If You Want to Stop Crime, Make it Against the Law!
Can we stop crime by making it against the law?
If you want to stop crime, make it against the law! It is this type of thinking that has made it increasing difficult for honest appraisers, while providing a buffer for the true criminal that seeks to manipulate the system. Is it really as simple as the best appraiser is the one who is always on time, always fills out the form according to UAD, and never strays from a Fannie Mae guideline? The report reads clean, passes review and never makes the slightest ripple when place in the loan pool, so how could it be wrong?
The ugly truth is that often the “prettiest” report is the one that is the best fiction. If our goal is to receive professional opinions of value, then we need to be selective of individual appraisers that are honest, industrious and able present well-reasoned arguments that are based upon verifiable information.
Of course, the real question is how do you determine that a man or woman is honest. Can we simply ask them, “Are you an honest appraiser?” The chances are they ones that answer something like, yes I am 100% honest and have never ever lied or stretched a value are the crooks of the bunch. The ones that answer something like, well I try to be as honest as possible. Sometimes over the years there may have been assignments in which I lost my objectivity and favored the cause of the client; but, I believe that was mostly from inexperience and a subconscious need to be liked. Yes, I believe I can say that I am honest. I have not purposefully ever taken an assignment, or completed one that required me to lie. This is the appraiser that I would personally do business with.
Can we stop crime by making it against the law? Well the absurdity of the question bears examination, but the short answer is best explained by two very short statements my father told me of the years. #1 – Locks just keep your friends out. and #2 – A contract is only as reliable as the parties involved in the agreement.
The gatekeepers of this industry have become machines and analytic tools, this is what has allowed the unscrupulous to thrive. It is not any more simple than that. When an experienced review appraiser, or underwriter actually reads a file and calls an appraiser on the file, this is best approach to safeguarding the process and making sure the person who is writing the report is not an advocate to the client, or a nitwit who could unwittingly mislead the process.
Points to ponder as we continue in “the good fight’…
See you around the water cooler!
The appraisal business was destroyed by the banking system that placed us here.