Beware of Bifurcated Appraisals
The entire concept of bifurcated appraisals represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the appraisal process. To have an individual inspect a property and then convey that information to an appraiser to complete the valuation is tragically flawed because:
- Inspections and qualifications of an inspector are not standardized, not insured, not licensed (a convicted felon was caught doing one of these)
- An immense part of understanding the value of property occurs while walking through it (like observing the occupancy of 50 feral cats)
- It is generally more expensive (but I think its cheaper) to parse the functions out
- Places the consumer at risk unnecessarily
- Phil Crawford of Voice of Appraisal breaks it down with perfect clarity (and his smooth velvety radio voice) as a guest on The Rock & Roll Real Estate Hour in Cincinnati.
President & CEO at Miller Samuel Inc.
Jonathan Miller is President and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm he co-founded in 1986. He is a state-certified real estate appraiser in New York and Connecticut, performing court testimony as an expert witness in various local, state and federal courts.
Latest posts by Jonathan Miller (see all)
- GSE Exec Boasts Scheme to Slash Appraiser Numbers - May 2, 2024
- Valuation Connect Demands Licenses, Denies Fair Pay - April 9, 2024
- Appraisal Reviews for $3 – The Devaluation of Appraisers - January 16, 2024
Image credit flickr - Antony Shepherd
Oh, fun. Will look forward to watching this. Thank you.
whomever does these is a fool.
The bankers DO NOT PAY the appraisers fee. The borrower does. $350-550? If you work for that fee, you’re nuts!! Far too low. Charge more. You’re a professional. After all taxes, research fees paid, you’re working for slightly more than minimum wage.
Don’t do em, won’t do em. Neither should you.
Phil really called the situation many years ago. Great job. Nice to see another Miller article here as well.
This article first linked below on simple research to learn if third party company hires are properly vetted, took me all but ten seconds to find. Certainly there is more out there.
This ties into the recent article for the exact amc type company hiring these non professionals to substitute the appraisers inspection process. By not utilizing state background check services and allowing people to openly source whomever they want for background checks, this is basically an open door to circumvent legitimate thorough back ground checks. As if state required checks would even be enough, because they are not enough. The laundry list of realty and lending related compliance points companies like Beacon Property Data Collectors, have vendors agree too, is pointless. There will be no test. Gig workers and temporary employees have very little knowledge about these regulatory structures, and no incentive to become well informed either. We’ll have every temporary labor placement firm in the country competing to place these kinds of gig workers, they’ll see lenders and amc’s as a new source of placement opportunities. As the gse’s put tens of thousands of career professional appraisers out of work. Wish people would also focus on the net jobs loss and brain drain with this issue, as being just as important as safety concerns for consumers. Dang realty agents should have safety concerns as well.
https://www.levinsimes.com/blog/uber-allows-thousand-of-criminals-as-drivers
https://www.ridester.com/uber-background-check/
Imagine being this early on in your personal exploration of employment opportunities, being concerned enough about these issues to read an article like this, then suddenly getting a never ending stream of appraisal inspection orders which place you in peoples personal spaces, and a series of high end luxury properties which you’ll never have a chance in your lifetime to even come close to affording, much less even having a basic understanding of the complex provenance of the land, the homes, the people whom reside in them.
Someone should do a random expose and interview a PDC, with a list of the most basic rudimentary questions on regulatory structure, construction principals, home materials, and general etiquette. Then get someone you may know whom has a criminal record, to pass the Beacon property check just for kicks and important evidence of a lackluster consumer safety approach.
Things are going to get far worse in the appraisal industry before they get better, if ever. Sadly, even well intentioned appraisers are part of the problem, having long since capitulated to and been willing to work with the appraisal management companies. We have been warning of this for many years, the amc industries primary motivation is to displace appraisers entirety and capture the complete market income share of licensed appraiser professionals, then to expand outward to other regulated professionals incomes, take those away as well. All without being required to have individual licensing themselves. A bamboozle, a rope a dope. The amc’s have always been in the drivers seat whenever an appraiser chooses to work with them. The appraiser has never in those situations actually been in control.
Previous blogs article reference, related research.
https://appraisersblogs.com/fighting-tooth-n-nail-4-consumer-protection-n-the-appraisal-industry/#comment-38643
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/colorado-state-company-fake-documents-operations-propdoks-visual-prop-studios-aurora-denver-fraud/
Holy smokes! This is the cherry on top for the PAREA program as well as the PDC program.
And you know, anyone with an ounce of pc and photoshop related skills can and do create similar documents at home for themselves, unbeknownst to anyone else, unless they are identified individually.
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The business advertised its products as theatrical props, educational tools and good material for playing a joke.
Consumer protection investigators and state prosecutors branded the offerings as fraudulent, devastating, and even dangerous.
“The false documents this company sold, including those used by criminals to victimize Coloradans and to fool law enforcement and other officials, were not harmless props,” stated Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in a press release.
Prosecutors claim the business has filled tens of thousands of orders over the past two years and expanded its offerings to more than 70 types of false documents.
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Coming soon out of the basement and to an actual store front near you. In fact, a darn miracle if this is not already prevalent in your state as well right now today.
photo 2
photo 3
https://www.kunc.org/news/2023-08-03/in-rural-larimer-county-scant-property-sales-data-mean-more-property-valuation-errors
The hits keep on coming.
Automatic valuation models utilized by county assessors. Fail rates for improperly inflated valuations identified as one in three in some areas, and two in three in other areas. Let that sink in, only one third of the avm results were even remotely accurate in rural locations, and a third to half of all other avm’s were not accurate in semi rural. Over valuation amounts were routinely in the hundred thousand plus, others well over two hundred thousand higher than actual.
Yeah, replace more appraisers, continue to let the appraisal management companies leech all the money and decimate the appraiser population further. See what happens.
Looks like we could get a lot of work in assisting these people with independent work in super rural locations. Get an rv and be a traveling appraiser.
My friend’s home was just inspected by a non-appraiser and they missed a lot. They neglected to mention the exposed electrical wiring, incomplete exterior stucco, broken windows, holes in interior walls, and unpermitted garage conversion with kitchen and bathroom. However, it was passed onto an appraiser that called it “C4” condition, completed an appraisal, and signed the report.
I couldn’t agree more with this blog cautionary message about bifurcated appraisals. The concerns raised about the lack of standardization, insurance, and licensing for inspectors in this process are indeed alarming. It’s essential to ensure that the person assessing the property is qualified and reliable, considering the financial implications involved in real estate transactions. I’m looking forward to checking out Phil Crawford’s insights on this issue.