Appraiser Safety, Stalked by Homeowner
Personal safety of appraisers
I have several issues that focus on PERSONAL SAFETY of appraisers especially female appraisers that I need to address.
I had a recent event where a homeowner was not happy with the appraised value of his home. Four weeks after I had turned in the appraisal, the lender, Freedom Mortgage, proceeded to send five sales that were 16 to 29 months old, for my review. I responded via StreetLinks AMC communication log stating these were not within FNMA guidelines. A few weeks later StreetLinks sent me the following:
Good afternoon, the lender has ordered a second appraisal for this property that was completed by another appraiser in your area. Both reports were completed within the same time frame and reporting differences were noted. In an effort to resolve discrepancies, please address the following reporting differences…
I responded that their request was for a Review Appraisal. I added that I would gladly perform one for a customary and reasonable fee. StreetLinks did not agree with my comment of a Review Appraisal and stated “Don’t you want to defend your report?” I replied “my report does not need to be defended.” I then quoted Dodd-Frank and warned them of coercion, intimidation, and various other violations.
The homeowner must not have been happy because he proceeded to call me. I immediately informed StreetLinks and asked them to notify the lender. A couple of weeks later, I see the homeowner’s name in my Facebook account as a potential friend. A day or so later I see his name in my Hotmail contacts. When vacationing out of the country, I logged in to my dormant Skype account and saw his name among my contact lists. I had not used Skype for several years.
I have a teenage daughter at home. Now I am worried and wondering if this person has driven by my house? Has he seen my daughter coming and going? What else does he have in mind? A mother’s worst nightmare.
I have a stalker and needless to say I had to make a few changes to my reports and to the way I conduct business. I no longer include my license or E&O Insurance declaration page in my appraisal reports. I have sent a request to DPOR to change my address to a PO Box. I have changed my address on my E&O Insurance declaration page to a PO Box. My PO box is in a different city than where I live. I now use a prepaid cell phone for calls. I am in the process of updating all my clients to a new e-mail address. My safety has been threatened. My life and my families’ life has been turned upside down. All because of a disgruntled homeowner.
I also notified my E&O insurance and told them about the disgruntled homeowner. They opened a claim and then closed the pending claim. Upon renewal I received the following from LANDY in an email:
I have reviewed your renewal application. We will continue to offer terms in the individual appraiser program; however, it will be subject to an additional 15% debit due to the open claim. The premium will be $598 x 1.15 = $688.00. Please revise the Premium Payment Options form to reflect payment of that premium amount and initial and date the revision. Please return the revised payment form to my attention. Once we have that, we can process your payment and send your confirmation of coverage.
So, I get stalked by a homeowner. I inform my E&O insurance. And I get penalized for being stalked!
Recently, I advised another client, Nationwide Property & Appraisal Services, that I will no longer add my license and E&O information in my reports, for safety concerns. Including the license and E&O declaration page in appraisal reports is in their engagement letter. They say it is a requirement. I told them that I would send these documents separately because I didn’t want my personal information such as my residence’s address to be made public. Not like they didn’t already have these documents on file. They came back and said, “In order to close the loan, any mortgage company must have proof that their appraisal was done by an adequately licensed appraiser.” In other words, the appraiser’s information in reports is not good enough, and clients are not capable of checking appraisers’ credentials on the Appraisal Subcommittee website. The AMC then stated,
“Jodi, the license is public record. So if someone really wants it they can find it anyway. And if they have a copy of the appraisal they will know your name, address, company name, phone number, etc. The E&O being separate is fine. I get that this could encourage homeowners to try to file unfounded claims. But the license needs to be there. IT IS NOT CREATING ANY EXTRA RISK AND IT IS REQUIRED THROUGHOUT THE INDUSTRY.”
I NEVER added my license or E&O information in my reports when I had banks, lenders and mortgage companies as clients. Only AMCs require this information. When did this become industry standard?
I posted a commentary on Facebook regarding appraisers’ personal safety issues, stalkers and whether other appraisers included their license and E&O information in reports. The amount of responses that I received was over whelming. I was surprised to learn that they were other appraisers that had faced similar safety issues. One appraiser had even been confronted in his residence by a disgruntled homeowner. I received hundreds of responses and many provided safety advice, and encouragement. AMCs need to be concerned about the safety of appraisers and should eliminate handing over personal information to the public.
