts the process of natural price discovery. Unchecked, Freddie and Fannie will quickly set off another collapse that will cost the taxpayer trillions and further erode confidence in America’s institutions. It’s simply a matter of time – and the clock is ticking.

Jeremy Bagott
Jeremy Bagott

Jeremy Bagott

Jeremy Bagott is a real estate appraiser and former newspaperman. His most recent book, “The Ichthyologist’s Guide to the Subprime Meltdown,” is a concise almanac that distills the cataclysmic financial crisis of 2007-2008 to its essence. This pithy guide to the upheaval includes essays, chronologies, roundups and key lists, weaving together the stories of the politics-infused Freddie and Fannie; the doomed Wall Street investment banks Lehman and Bear Stearns; the dereliction of duty by the Big Three credit-rating services; the mayhem caused by the shadowy nonbank lenders; and the massive government bailouts. It provides a rapid-fire succession of “ah-hah” moments as it lays out the meltdown, convulsion by convulsion.

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29 Responses

  1. Avatar Dan says:

    Insightful and well-written. Please use your skills to inform starving appraisers how to profit from the inevitable outcome of this typical government ineptitude.

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  2. Avatar Mary Cummins says:

    Another great very well written article by Jeremy Bagott, MAI. While I agree that we can easily get rid of some words like “master bedroom” we need some of the other words like the paint color “white” and the word “student.” Words are relative. They shouldn’t be blindly banned.

    The most important issue in Bagott’s article is asset value and borrower credit acceptance. We need to know the real market value of an asset and true credit worthiness of a borrower in order to ascertain real loan values for investors, the government and our economy. We don’t need another Great Recession caused by bad loans leading to a stock market crash and bank failures. These loans become bundled securities and investments. Are we about to repeat the mistakes of the great financial crisis of 2008? Have we learned nothing from the past?

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  3. Avatar Connie Marines says:

    I was asked to remove the words “school district” from all reports. I changed to “school system.” In 25 years, I’ve never struggled so much with language in my report. I agree with other comments that this article expresses the opinion of most appraisers. Recent advisory from an AMC I don’t even work for:

    During a Quality Control review of this appraisal report, unacceptable appraisal practices were identified.
    Specifically, the terms/phrases,
    -“Employment stability is average for the county & surrounding areas. Stable economy has been a chief factor in the local economy.”
    -“Neighborhood is well established and consist of a variety of home styles offering average appeal to the market place.”
    -“The subject neighborhood is considered by many as a good place to reside.”
    -“The subject is in average overall marketable condition.”
    -“Property is convenient to all expected amenities.”

    While I wouldn’t use some of these phrases only because they are so poorly worded, (“The subject neighborhood is considered by many as a good place to reside,”) I’m struggling to understand the objectionable content of the others. I have a lot of empathy for the appraisers in the beginning of their careers. I hope to be winding down over the next year and it can’t happen fast enough for me.

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    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Who wrote that objection list? Makes no sense. I won’t believe that is real until I see an actual email snippet, complete with the name of the amc whom sent the material. Sonidos muerte el llegadas a mi.

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      • Avatar Connie Marines says:

        Subject: Fannie/Freddie Unacceptable Appraisal Practice Update
        Reply-To: appraisals@nationwideamc.com

        ?
        ?
        UNACCEPTABLE APPRAISAL PRACTICES PER FANNIE/FREDDIE – 07.25.2023

        We know the past year has been a time of immense change within the appraisal industry, which can be frustrating and confusing. In an effort to be fully transparent, we wanted to share a few examples of post funding requests we have started receiving from clients and investors regarding “Unacceptable Appraisal Practices”. As a reminder, Fannie Mae released this as B4-1.1-04 on 02/02/2022. Freddie Mac released 5603.4 on 10/22/2022. You could/should already be receiving revision requests for removal/revision of these items. This month, as reports are submitted by a lender to UCDP, a warning flag is firing for many items, including subjective language. This will become a hard stop in Q4. This means any report with language or practices deemed unacceptable will be stopped by UCDP and will not be able to be delivered. Please review the most frequently requested examples below and please use the Fannie and Freddie links provided for additional information.

