copyright - Appraisers Blogs

The Harbor Model: Where Appraisers Take the Helm

AppraisersBlogs — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:30:17 +0000

The Harbor Model offers a bold blueprint for restoring transparency, authorship, and oversight in a valuation industry long dominated by silent data extraction. The author of this article has chosen to remain anonymous, not out of fear, but out of necessity. Since 2012, they’ve been developing a disruptive valuation model that challenges entrenched interests in the appraisal and AMC industries. Their work has drawn direct confrontations from AMC owners and industry insiders, many of whom are threatened by the implications of these proposals. Anonymity, in this case, is a shield, not from scrutiny, but from retaliation. If you want to...

The Great Debate on Appraisal Fees She included several different fee split examples indicating AMCs retained as much as 70 percent of the total appraisal fee…
It’s Time to Take Out the Junk: AMC Practices Exposed Appraisers have spent years carrying the weight of broken AMC practices, and this article pulls every one of those practices…
The Town With No Bank: How Rural America Lost Its… For decades, we’ve been told that the problem is demand. That people don’t want to live in rural America anymore.…

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Obscure Federal Official Has Hatched ‘Sick Chicken’ in Housing Sector

Jeremy Bagott — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 12:30:58 +0000

The case eventually found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it came to be known to the public as the “Sick Chicken Case” It was the Great Depression’s bleakest year – 1933. At President Roosevelt’s urging, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, a New Deal bill that partially ceded lawmaking authority to private organizations and industry boards to develop codes of conduct that would then be enforced on citizens as binding law. The owners of poultry producer Schechter Poultry Corp. were indicted for violating the new private business code for the poultry industry. The chicken men lawyered...

Reindeer Standards As Unenforceable As Appraisal Code There’s a lot to like about the bylaws of the Association of World Reindeer Herders. The code defines how herders…
How U.S. Home Valuations Are Being Subverted At the crossroads of it all is a campaign to weaken or eliminate valuations... The nonprofit is now exploring ways…
Lack of Evidence, Appraiser Challenges Discrimination Claims The next morning I went to my trusted AI program and asked if there was any evidence of bias. "Where…

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ChatGPT Appraisal Error Sparks Ethics Debate

AppraisersBlogs — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 12:30:33 +0000

A recent post by an appraiser trainee on an online forum described a troubling situation involving the use of ChatGPT to generate content for an appraisal report. The trainee admitted to using ChatGPT to write a market summary section without properly reviewing it first. This resulted in factual inaccuracies making it into the final report delivered to the client. Upon discovering this, the client, a local bank, threatened to file a complaint against the trainee. The trainee is now considering falsely claiming to have personally written the problematic section in an attempt to avoid consequences. “Hey everyone, I recently used...

Are Computer Programs Biased or Unbiased? Whether or not computer programs are despised or supported depends on the narrative being spewed. Which is it? Are computer…
Seller Filed a Racial Bias Complaint Against Me So what’s caused the sudden loss of income? Could it be because of the racial bias complaint filed against me…
Data and Verification Sources Are Critical The genesis for this essay began when I heard from another appraiser that a VA report reviewer rejected the comparables…

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Reindeer Standards As Unenforceable As Appraisal Code

Jeremy Bagott — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 13:30:21 +0000

There’s a lot to like about the bylaws of the Association of World Reindeer Herders. The code defines how herders promote professional, commercial and cultural contact in all matters related to reindeer herding. The document sets the gold standard for disseminating information world over about reindeer husbandry. The bylaws were approved at the first Congress of World Reindeer Herders on March 2, 1997. If you don’t like the 1997 version of the bylaws, there’s a 2001 version, a 2009 version and a 2013 version. Are the group’s bylaws enforceable in the United States? No. As commendable and insightful as they...

Appraisal Standards Should Age Like Fine Wine Changes in Appraisal Standards?We have barely got into the "New" 2016-2017 copy of USPAP and the ASB is meeting on…
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is Overlooked by HUD… Marcia Fudge, the Secretary of HUD, decided to convene a special meeting of master minds with absolutely no real diversity,…
Waste, Fraud & Abuse Flourished Under Former Secretary Fudge Appraisers harassed by HUD under Fudge know far more waste, fraud, and abuse is still buried. A report by the…

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‘Pesky’ Words. Keeping Appraisers out of Language Purgatory

Dave Towne — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 12:30:29 +0000

Appraisers, on July 17, 2023, a document from Freddie Mac was circulated to numerous appraisers around the US which identified certain words and other info that can be considered to be ‘BIASED’ in appraisal reports. Here is the Link to the Bulletin. We need to step back for a moment and carefully analyze and consider why that was done, and what it means to appraisers. In many ways, appraisers forget the purpose of the appraisal assignment – which is to value real estate. In other words, the physical structures tied to the land. But too often, elements of personal or...