I would like to share some of the many advice I received from other appraisers. Check in on Facebook before you enter a home for an inspection. Leave an itinerary of your daily events. Listen to your gut and document items that you think are suspicious. If you are not comfortable when you pull up for an inspection, leave and make another appointment. Notify the lender that it was unsafe and you will be taking someone with you on the inspection. If you are comfortable, carry mace for protection. Take notes in case something does happen so the authorities can easily find it. STAY SAFE!!
Homeowners want the truth. So long as Appraisers are beholden to crooks, then homeowners will randomly start searching for truth and guess what? Appraisers are perfect escape goats for “mania.”
Just simply call the appraiser and ask the questions you have and get the “truth”.
As the borrower is not the intended client their is very little the appraiser can discuss with them and lenders do a very bad job of explaining this. Borrowers think because they pay for the appraisal that somehow we are there clients/customers. Appraisers get penalized because our clients often do not have the ability to read and interpret our work and thus can’t easily explain it to the borrower. When the borrower is not happy they then contact the appraiser who they feel is doing them wrong by referring them back to their true client, the lender.
A contradiction of Appraiser Independence.
You are correct.
A lot of homeowners are manipulated into believing they have to go to a bank or some ‘hub,’ per se to simply want to know the value or something more complex to solve a problem, etc..
This is how much power the lending industry currently has over the Appraisal Process. And, Real Estate Appraisers, as an aggregate, let them. Their rules should not apply when they cannot interpret a very important document to their client. As well as, other circumstances that makes the lending industry look like a goofy fool.
A homeowner can call me anytime for the truth.
People lose sight of the intended purpose of an appraiser, given the conflicting client confidentiality requirements. Appraisers are required for the continued liquidity of lenders. Lending is sanctioned for the continued access to credit of US citizens. Somewhere along the line, the lender confused the appraiser for their employee and the appraiser confused the lender for their boss. Client confidentiality is not there to deny home owners communication with appraisers, but rather is present to prevent concerted fraud. If you’re not dealing dishonestly, it’s o.k. to talk to borrowers. In the instance of this story, it would appear that SL goes for the higher number, not necessarily the most accurate number.
Want to know why they ordered a second appraisal rather than a field review? It’s obvious, by discrediting the first appraisal, it’s easier to get a new second value. By ordering a field review, they would have likely confirmed the validity of the first value opinion and therefore solidified it. I had axis pull that on me once, where they tried to discredit before ordering any field reviews. Rolled in another appraiser after me and then tried not to pay. It’s how you shortcut the state licensed reviewer requirement when you’re a distributor and are locked down on non negotiable lender service contracts and don’t want to take the loss of the field review, discredit the original report instead. More abuse of the assignment process. Every single individual related in any capacity what so ever with order distribution and any in house, amc, or outsourced capacity, should all have to be individually licensed.
These distributors of many types and their upstart tech servicers are so clueless, they simply ask the appraiser to include eo within reports so they don’t have to keep records pertaining to that. By asking the appraiser to include eo, they pass on the record keeping requirement and instead position themselves as being inconsiderate to the appraisers risk, as if they don’t share that or something. But when it comes to logical and critical decision making actions, obviously the unlicensed employees want to work less, so they demand eo be included. Lenders can’t count on the amc or distributor to keep the paperwork together properly, so they demand eo be included. Just indicator signs that you’re dealing with the inadequate companies, when they do silly things like demand the appraisers errors of reporting coverage be included alongside the appraisers professional valuation reports. EO is not applicable, unless you made an error. Inclusion is not required via fnma, hud, or the state. Appraisers who volunteer that document are asking for trouble and are providing misleading report content unless they also accompany with boilerplate statement the eo doc is not applicable to the borrower. Sort of defeats the purpose of including it in the first place. Usually when appraisers get wise, they refuse eo inclusion in reports.
Way to stick to your guns Jodi! I never include my E&O with my reports and I won’t make mention that it is available, as I have been asked to do on many occasions. Appraisers need to stand up to unwarranted requests and just say ‘No’. The more appraisers that do, the less the requests will be asked.
Appraisers who continue on without being adequately informed are more of a problem than allies. EO within reports is old hat. I linked articles over 3 years old pertaining to that below. Where has this appraiser been? Situational awareness is the best safety net. You’re situationally unaware if you don’t keep up with the news, and your social media accounts are just out there visible for any stranger to review. How much of a haircut is SL giving to appraisal requests these days?