        Example 1: During a Quality Control review of this appraisal report, unacceptable appraisal practices were identified.

        Specifically, the terms/phrases,

        -“Employment stability is average for the county & surrounding areas. Stable economy has been a chief factor in the local economy.”

        -“Neighborhood is well established and consist of a variety of home styles offering average appeal to the market place.”

        -“The subject neighborhood is considered by many as a good place to reside.”

        -“The subject is in average overall marketable condition.”

        -“Property is convenient to all expected amenities.”

        Better practice for neighborhood description is to remain factual. For example:

        “The subject is located in the ABC area of DEF County, in the GHI school district. The ABC area has a year built range for approximately 90% of homes between 1-18 years, with approximately 10% of the remaining homes between 18-102 years. The homes in the year built range of the subject seem to range in square footage from 800 sf – 4000+ sf, and vary greatly in terms of condition and quality. There are no waterfront homes in this area and views are mostly residential or wooded, with only two streets having commercial influences. The subject is not on one of these streets, neither are the comparables chosen for the subject. Access to shopping, employment, schools, and hospitals is within 5-40 minutes or 1-19 miles.

        Example 2: During a Quality Control review of this appraisal report, unacceptable appraisal practices were identified.

        Specifically, the “use of adjustments to comparable sales that do not reflect market reaction to the differences between the subject property and the comparable sales;” and “not supporting the adjustments in the sales comparison approach” per Fannie Mae.

        -“The appraiser is an expert in this market area, living and residing here for 30+ years, and adjustments are made based on appraisers knowledge of the market.” *Adjustments must be made based on market reaction, not unsupportable factors.

        -“I have adjusted $5,000 for each bathroom, $55/sf for GLA, $10,000 per 1/4 acre and $15,000 for C4 vs C3.” There is no other explanation of how market reaction was determined.

        Better practice for adjustment commentary:

        Do not declare your adjustments, support your adjustments. The Fannie Mae selling guide (B4 – 1.3 – 09 Adjustments to Comparable Sales) is clear that a “statement only recognizing that an adjustment has been made is not acceptable.” Factual, supportable comments are what is needed, like:

        “Similar homes in the subject neighborhood have sold in a range of $x-$y per sf. After extracting lot value, and using paired sales of the same quality and condition, it was determined that $z/sf is the market reaction to differences in GLA.”

        Please open the links below and familiarize yourself with the items required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and we recommend updating any templates to prevent client or GSE revisions.

        https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/Selling-Guide/Origination-thru-Closing/Subpart-B4-Underwriting-Property/Chapter-B4-1-Property-Assessment-and-Valuation/Section-B4-1-1-General-Appraisal-Requirements/1032991811/B4-1-1-04-Unacceptable-Appraisal-Practices-02-02-2022.htm

        https://guide.freddiemac.com/app/guide/section/5603.4

        ?
        Nationwide Property & Appraisal Services | 1103 Laurel Oak Road, Suite 160, Voorhees, NJ 08043

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        • Baggins Baggins says:

          Challenge accepted. Mission accomplished. I have identified your primary appraisal problem.

          Individual appraiser licensing for every single amc employee, down to the janitor.

          Whoops! They got ahead of this with PAREA. Which is why you are witnessing total capitulation by gse heads and regulators.

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          • Avatar Constance Marines says:

            I googled the name of a reviewer who sent a revision request that was really dumb. Person (not identifying gender, maybe “it?”) went to technical school for something that was not remotely real estate or appraisal related. Can’t remember now what it was. So there ya go.

