NAR Appraisal Survey

Baggins says:

Thank you Mary. Some of the pages and statement quotes are cherry picked and quite frankly, should not have been taken seriously, much less repeated, one in a million give me a break. While pg 39 was quite redeeming, more truth about the destructive nature of amc’s and brushing off accusations of bias. I observe more racism at the grocery store and bias on regular syndicated media. Can’t even turn on the television or cross the street without being reminded of the biased nature of society in general.

When it comes down to it, the appraiser is the last person many people see, if not the only person in refinance scenarios, before closing. If people wait till the closing table to sort out any concerns, already too late. My last closing agent was a foreigner whom was a part time yoga instructor and notary, and she will forever if she did not follow the rules, have a complete data set of all our personal income, address, contact, and SS# information. Which she printed at home before taking that in her car to the bank, and likely had ten other peoples complete closing data left in her car while inside, these people may do 10 closings a day. She walked in and was visibly upset she was dealing with us, refused to even shake our hands and attempted to run closing without even taking her sun glasses off. Refused to provide a business card or any contact information. Could not answer any questions about the documents we were supposed to sign. This supposed attention to lending reform needing to revolve around appraisers and appraisers alone is a joke. There are gaps in informational security and process reliance the size of the grand canyon. Pointing the finger at appraisers is an utterly pointless exercise. They’re hiring closing agents from temp agencies, so please.

It’s all phone based, automated, perhaps a walk through. What the appraiser brings to the table is intangible quite often, but you’ll notice it if we’re gone. We keep them honest because we’re not part of the commission based back patting circle or paperwork mule team. If we’re subbed out with third party inspectors, reduced requirements, or flooded with people whom just bought in or were gifted their way in via alternative licensing avenues, the industry at large will experience brand new problems they never thought possible. The appraisers mere in person presence as accountable individually licensed and insured non advocates quite often results in an effective limitation of how far predatory agents, lenders, and other ancillary participants are willing to go. This can not be measured in statistical analysis, the deterrent factor associated with honest and truly independent, in person, appraiser persons involvement. One does not have to speculate very much why they’d want us gone and no longer there in person. Hint, it has nothing to do with efficiency or demand.

Being an appraiser is an incredibly challenging position and the only reward is the paycheck and independent nature of the job. If realty agents want appraisers to be more accountable, they should look in the mirror because if agents knew what they were doing, and did so honestly, it makes the appraisers job quite simple and straight forward. It’s always the incompetent or aggressive agents whom run us around then complain we’re not doing something properly. Anyone can simply buy their way into a realty license, it’s very easy to acquire. The same can not be said about the appraisers license which is occupational and necessarily so. Lowering the barrier of entry to be an appraiser will merely result in similar lack luster unreliable activities we so routinely observe elsewhere.

There are some very good agents and appraisers out there, others find a way with less scrupulous methods. This can not be regulated away, there is no solution other than retro active enforcement. Increasing automation on the valuation side is a recipe for disaster. The problem is bias, but has more to do with human beings than any specific occupational choice. Who’s actually buying this bullshit theory that appraisers are biased and racist, yet no one else is? It’s an intelligence test and people are surprisingly, failing to comprehend something so simple. The utopian dream of imposing a perfect system through regulatory efforts or increased automation or outsourcing has been and will always be unobtainable. Good consumer protection has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with professionalism and smart decision making processes. It comes down to the individuals, and individual choices they make. Increased automation is code word for bye bye consumer protection from accountable and caring humans, and hello again to a brand new wave of predatory behavior. You’ll get to live the dream of utopia in this regard; Consumers will get swindled left and right regardless of their race, gender, or sexual orientation and all of that.