Baggins, very well said! I could not agree more.

Since the Day1 Certainty program and FNMA CU system rolled out, field reviews now function as a second appraisal figure in manual underwriting and red flag auto review scenarios. They don’t really care to apply the traditional model of the field review to vet an individual appraiser to remain on or be removed from individual panels anymore. The new game is to use the fastest cheapest, and then when the occasional report does not cut it, back it all up with a field review. As the field review comes after the fact, you basically accept all liability for a lessor fee, get to complete value all over again and bear the final liability holding signature, and review someone elses work. Origination on the front line is just more straight forward and simple. It feels good to think that appraisers whom do not provide great service will eventually be removed, but sadly the opposite is true. As panel managers are not required to have appraisers licenses themselves, basically anything goes. The majority of people the appraiser deals with are not individually licensed and not individually accountable. I vote to rescind the separation from mortgage loan production rule, to bring back one on one licensed vs licensed accountability. Or at least force panel managers to have appraisers licenses themselves. There is nobody to call and nobody to complain to regarding industry pressure placed on appraisers.

Remember, the fault of this activity is not squarely on the appraiser, over valuation and the continued promotion of that happens because the federal reserve prints money out of thin air, and lenders are first receivers of this money. It’s all backed by the taxpayer so controls are typically lax. When it comes to lending fraud on the lender side, nobody goes to jail and everybody knows that. The lender whom pushed those loans is also at fault for allowing them to originate in the first place. Comp searching prior to acceptance will help keep you away from some of this sort of activity but not all.

Betcha a pepsi that despite all factual data, the appraiser that comes in low one single time gets axed from the panel, not the appraiser that placed a hundred borrowers upside down repeatedly. The things I have heard and the pressure I’ve dealt with from unlicensed panel managers. Lenders hire unlicensed managers with a specific reason, so the pressure flows one direction and only one direction. You can know a lot about your lender clients based on the one simple point, if the panel manager has an active appraisers license or not. If that person does not hold an active appraisers license, well, you know everything you need to know.

I just had a situation similar, my report was 150k less than the appraisal done the year before, when lender asked why and sent the old report, I said he used all sales in a completely different town and didn’t even say why, I cited 3 sales in the same town which were all similar early to mid 2000’s tear built colonials. I shouldn’t have to waste my time dealing w/that stuff as the prior report was garbage.