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            • Baggins Baggins says:

              One time I dealt with an appraisal panel manager with green hair whom moonlighted with multiple emo bands. According to this individuals facebook and other social media accounts at least. Why would losing ones appraiser license get in the way of becoming an appraisal panel manager? Not in the world of gse focused mortgage lending! Dealing with your panel appraisers with a screaming crying baby in your arms? No problem. Work for one of the nations top ten lenders whom straight up lie about appraisers and pressure them to no end, calling once every single day , a new call in repetition as if the last call never happened, for every single appraisal assigned, a relentless stream of time distracting harassment? That’s just your business management degree and the many years of being a csr in the appraisal desk for almost four entire years, it’s difficult as a licensed appraiser, to best the experience of being an administrative assistant for two entire years prior. Thanks John! Side stepping from the human resources world with no experience in any lending or realty related processes? Not a problem, bonus to have the authority to slash your panel appraisers fees the moment volume drops. Working in pajamas and slip ons has benefits. Social media correlations aside. The only worthy panel managers I’ve ever came across always without a doubt, had substantial experience as being working appraisers themselves, maintaining appraisal licensing while performing the act of panel management.

              One day I’ll have to talk to you about my amc experiences, rather than just talking about engagements with direct assignment clients. Question; What makes an appraisal distribution panel manager competent to perform the task at hand; Managing appraisers without a license previously, being a part of the non licensed crew whom assigns requests, or having maintained a valid appraisal license themselves? We should have been talking about individual appraisal licensing requirements for every single amc employee from the beginning. PAREA is here as yet another amc industries regulatory side step to answer that concern.

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  4. Avatar no says:

    I was asked to remove some words that didn’t have a better word for them. i went round-n-round with them.

    Apparently they weren’t reading the report-they were sending it through a robot filter. best way to fix it-I typed up what i needed to type, took a clipit of it and put the photo of it in the report and said see photo labeled “X” in report

    I added language that made it clear that unless you read the photo-you were not reading the whole report. didn’t hear back from them again.

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    • Avatar Dan says:

      Very clever! What a shame we have to resort to such things. Retirement calls!

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      • Avatar John Beitzel says:

        I am looking out my beach front hotel resort balcony at a stunningly beautiful picture perfect view of the clear blue ocean and picturesque mountains on the Island of Phuket, Thailand. My wife and I have been traveling for almost 7 months. I was still appraising in mid-2022. After 33 years appraising, I am happy to be retired and out of appraising. Make a plan and get out before you are pushed out. Oh, by the way, that beautiful view costs me $21 dollars a night. It doesn’t have to be expensive.The costs of traveling is less than my social security check. Wishing the best to all who are still appraising.

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    • Baggins Baggins says:

      The beneficial miracles of desirable well kept automation creating prestigious new software integrations. Or you can do clever things like mis spell certain wordzs with a z in them too. The students are happy to change the language rooted in the criminal patriarchy, installing a never ending series of ever increasing prohibitions to keep us safe from advantageous free thinking and preferable free expression in traditional homogeneous America.

      Did I fit all the banned language in successfully? Current status; Tap dancing to the Mexican Hat Dancing song while shredding ten years of appraisal workfiles to use in leu of a gas powered stove and water heater. We’ll figure out how to tweak the gas powered lawn mower to appear as if it’s an electric version next week. Never forget, they always cherish the moments when history burns. It’s getting really difficult to take the word police seriously anymore. Vaminos Amigos, codos los taminos conducen corajudo nuevo mundo!

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  5. Avatar Fitz Turner says:

    On a very basic level, I was driving my wife and in-laws, a retired high school teacher and two college professors, around some neighborhoods and mentioned that I have recently received instructions that I may no longer refer to Master Bedroom or Master Bath, as they are racist. One suggested we use most desirable bedroom, I said I may not use desirable, it is racist. I think perhaps the Appraisal Institute needs to come out with a new dictionary. Thirty plus years ago I was told to use place of worship, not church. Now I have been told to replace place of worship calling them commercial buildings. So will that require that I make an adjustment for houses in a “commercial” neighborhood because they are near a ttt? In 1986 the NAR instructed all Realtors to stop including the square feet of a house in their listings, because their figure was wrong and Realtors were being sued. So, for my next several appraisal, I left the square feet blank on the comps stating that nationally the figures were wrong and the buyers did not know the square footage of the house and therefore it had no bearing on the value. I was told by the lenders, we do not care, put a number in anyway. Perhaps we should take the bull by the horn. The average house in the US, according to google: The median home sales price is $436,800 as of the first quarter of 2023. So, let us all use this figure. If it is more desirable, you are not allowed to say, if it is less desirable it is racist, so, use $436,800. Sign and deliver. All the appraisals in August. 2023. Join the movement Half your clients will be happy.