I’ve said it a million times before, and I’ll say it again. Appraisers should know how to defend themselves. They’ve walking into other people homes, and in some cases those homes may be abandoned/vacant/etc. If one is stalked, know how to deal with it. Law enforcement will not be there to protect you in these situations; they are only there after the fact.
Its an issue that doesn’t have an easy answer, however I want to know more about your E&O provider. Heck, the next article should be devoted to the various E&O companies and their annual premiums. I would gladly pay $688 for coverage as with a perfect record my premium is over $1,100.
Bill, $1100? Who are you insured with? Mine is less than $600 for a mil coverage.
After receiving two other estimates that were higher, and after consulting and verifying with other associate on their policies ($), I went with Aspen American Insurance. This may or may not be high for the area, however don’t forget insurance companies unlike appraisers have the ability to charge down to a zip code level. Apparently E&O insurance companies recognize that if my typical assignment is in the $900,000 range then the liability is higher for them, and they charge accordingly. Lenders and AMC’s don’t recognize the higher liability to appraisers in areas like mine (and pay more), but seem to think that all 1004 assignments are the same and should be paid as such. In the past I’ve had E&O coverage via Liberty Insurance, and FREA (late 90’s $895).
Bill, I use LANDY. Their premium for CA appraisers is less than $900 for a mil coverage. I believe you can get a quote online. Doesn’t hurt to check them out… Landy E&O
Hey Bill. Per billing structures; Yep, the insurance is sufficiently sophisticated, the lenders appraisal order distributors are not. The root cause of course being the federal standards which cast a wide net. The presumption lenders cannot charge to a zip code is flawed. They choose not to in order to save on bureaucratic process. Which is one of the constantly present yet rarely discussed reasons for fee stagnation with appraisal services; It takes a lot of work to change that standard appraisal fee which is pre stated in the companies engagement terms, sales docs, web site, etc, etc. That never stopped me though. If they’re interested in saving the borrower a dollar or a day, they are free to do so from their end. That responsibility of catering to the customer does in no way what so ever, fall on me the appraiser.
AMC/Lender says: It is a requirement you MUST do this and that.
Appraiser: No thank you…I refuse to to that.
AMC/Lender says: You cannot refuse…you HAVE to do it!
Appraiser: I can refuse, and I have already refused! Thank you for considering XXX Appraisal Company for your real estate valuation issues.
AMC/Lender says: YOU do NOT understand….I insist that you do whatever in the HELL I say or YOU will be dropped from our panel!
Appraiser: Please remove my company from your panel as we will no longer accept assignments from your company.
AMC/Lender: You cannot survive without us giving you assignments!
Appraiser: Yes i can without any problem at all!
AMC/Lender says: GEE….how in hell are we going to earn millions of dollars without appraisers?
Appraiser: I do not know. Please excuse me as I am running late for five inspections today. Since I do not sponsor trainees and do my own work, I am too busy to worry about your problems…I have my own. Have a great day!
Sounds like an Independent Real Estate Appraisal Company 🙂
Stick to your guns, times have changed, they need us NOW more than WE need them !!!
And dont forget….. only the best have survived !
I added StLinks to my DNU list several years ago and am happy I did. A S&W .40 cal works good for me.
Jodi sorry to hear you had to go through this. My personal address is never on any of my appraisal business information. My mentor told me that from the get go. Something else to do when receiving a job is Google the owner(s) and address because I had one job where one of the owners was on a child sex offender list so I made sure another appraiser from my office went with me to do the inspection.
A side note is Street Links is one of the worst in my opinion. Drop them like a bad pain in the ass. I did so 6 yrs ago and have no problem finding/getting work. Wake up appraisers AMC’s do not care about you! God for bid we get hurt because of something like this and they will just move on to the next sucker..aaa… I mean appraiser.
The issue of permanently dropping an AMC client Koma (Streetlinks) is that most have several business models that they operate from and doing so removes you from those clients that use there Software as a Service (SaaS) programs (Streetlinks calls it LenderX). These systems allow for the AMC to be the firewall for regulation purposes (no true AMC service), while the lender pays full fee and No AMC is indicated on the appraisal report. One can refuse/decline the traditional AMC work while saying yes to those clients that use their SaaS programs (full fee). To those that say the answer is to boycott all AMC’s (and I guess their SaaS systems too), is to not understand the devil they truly are.
Yea I don’t deal with those clients either. Another program is Appraisal Scope. You just have to take the time and effort to vet who you do business with. The clients I deal with have directly to them uploads.