Objective Terminology Appraisers should avoid using words that lend themselves to bias judgments. Instead, the appraisal report should document objective facts.…
What's Wrong With this Sentence? AMC says sentence was unacceptable based on one word in that sentence Beware appraisers, big brother is watching what you…
Desirable, Rite or Rong? Desirable, banned or permitted? I was caught up in a minor ‘dispute’ last week when a review appraiser wacked my…

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How U.S. Home Valuations Are Being Subverted

Jeremy Bagott — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 12:30:16 +0000

At the crossroads of it all is a campaign to weaken or eliminate valuations… The nonprofit is now exploring ways it can set standards for automated valuations… Expect greater distortions from Freddie and Fannie’s plodding and committee-driven foray into automated valuations. Sometimes when the hair on the back of your neck stands up, there’s a reason for it. The nation’s $11 trillion mortgage market has been nationalized. This coup occurred in broad daylight and gradually. With Freddie and Fannie now in their second decade in federal conservatorship, the prospect that they will ever again be subjected to the watchful eye...

Speed Regardless of Accuracy Under the Banner of… Appraisers, something - comparing and contrasting - dawned on me last week, after reading another news release titled "Dean Kelker:…
AVMs... Garbage In, Garbage Out Garbage data in means garbage results out every time! It's no secret that AVMs have been a thorn in the…
No Appraisals Required. The End of Appraisers? No appraisal may be required in the future! Fannie Mae took a direct shot at appraisers with the announcement of…

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Two Cheers for an ‘Evolved’ Beltway Entrepreneur… David Bunton

Jeremy Bagott — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 13:30:33 +0000

We come not to bury David Bunton, the public figure, but to praise David Bunton, the evolved Beltway organism. Who is David Bunton? Bunton has made a small fortune and canvassed the world at the helm of a 16-employee Washington, D.C., nonprofit that publishes a copyrighted code of conduct. The code gives his tiny fiefdom a big say in how collateral in the nation’s $11 trillion mortgage market is valued. He is a figure with outsized power in an immense market. His day-to-day funding source? For 30 years, his nonprofit, known as the Appraisal Foundation, has sold copies of its...

Lowballed... It Is Open Season On Appraisers ABC TV Documentary: Our America: Lowballed Because this issue was ignored by the appraisal industry, it is open season on…
Appraisers Should Closely Watch Probe of Departed… The chief of the Brookings Institution, a retired four-star general, resigned last month under investigation of lobbying on behalf of…
Appraisers Should Bristle Stealthy vice again masquerades as public virtue. The head of yet another government-subsidized nonprofit was found funneling cash to…

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Justice for Texas Appraiser? You Bet. Price Tag: $99,000

Jeremy Bagott — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 12:30:32 +0000

The Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board is a hot mess, but one with a malicious and callous streak. That makes it dangerous to licensees. The Unclean Hands Doctrine is a legal defense. It helps prevent petitioners who are engaged in fraud, deceit or bad faith from recovering certain damages from others. If you’re a known cattle rustler yourself, the Unclean Hands defense may keep you from recovering damages if your own cattle go missing. It’s also sometimes called the “Clean Hands Doctrine” or the “Dirty Hands Doctrine.” Based on this doctrine, the feculent fingers of the Texas Appraiser Licensing...

Phony Low-Value Complaints ALL unintended users are specifically excluded from any right of reliance on this appraisal report... Recently, Mr. Steve Kahane, Board…
Frivolous Complaints Against Appraisers TALCB noted that roughly 70% of all complaints against appraisers are unfounded... The American Guild of Appraiser recently wrote to…
The Town With No Bank: How Rural America Lost Its… For decades, we’ve been told that the problem is demand. That people don’t want to live in rural America anymore.…

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Exposing Occupational Licensing Abuses Nationwide

Jeremy Bagott — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 12:30:02 +0000

She went from viewing occupational licensing as a necessary means to protect the safety and welfare of the public to a cynical tool promoted by established businesses to erect barriers against innovation and competition. Her experience as a licensed real property appraiser in West Virginia turned out to be the perfect training ground for the study of public corruption, restraint of trade and government overreach. Who would have thought it? After 27 years of being whipsawed by West Virginia’s notorious appraiser-licensing apparatus, the Appraisal Foundation – and the latter’s continually changing copyrighted standards – and a complicit federal monitor, Lori...