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    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Fitz, read this insightful article on underlying reasons for such rapidly expanding home prices in Colorado. Certainly there are similar events in many other states. These people know very well what they are doing, and then spin completely false inaccurate tales to keep the masses distracted from their actions and intentions. Consequences of runaway government bodies drunk on power.

      https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/04/26/caldara-central-planning-housing-affordable/

      Really interesting points of view, this Caldera guy, suggested reading. Everything is not what it seems.

      Not too sure about the forced equality position at $436.8k across the board… Be careful what you wish for. An appraiser used to routinely post that the appraisal and most underwriting activities are meaningless anyways, the lended amount hardly matters, they have shifted models to primarily qualify the borrowers income, most of the downstream activity after that is moot. Perhaps he really was a visionary and called the real deal early on. As statistical data indicates fewer and fewer Americans actually have home equity, most are completely leveraged and therefore subjected to the full weight of changing market forces. Human considerations because there are underlying currents and most people although not able to precisely articulate why, are firm in their opinions these financial systems are corrupted and insider clubs. They will simply walk away from these homes and associated loans if the plunge protection teams fail in their duties to provide market stability. They are not personally attached to the home or the loan package, very little skin in the game if you will. Gift me more equity or else. Just one problem; The industry managers are frigging incompetent and most stability is a coincidental result of vested interests jockeying for their own leverage and power. Eventually the levy will break, again.

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      • Avatar Fitz Turner says:

        Baggins
        Thank you for the article, we have the same problem here in Maryland.

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        • Avatar Mike says:

          Comparing the data that Zillow used for their estimate to UCDP is a joke and poor journalism. Zillow doesn’t have even half the data points the GSEs have for their algorithms. Also, where is your evidence that appraisal waiver algorithms is leading to widespread overvaluation? So tired of appraisers inflaming other appraisers without having evidence or knowledge to make certain statements, you’re hurting the industry.

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          • Baggins Baggins says:

            Well the above article about Larimer county rural avm’s being grossly off by hundreds of thousands of dollars through entire portions of semi rural communities. That’s ‘evidence’ per se right? In my very own home, the avm’s provided by the local MLS became skewed when my neighbor died of a work accident, and then via probate a sale was recorded years later, which was reflective of several years back and not current, as well as being a discounted amount family special and not reflective of true market value anyways. (I suspect it was one of those deals where the recorded price was simply the payout for the loan balance remaining.) Yet the Realist avm kicks that non mls sale right into the mix and incorporates the lower number into the avm estimate for everyone else.

            Because this is an automated process with limited capabilities, and the death certificate is a separate recording available only through a narrow avenue of research at the county, the avm system does not recognize as a human would via data validation and redundant data verification, that is a skewed outlier which should not be included as either arms length or any other valid point of reference. The local avm skewed everything in a quarter mile or more downward significantly and a few savvy buyers took advantage of that. What’s an extra few years of waiting for data to smooth out again and errantly considered outliers to fall off due to aging out of the data relevancy? It’s not like the rates jumped and several local people seriously lost out due to the reliance on these automated processes.

            Where are you getting information about the UCDP data points? It was our understanding the CU system data is held behind a veil of secrecy, that data not available to the general public or the larger appraisal community. Please provide information or links comparing Zillows data points to that of the GSE’s.

