Yeah, lenders have control they lend or they do not lend, they loan at high rates or at low interest.

A lot of the appraisal problem came from appraisal experience gained during refinancing, the information was mis-leading, RE salesmen were not as involved, wall street conscience was.

R.E. is cyclical, both anally, and for longer cycles.

We can’t go back to the lenders warehousing loans to prove their quality and then reselling those loans. That process is tooo slow for our modern economy which has access to international CAPITAL.

Appraisers have to look toward the light, keep our heads out of dark smelly places.

IF it were, then the only way that we would ‘have’ to deal with them is filing a complaint with FTC.

They’re not that stupid. I remember when Ocwen was the Big Dog. I even remember when WAMU decided to ‘grow’. Growth creates its own problems.

Imagine what will happen when the next crash hits and it turns out they played  a huge part in it.

I’m betting 2019 is the year Corelogic puts all the other AMC’s out of business. Then we just have to deal with them…

I’m being very serious Abdur.

In the 19th Century, scoundrels (often bankers) would be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, subject to public humiliation the whole time. Or, alternatively, they might be shot or lynched for their misdeeds.

In the 20th Century, we became more civilized. We (largely) ended public punishment, and crime soared.

The federal government also started a practice of fining banks and institutions rather than punishing the responsible miscreants personally.

The theory was that investors would not long tolerate crooked leadership once it started costing them money. From the feds perspective, the fines covered costs of investigation and ostensibly reimbursed those that were defrauded …though the latter has been largely lost in the modern process.

Apparently, that theory doesn’t work. Not with taxpayers acting as guarantors against loss by those same investors that now demand higher returns at any cost.

Once personal responsibility was removed, financial crimes skyrocketed. Look at Wells Fargo’s record over the past 20 years alone. Seems like they get huge fines just about every other year. Yet it hasn’t been enough to change the methods of operation, no matter how much they advertise their self reinventing. They are by no means alone.

Up until very recently, the primary purpose of mortgage companies was not that they could reach more potential borrowers. It was to package borrowers or ‘sanitize’ them so that they could qualify for loans they might not be able to get from a bank.

Anyway, I can’t summarize all the conditions that lead to and are reported in “The Big Short” here. My point is that they are ongoing. Nothing has changed except the sophistication of the schemes being perpetrated.

Keating and Madoff were exceptions to the rule. Most CEOs get away with ongoing & systemic corruption. The ONLY way that will stop is when CEO’s; Board Chairman, and in some cases entire Boards start being criminally charged and sent to jail for very long periods of time.

Just like any other bank robber would be.

@Mike: LOL, tell us what you really think.

Out of the 9 counties I do work in, 9 refuse MLS access.

Some counties will provide a list of transactions for a book and/or page for a fee in person at the office.

A majority of assessors systems are grossly out of date. 2 counties just went digital internally and the system they are using was created in the 1990’s and is DOS and the update scheduled for 2010 never materialized.

They participate sometimes in Parcelquest depending on county and upload data nightly. HOWEVER… if you have a multi-res property – the GLA and bed/bath count are bundled. so 4 1/1 tiny shacks looks like a 4/4 and 2400′ GLA on CR.

Locally – corelogic owns the MLS, CR (Realist), and Total.

So – where do you think all the data you have sorted and figured out is being mined and re-sold?

How much did you get paid for rolling over for free data delivery, I mean UAD…?

What does that mean?

Taunya, that is one of AGA’s specialties (Specifically, Jan Bellas). Assisting appraisers that have been improperly placed on do not use lists…both current and as far back as ten years ago in some instances. We also try to prevent it from happening when we are notified early enough in the process. Success rate has been very good. Not perfect, but so fare very, very good. http://www.appraisersguild.org

To steal a quote from Mark Skapinetz; “It’s like car insurance. You may drive all year and not need it. Then again, when you do need it, you REALLY need it.” (or very bad things can happen).

Thank you Ma’am!

Craig the reason licensing failed to stop the post S&L recession is that the old habit (& original proposal for FIRREA) REQUIRING 10% field review was deemed to be too burdensome for lenders or borrowers.

If you field review 10% of all appraisals a couple things happen.

1. The original appraiser KNOWS that on average 1 in 10 of his own reports will be verified and he’ll have to be able to explain everything or face very real risk of a regulatory compliance complaint.

2. A trend (even without CU) of which appraisers in America are consistently turning in problem appraisals becomes apparent. Solid data (reviews) would then already exist to make a case for their removal.

3. Far more commonly, bad or ‘not best’ practices that are not dishonest, but rather knowledge and experience derived, can be identified and appraisers can be educated before the issue become real problems. Similarly, if recurring problems are found across a wide spectrum of appraisers, it may indicate that policy problems or considerations need to be reconsidered.

