Sharestates operates a crowdfunding platform that provides alternative mortgage lending secured by both residential and commercial real estate. Over the last 10 years, it has reported average annual returns for loan investors ranging from 9.24% to 11.02%. With returns like these, there is likely some loan risk – and Sharestates reports a current foreclosure rate of 2.44%. Following several of its foreclosures, Sharestates has filed professional negligence cases against about a dozen defendant appraisers, appraisal firms and appraisal management companies, blaming the loan losses on inflated appraisals. Last year, it lost one of those cases in a Nassau County, New...
…alleged that the lenders conspired with LandSafe to inflate appraisals to increase the size of mortgage loans sold on the secondary mortgage market… Believe it or not, cases are still being litigated in relation to events during the mortgage meltdown years. After nearly seven years of litigation, a settlement (subject to court approval) has been reached in the borrower class action filed in 2013 regarding appraisals managed by defendant LandSafe Appraisal Services between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2008. The other defendants in the suit include Countrywide Home Loans and Bank of America and various affiliates. The central premise...
…may AMCs be liable for the deficient work of contractor appraisers? Can AMCs be sued for negligence? Can they be sued by borrowers?.. It’s now been a decade since the market relevance of appraisal management companies surged in connection with the procuring of appraisals for residential lending. Since then, interesting recurring legal issues have arisen relating to AMCs’ potential liability for the work of contractor appraisers: when and how may AMCs be liable for the deficient work of contractor appraisers? Can AMCs be sued for negligence? Can they be sued by borrowers? Here’s an overview of the answers to these...
More than 375 California appraisers registered for the AB 5 webinar – I hope you didn’t miss it. I’ll be hosting my next free webinar for appraisers on January 31, 2020 – it’s the “California Legal Update just for Appraisers!” In this free video webinar, I’ll cover: New 2020 laws relevant to California appraisers and appraisal firms (other than AB 5), including the California Consumer Privacy Act, and The very most important thing that appraisers can do in 2020 in every appraisal report of every type (whether residential, commercial, lending or non-lending) to avoid liability. The webinar will last approximately 45...
Recent Cyber Attacks on CoreLogic and a Large Appraisal Firm Expose a Real Business Risk to Valuation Firms and Companies. As two recent attacks show, cyber crimes pose a real risk – legally and economically – to appraisal firms, management companies and other businesses involved in property analytics. If an operation like CoreLogic can be victimized by criminal hackers seeking property information, as it was in an attack earlier this month, any valuation firm or property analytics company is at risk. And, more seriously, the losses suffered by an appraisal firm in the separate cyber attack discussed below demonstrate how...
Appraiser Overtime Lawsuits Continue to Hit Banks and AMCs – and Now Commercial Appraisers Against a National Commercial Appraisal Firm In May, I wrote a short piece (posted here) about the legal threat posed to AMCs, appraisal firms and other employers of appraisers in relation to classification of appraisers as exempt from overtime. I included a warning that the threat was spreading to commercial firms. It’s time for an update. In August, another bank – U.S. Bank – was sued for unpaid overtime by a potential class of appraisers. Also named as a defendant to the class action is U.S....
Appraiser Disciplinary Complaints: Who is Filing Them? What for? We were doing some research for a project and came up with some basic data that appraisers may find interesting about disciplinary complaints to state appraiser licensing agencies. Who files the complaints? What’s the basis? Well, here’s some data from claims reported to LIA Administrators & Insurance Services in the last three years: Source of disciplinary complaints reported by LIA insured appraisers, April 2015 to April 2018: 61% Borrower or purchaser 16% Seller 8% AMC 6% Lender 5% Miscellaneous (litigation party, estate beneficiary, other appraiser,...
“Hybrid Appraisals” – Speaking about the Liability Risks to Appraisers and Others at The Appraisal Foundation’s Joint Council Meeting “Hybrid appraisal” liability? I am looking forward to speaking about the subject at a joint meeting of The Appraisal Foundation’s two advisory councils — The Appraisal Foundation Advisory Council (composed of 60 non-profits and government agencies) and the Industry Advisory Council (composed of 35 business entities with interests in valuation). “Hybrid appraisals” (which provide a desktop value opinion from a licensed/certified appraiser relying on a physical inspection of the property by a third party) are being marketed by AMCs and technology companies...
…Battles over alleged misappropriation of trade secrets relating to residential valuation technology and services… AMCs and Lenders Fighting Over Next Generation Valuation Products and Technology The residential valuation business for mortgage lenders has been taking big steps lately toward wide scale replacement of the historical Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR or 1004) form used in mortgage lending. As this movement happens, some would-be providers of replacement valuation products (such as “hybrid” appraisals) and automated valuation models (AVMs) are fighting over technology turf and trade secrets. There are currently three big legal battles over alleged misappropriation of trade secrets relating to...
This is the only way that the opinion would ever help other appraisers, especially residential, in future cases filed by parties who are not intended users of the appraiser’s work. Newly Published California Case Helpful to Appraisers: Tindell v. Murphy Today, the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District certified for publication its recent decision in a case entitled Tindell v. Murphy. The case involved mortgage borrowers who sued a real estate appraiser blaming the appraiser for a purchase they made in 2005 at the peak of the real estate bubble. The trial court had dismissed the borrowers’ suit because they...