            Evidence that appraisal waivers is leading to widespread overvaluation? That is the inevitable conclusion to such automation, as even minor errors lead to systemic influence which repeats down the line. The skewed amount could go either way higher or lower. Logic would dictate that if commissions are involved, the use of waivers will lead to more instances of over valuation than not.

            Value in use. Value in market. Value in income. Three distinctly different types of value, all of which may drive individual buyer and seller motivations. One of the important tasks for human appraisers is to validate data before utilizing. That often requires local, personal drive by of properties, being able to observe factors possibly not reported on by others, making calls, talking to agents and people, getting a better feel with personal inspections as virtual is simply a poor substitute for being in person, having adequate fee compensation to account for the thousands of variable research points an appraiser may need to engage in to remain ethically compliant, etc, etc. Not all data validation has to do with as you say ‘ data points’ so easily analyzed and accounted for with automation.

            We’re ‘hurting the industry’. If this industry was a soldier, we could say he’s laying in the field hospital gushing blood all shot to hell with a series of illegal organ harvesting people waiting to disassemble and dismember anything which might possibly still be viable. Hurting the industry, that’s a good one. What industry? The amc’s have raked the potential energy from every licensee for over a decade, syphoning billions, causing a hundred thousand appraisers to quit, and another hundred thousand appraisers to never materialize in the first place. Special favors to lenders, rising demins and waivers have cut out the majority of possible work flow in the gse realm. Consumers are denied market corrections which would lead to better affordability as despite treasury notices and defaults climbing to levels not seen in over a decade, and first look programs being over looked, the gse managers give first purchase opportunities to big corporations and investment firms whom seek to hold all those properties as investments into the future, thereby artificially propping up home values and rental pricing structures. Merry Christmas.

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  6. Avatar Jim G. says:

    I agree – Appraisers are the victims of censorship by the GSE’s and other notable players with influence over our profession. I was reading a post by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) about what’s happening in the housing market today and the word “desirable” is used repeatedly – https://eyeonhousing.org/2023/08/unaffordable-prices-bidding-wars-hold-buyers-back/

    For example – “Next most common reason is getting outbid by other buyers, at 36% (up from 30% in the final quarter of 2022), followed by the inability to find a home in a desirable neighborhood (up from 30% to 33%) and one with desirable features (up from 28% to 31%).” At least the NAHB can tell it like it is, but appraisers can’t?!

    So what if an appraiser cites this article in their appraisal report without redacting the word “desirable”? Is this not providing market evidence? Isn’t that what appraisers are expected to do – recognize and reflect the actions of market participants? Unfortunately, if the foregoing was quoted in an appraisal report if would be red-flagged and send back for revision or worse – The appraiser could be referred to state licensing agency.

    Our only choice is to hide or ignore the truth of the market from clients and intended users. Ironically, the basic fundamentals of appraisal principles are being rewritten by influencers. Sadly – This is the not the profession I chose over 45 years ago.

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  7. Avatar Steve Maher says:

    It should be stated that if the buyer does not qualify for a $2 million dollar loan because he/she make $70,000 year income it will be considered income discrimination… so let’s make the deal so the bank does not get slap with a discrimination lawsuit.

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  8. Avatar Steve Maher says:

    Please re-read 1984…. it’s 1984 in 2023!

    2
    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Orwells Revenge. Last year I watched the updated 1984 movie, the one black and white where it became color when he was in the fields. Trippy. Some nights I wonder if I’m already sitting down at that bar, finally enjoying the show, victory gin in hand. Some nightmares never end. These days, just reading regular news is a sort of similar quasi reality sort of experience. If and when these technocrats dreams come true, we may find ourselves needing some of the skills mentioned in the 1984 palimpsest.

      1
  9. Avatar Al Bendover says:

    Does anyone have a definitive comprehensive list of banned words and/or phrases? I couldn’t find one.

    1
    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Whatever they program into their auto review software. Results may vary. Basically roughly half of the most commonly used descriptive words which everyone on this planet uses to describe real property.