Enforcement is actually incredibly easy…all it takes is the will to do so. Like the will to pay C&R fees, or assure appraiser independence. [extreme sarcasm]. Right now according to ‘big data’ each appraiser in America has a 1 chance every 8 years of being turned in for a complaint. It’s both too distant and able to be dismissed with “I can defend myself” thinking to be an effective deterrent. In a 40 year career we’d have 5 disputed appraisals? Seriously?

With 10% field review ( NOT desk review!) most appraisers would have to explain and defend 2 per month. Seems burdensome on the surface, but that would also have the effect of reducing, if not eliminating lender revisions and stips over repetitive issues.

Passing laws with no intention of meaningful enforcement is why licensing failed to prevent the TARP crisis.

I’m shocked to hear mls refuse assessors access. Is that a NorCal thing, or??? Even IRS buys 50 CoStar licenses a year for its Large Business & International Division so that they can accurately appraise C&I, land, apts, etc.. Many if not most agents also contacts on outside where within the guidelines of taxpayer privacy, they can get both a subject mls history as well as anything around it. (For example, they can’t ask me for a copy of 123 ABC Street mls, but they CAN ask me for all mls on the 100 block of ABC street that listed or sold in a given period.

How come assessors offices don’t adopt similar reciprocal ‘policies’? Non-disclosure NEVER helps taxpayers or the public. On property tax issues, there is a right to know because property taxes are a PUBLIC matter – not a private issue. The mls or old timer agent thinking of “It’s MY data, and you can’t have it” never protected anyone’s market, nor benefited a typical seller.

The ONLY people it ever benefitted (non-disclosure) were folks with complex transactions designed to defraud the public by deceiving the taxing agencies. The structure of the old ARCO Towers sale decades ago was an example of that type corporate tax avoidance.

Anyway, your examples are exactly why CoreLogic’s RealAVM, Zillow and all the others will never be able to provide consistently reliable, credible value results. Aside from bad data, they don’t know what ‘value’ even means. Define it? Pffft! I’m impressed they can spell it.

Agree 100%. Though calling it an extreme moral hazard politely understates the extent of the problem. I’d probably rephrase it and say “The corruption and flagrant dishonesty is so bad that some sons of bitches should be charged under RICO, and put away in jail for life!”

Also – every MLS local refuses to allow the assessor office access so that when there is a sale, there is no data on the transaction available.

There is zero way a min wage college kid or even better, a realtor can from the street, determine any true facts about a property in the time it takes to shoot 3 pictures from the moving car.

Oh, and im only talking properties in town on city sized lots.

lets totally ignore the house that the owner believes strongly in “trespassers will be shot, survivors shot again” as well as firmly thinking that no gov agency has any right to “my business” and is for darn sure not going to get a permit for the well constructed superior 5,000′ addition with gold plated everything(a little out of character but lets exaggerate shall we for effect)

And let’s let a robot try to deal with a 2/1 of 750′ on 16 acres close to town with water rights which actually happens to be a 3/1 of 1400′

or the sale that was 20k high in a model match area with brand new selling for 15k less, until you walk in the garage and find the 40 pounds of pot assumed included in the sale…

on second thought – we dont need appraisers doing inspections.

I want to sign – whatever it is, I want to sign.

But what people are forgetting is that borrowers are liars.

When they say they live in a house and you show up to a mobile home…

When they say it’s got 5 bedrooms and what it really has are 5 beds in an open loft. oh the stories we can tell but the drones cant.

When you step on the flat appearing floor that literally wobbles like lily pads on a pond from the water leak.

When you open a door to a room that the owner proudly proclaims – that’s the only room we let the (100) dogs go to the bathroom in (and the floor is crawling with …)

When the smell of an indoor grow and the black drip marks on every vertical surface.

Yep – drones gonna catch that.

It’s all good

Jerry, one of AGA’s members is a former FNMA staff reviewer. He also has many stories of inside the walls wrongdoing. I’m wondering if there is some way the two of you could be put in touch with each other where both would feel comfortable talking to the other? If interested and have any thought or ideas on it, pls email me at mike@mfford.com

@Taunya, sad isn’t it?

@Abdur – They still are being put on the “do not use” lists. 🙁

Wow, can we read about that one on the DOJ or FBI sites? 

A few years back I did a single review for an amc. Appraiser dude gave same standard units highly varied Q and C ratings which did not make sense, applied an illogical spectrum of adjustments, etc. I cleaned it all up and reworked everything. Then best of all, his included EO insurance appeared to have photoshopped effective dates, and was noted as a 6 month policy. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t know of any eo insurers that issue 6 m policies. The amc lady would not tell, other than to say it was one big old major mess. 

One can only begin to imagine the trickery that will soon enough be applied to purely eval products run by tech nerds without licenses and no personal accountability, concerned about maintaining their proprietary engagements with aggressive lenders. I can see it now. My eval is better. No mine is! Waa waa, me first, I have to feed my familyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Ahhh, the watchdogs are on the case.