…BREA thinks it is acceptable to let an appraiser who engaged in mortgage fraud remain licensed… The Inmates Must Be In Charge of This Asylum The California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers is sadly yet another example of a state agency that does not really understand what the taxpayers expect of it. The taxpayers probably assume the agency in charge of licensing appraisers in California would certainly not renew the license of an appraiser who not only is indicted in a multiparty, multi-million dollar mortgage fraud case, but actually pled guilty to at least one count of the crime. Unfortunately,...
Llano on the losing end… We are happy to report that the walls are slowly tumbling down on Llano Financing and the Ganter brothers (Chris & Ben). If we sound biased it’s only because we are. When any entity like Llano is on the losing end of close to 100% of the cases in both state and federal court, it becomes very clear quickly to both the judiciary and the general public that something fishy is going on. Since our last update, here are some new pieces of information we have uncovered. We think you will find this very interesting...
Llano cases against appraisers The mass litigation against appraisers fueled by Impac Mortgage/First Mutual Group/Llano/Savant is definitely consuming too much of this blog’s space. I will in the future likely create a special home just for their coverage — because their legal and economic assault on appraisers could cause profound harm for U.S. appraisers if unchecked. Until that separate place exists, here is another update: “This is literally a nightmare for me and I am literally shaking as I write this reply.” Those are the words of First Mutual Group and Llano Financing’s own attorney Henry Portner to describe the predicament he is in...
E&O vs. General Liability First some background. Errors & Omissions (E&O) is malpractice insurance for mistakes in your report- say you measure square footage incorrectly. General Liability (GL) covers property damage and bodily injury while you’re at the premises and more. Examples of GL claims are, if during a walkthrough you knock over and break a vase (property damage), or back over and injure a homeowner as you exit the driveway (bodily injury). Business Owners Packages (BOPs) typically go beyond the job site, providing coverage for losses to your own business, such as a trip and fall at your office,...
In our world of claims involving appraisers, we quite often see different versions of this same story — in this version of the story, an appraiser did a review appraisal that was used by Savant LG in a currently pending case against another appraiser in Florida. Just months later, that appraiser found himself named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed…
It’s been a few months since we issued our last update on our friends (and yours) the Ganter brothers (Chris and Ben). The Ganters have suffered what for most people would be a series of embarrassing setbacks in their blatant attempts to use the legal system to pressure appraisers and/or their E&O carriers into paying off what we view as frivolous claims to save the cost of litigating the underlying dispute. For those of you who are reading this for the first time, we have issued two other alerts about this in the past 18 months. Links to the earlier...
The grand scheme of suing appraisers! Who Is Llano Financing Group? Who Is Carrington Capital Management? Why Are They Suing So Many Appraisers? Short Summary Update 8-17-15: Hundreds of appraisers are being sued by two entities that invest in suing appraisers for profit. At this time, the entity filing the most lawsuits against appraisers is Llano Financing Group, and most of the appraisals it is suing over were held by Impac Funding/Impac Mortgage. Impac is expressly assigning its claims and rights to sue appraisers to the investors (according to the court complaints). In the last three months, the investors have sued about 280 appraisers...
FHA Requirements vs USPAP – Appraisers Caught in Catch 22 Excerpt The new FHA Handbook will become effective on September 14, 2015. There has been much discussion of the implications of changing “should” to “must” in thousands of examples in the Handbook. As a Board member of the Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers as well as being on the FHA Roster, I have taken a good hard look at these requirements and then, it hit me as I was teaching the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) which is the basis of appraisal standards for every appraiser in...
If you are in business long enough, you will get subpoenaed by someone involved in a dispute that may not even involve you. A subpoena is technically a court order compelling you to appear and testify or to produce records or both. If you are actually involved in the dispute as the plaintiff or defendant, your duty to comply with the subpoena is generally very clear and mandatory. However, when you are not the plaintiff or defendant, complying blindly with a subpoena without asking any questions may not be in your best interest. As a non-party, a subpoena may be...
The appraisal industry was blindsided once again only this time by the AG’s office when they determined that the Real Estate Appraiser Board cannot regulate BPO’s. The New Mexico Appraiser’s Coalition and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Appraisal Institute sent a joint letter to the Appraisal Board prior to a hearing that was held in January to discuss the BPO language in the Appraiser Act. Although we feel we provided enough information to guide the Board, the Attorney General Representative at the meeting made the determination that the Appraisal Board had no jurisdiction over the BPO product. Even though...