      Ultimately what you are observing is the end result of decades of concerted cover up and mis management practices in the GSE community which constantly blame everything on appraisers, while shielding everyone else who’s actually from accountability. Their lack of ability to hold themselves and their own peers accountable has reached full pinnacle crazy, as now they are prohibiting appraisers using language which they themselves routinely utilize on an everyday basis.

      Because, what’s left, it must be how the appraisers are talking and typing which is the problem. Certainly there is nothing wrong with rising demins, waivers, third party outsourcing, appraisal management companies, unearned fee raking and kickbacks, automatic review, mismo tools, the uniform appraiser data set reporting restrictions, scraping of CU systems data to create proprietary avm software and other review utilities, giving first purchase opportunity of defaulted holdings to ibuyers and hedge funds ahead of regular citizens (who really wants to help the poor?), massive bonuses to upper level persons, and on, and on, and on. I’m rather sure that I missed about ten dozen other specific talking points on the matter.

      The more important question than what words are banned for appraiers, is why they are seeking to restrict our constitutional rights and police the language appraisers use in the first place. Like they get a special pass to treat us as sub humans and deny us constitutional rights just because we’re working with the all mighty GSE lending community. Their jobs and positions are deemed to be are all sorts of important. Us lowly appraiser people whom actually work with consumers directly and actually care about ethics, accountability, and consumer protection, our jobs have no value to them. The GSE heads naked departure from the reason the GSE organizations were created in the first place, is a clear indication why these institutions need complete reform or outright abolishment. Outright advocacy to remove the appraiser is an emperor wears no clothes watershed type moment.

      The chair is against the wall.

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  10. Avatar Joseph Stachow Jr says:

    Banned words, Hybrid Appraisals, Bi-furcated appraisals all nails in the coffin of FannieMae/FreddieMac appraisals and appraisers. The real value is not something these GSE’s want anymore, they just want the deal to go through as do the realtors involved. The only one NOT profiting from a deal is the one they want to get rid of; appraisers are too slow, too expensive and they kill deals so lets get rid of them…time to either retire (not happening for 5 more years) or transition to FHA/USDA/VA appraisals solely and attorney work.

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  11. Avatar D J Freebird says:

    Recently forced to remove the word “attractive” in reference to a singular feature of a single comparable, not related to a person or group of people or even related to the description of the neighborhood or of the Subject property. I felt this a direct violation of current USPAP. Perhaps the woke powers will be destroying USPAP as well. Asked the underwriter what word to use and they offered no substitute so I simply replaced it with XXXXX. My reasoning: THIS MAY BE A VIOLATION OF USPAP. AS STATED IN THE PREAMBLE TO USPAP, AS THE VERY PURPOSE OF THE “Uniform Standards of Appraisal Practice (USPAP): ” It is essential that appraisers develop and communicate their analyses, opinions, and conclusions to the intended users of their services in a manner that is meaningful and not misleading.” THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS MY PREFERRED FORM OF COMMUNICATION AND THE WORD “ATTRACTIVE” HAS MEANING IN MY PREFERRED LANGUAGE! MISLEADING IS DEFINED AS: “INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY MISREPRESENTING, MISSTATING OR CONCEALING RELEVANT FACTS OR CONCLUSIONS.” UNDER THE “CONDUCT” SECTION OF THE “ETHICS RULE” IT IS STATED: “An appraiser … must not use or communicate a report or assignment results known by the appraiser to be misleading or fraudulent;” THIS RULE IS REINFORCED THROUGHOUT ALL OF THE STANDARDS. THE WORD “ATTRACTIVE” BEING BANNED FROM USE REPRESENTS A CONFUSING AND POSSIBLY MISLEADING CONDUCT IN VIOLATION OF USPAP. THE WORD “ATTRACTIVE” WAS NOT USED TO DESCRIBE THE NEIGHBORHOOD, MARKET AREA OR ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS. THE WORD WAS USED TO DESCRIBE A BARN WHICH WAS AN ATTRACTIVE, APPEALING AND IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTORY FEATURE IN THE SALE OF AN INDIVIDUAL UNIQUE PROPERTY. REMOVAL OF LEGITIMATE LANGUAGE FROM THE LEXICON USED AND UNDERSTOOD BY THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE REAL ESTATE MARKET MAY BE CONFUSING, NOT MEANINGFUL, MISLEADING AND ULTIMATELY A VIOLATION OF CURRENT USPAP RULES AND STANDARDS.