Thanks for the info Bill!
A lot of our industry depends on the specific location and the business model developed by each appraiser. Some of us may want to be the GURU and employ as many appraisers as possible. These folks (half-arse) train as many as possible and accept any scum AMC client or National Appraisal Company assignnent in an effort to keep that heard of folks busy. (See what happens to them when interest rates go up!) LOL
Some of the appraisers that I have known take it slow and easy. They remind me of the dental profession. You have the old dentist working for many years all by himself until time to bring on junior to sell out the business. These appraisers understand that they can only do so many appraisal reports in a week/month. They are experienced and respected in their communities. They do not train their competition. These appraisers do not typically work for any AMC. They totally control their own business, time and fees. These are the ones that always stay busy…no matter what the economic climate. They are the ones that can take vacations (and many clients will wait until they return). At the end of the day, if you have some lawyers, accountants, Realtors, builders, investors, government engineers, credit unions, regional banks, individuals, etc…that should allow you to have all the work one person could possibly do. You are constantly promoting yourself and pick the very best of the clients. If one becomes a pain in the ass, you just ease them out and replace with a better one. RINSE and REPEAT, etc. Sometimes it is not the trade but the tricks to a trade that are important. Just my opinion….you go chase AMCs! LOL
I want to add one item. Since I wrote the story in I had requested that the claim be closed. Once the claim was closed I pointed this out to my Insurance Carrier and they lowered my premium to the usual rate. I want to thank the V. P. of the Company for all his help in this matter. Thank you all for your responses. Stay Safe!
Here are your go to eo links, and why you should never include eo within a report itself. EO covers the errors and omissions, and does not indemnify or protect the home owner from their own investment, what so ever. Misleading to borrowers, so I refuse to include.
Should You Attach Your E&O Insurance to Your Appraisal Report?
So you say you have a social media stalker? More reasons why I’ve never had such accounts. Social media is the most clever and sophisticated market tool of this century, but it’s just a marketing tool none the less. If you love getting your private information and usage habit sold by the companies whom you frequent, you’ll love social media of all types.
Another Streetlinks story. Will appraisers never learn?
NO…it does not seem that they ever will!
Mike Kandace Silva
I’ve never included my E&O or license in my reports. Appraisers should stop complying with these stupid requests.
As for safety, carry a mace or pack a firearm, share your location with colleagues, friends or family members, PO box is a must, be aware of your surroundings…
It seems we can all agree that StreetLinks is a tough client to work for. I have been on their panel for several years and almost always quote a premium on every assignment because 99% of the time there will be a revision request or clarification based upon some computer system suggesting other comp’s simply because they are closer in proximity. The clerks working for Street Links are not underwriters and do not review those sales to determine whether they are actually comparable. Plus they want two listings and 4 sales for every assignment regardless of relevance. It is very annoying, but if you do good work for them they’ll call for price quotes on complex assignments. I do million dollar lakefront homes for them pretty frequently. So they suck to work for until you get the big assignments that you can typically quote two to three times more for. Now I just cherry pick assignments from them. Let someone else deal with the low fee appraisals, I’ll do the big ones. Those assignments are actually reviewed by an underwriter who has some knowledge of the appraisal process; not just a clerk running a computer program. In general there are not many AMCs that will pay reasonable fees. SAMCO and ACR are the best I know of. Dart might be the lowest, but they send a crapload of assignments. All the big ones like JP Morgan and USBank have their own AMCs but the fees are too low, so I only do price quote complex assignments for them. its a business decision whether to use AMCs or not. Some are good and most are bad to work for, but you always have the choice whether you want to accept the fee they are willing to pay or simply walk away.
Most of us appraisers know that “Streetlinks” is one of the 3 worst AMCs in the market, why would any appraiser work for them?. They have been on my do not use list for over 3 years ( my list totals over 20 ). Jodie stated the lender ordered a 2nd appraisal and they asked her to reconcile or rebut the other appraisal. All appraisers should know that when a lender orders a 2nd appraisal that they must use that 2nd appraisal, this is also true for a Review if it changes the Value (fannie requirement) so why would the original appraiser even consider reviewing or rebutting that appraisal report or Review. Maybe EGO. Second, USPAP prohibits the appraiser from discussing the appraisal report with anyone except the Client without the prior approval of the client. I would never ask the client for that approval however if I did I would make it be in writing.