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  12. Avatar Home Stretch says:

    Well at least it was only one report. Think of all those dictionaries that are gonna have to be burned

    Oxford:

    (of a thing) pleasing or appealing to the senses.
    “an attractive home “

    (of a thing) having beneficial qualities or features that induce someone to accept what is being offered.
    “the site is close to the high-rent district, which should make it attractive to developers”

    1
  13. Avatar Steve Maher says:

    Since the GSEs are owned by the Government, therefore making these requirements of restriction of words are violating Our Bill of Rights under the Amendment I:

    ” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of people peaceable to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

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  14. Avatar Kenneth says:

    Someone give me a referral, if you know a lawyer send me a name and number please:

    Let me state the case but first off I am possibly looking for a lawyer to send to the homeowner a mediation letter with their letterhead on it that tries to get the homeowner into “mediation” with me. I do not want to go court with a lawsuit unless your company agrees to take the case. I can do the mediation myself or your company can. It involves Intentional Infliction of Emotion Distress ect… (SLAPP etc.).

    This case does not involve the government (The VA or HUD) – it is against a homeowner. This is about a complete fraud against me by a disgruntled homeowner. His complaints are based on: deception, a scheme, malicious persecution, lying, fraud, and deceit, which I can prove.

    I appraised a home for a homeowner in a predominately black area of LA, the homeowner was a veteran, and is a “racist” against white people. He did not like the value I came in at with my appraisal and he did not get his refinance, so in retribution of that fact he filed a complaint against me that I was “White Racist Appraiser” with the Veteran’s Administration. The complaint was built on fraud and lies, which I can prove. The homeowner called me every name in the book in his complaint. The VA did a year’s long investigation and found no racism or evidence of discrimination, thus a “Close Out” letter was generated.

    The homeowner had two refinance appraisals done after my appraisal was performed that show his claims against me are false, riddled with dishonesty and had many falsehoods. Lender’s keep records when homeowners ask for and then get a copy of any appraisal. He filed his claim against me with the VA 9 months after my report was performed so he had two other appraisals showing the truth of the value of his home.

    After the VA cleared me and sent me the “Close Out Letter”, he then went to a second government agency HUD and filed a second complaint for the same thing “Racism” against me and the lender Omni-Fund and HUD. He was just informed that no racism existed by the VA.

    Now HUD after another year of investigation of me demanded of the homeowner those two past appraisals after mine was done, he did not provide those two appraisals to HUD so he is hiding evidence that will show that he purposefully lied in order to slander me to two “Two Government Agencies” and try to ruin my career, business and health. The second complaint file with HUD shows this is an Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, personal injure etc…

    This has now been over 3 years that this has been going on. I have been appraising for 35 years so I know a few things about this situation. Because of these facts I went into therapy have had to undergo therapy and a medical doctor’s care because of two government agencies after me. I just started therapy so the statue of limitations just started.

    Respectfully,
    Kenneth J. Mullinix

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  15. Avatar Tracy says:

    We were asked today to remove the term “Traditional” from commentary about a comparable. It said, Comp 2, an older, Traditional dwelling, is in the subject neighborhood…”. I am baffled. I pushed back, and the bank came rolling me over with a crazy diatribe about how it could be biased in so many ways and how could I not see that? Well, because I am a normal human being with a brain. That’s how.

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The Nightmarish End of Home Appraisals

by Jeremy Bagott time to read: 3 min
29