Security Bars Removal Law Debunks Alleged Racial… Complainant stated appraiser told them they should remove security bars from windows. Complainant stated this is evidence of "racist discrimination"...…
Is the GSE's "Appraisal Modernization" Really Just… Mass Appraisal tend to exhibit a regressive nature... In the intricate landscape of real estate mortgage financing, the notion of…
The Real Cause of the Home Value Gap Is the Income Gap Blaming appraisers for the income gap will never solve the real underlying problem... Blaming appraisers for the income gap is…

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Floor Plans Could Be an Issue in Appraising

Dave Towne — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 12:30:05 +0000

…concerns that appraisers could be sued for making floor plans of a home… I’m an AI “member” (because I pay membership dues) even though I’m not supposed to say it that way. Technically, I am an Appraisal Institute Practicing Affiliate. Regardless, an AI email earlier on 6/29/22 had this news: Supreme Court Rejects Floor Plan Case; Appraisers Vulnerable The Supreme Court on June 27 rejected a case involving the use of floor plans in marketing materials. Multiple real estate firms petitioned the court to review the case, contending the Eighth Circuit incorrectly ruled that using floor plans in marketing materials...

The Real Cause of the Home Value Gap Is the Income Gap Blaming appraisers for the income gap will never solve the real underlying problem... Blaming appraisers for the income gap is…
The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0” Originally known as Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU), and subsequently Collateral Underwriter 2.0 (CU-2)i this always dubious product of Fannie…
First the Borrower Fee. Now the Appraiser… Two lawsuits place Class Valuation’s fee transparency and staff-appraiser compensation practices under federal scrutiny. Most appraisal disputes examine only one…

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Are Reports Intellectual Property?

Dustin Harris — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:30:01 +0000

Recently one of my Mastermind students asked about Intellectual Property. He told me that he’d had an associate leave his firm to go solo. Later, he was reading one of his former-associate’s reports and found the now-independent associate’s reports looked a lot like his in format, and even language. My student asked me if this was wrong. Well, I’m not a lawyer, but there are some sound issues to consider here. If you write something, if you are its author, it is your intellectual property. You can either trademark it (like a logo), or copyright it (like a novel). We...

FNMA Ensnares Appraisers in Farcical Probes You feel like Fannie Mae is simply trying to get rid of appraisers. A lot of appraisers feel that way...…
Poke-and-Sniff: How U.S. Regulators Became Disease Vectors Poke-and-Sniff... Once federal bureaucrats embrace a destructive practice, it can take a lifetime to correct it. When government tries…
USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…

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USPAP & Questions on Confidentiality

Dustin Harris — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 13:30:11 +0000

How can using such a contractor not be a violation? In the context of a real estate appraisal, especially a residential real estate appraisal for a lender thru an AMC, what is confidential? First, look at USPAP’s definition of confidential information (lines 105 – 108 in the 2018-2019 edition). It says “confidential information [is] information that is either…identified by the client as confidential when providing it to an appraiser and that is not available from any other source; or…classified as confidential or private by applicable law or regulation” (ibid; emphasis added). Notice confidentiality flows to the client, not to any...

USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…
Fannie Mae Filed a Complaint Against Me An appraiser shared the following with us which was posted on one of the appraisers’ groups. Fannie Mae filed a…
Uncovering Flaws in FHA Appraisal & Loan Review Process The story of this single mother's harrowing experience with a defective home purchase and HUD's negligent oversight exposes deep flaws…

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Appraiser’s Response to MyAMC

Michael Ford — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 12:30:36 +0000

Thank you for your invitation to join your panel. I read all your details. They are addressed in the following: I find it unlikely you retain top appraisers nationwide if you think $350 is a reasonable fee in my area. Did you arrive at that by buying Corelogic’s purported ‘independent survey’? I don’t accept 30 day billing from any unproven clients with unspecified volume. Provide a copy of your current Dunn and Bradstreet rating along with a guarantee of a minimum of 25 orders per month, and I will consider deferred billing. Otherwise you would have to pay me by...

The Great Debate on Appraisal Fees She included several different fee split examples indicating AMCs retained as much as 70 percent of the total appraisal fee…
Promoting False "Racist Appraiser" Narrative Some Lenders promoting false "racist appraiser" narrative to optimize profits via AVMs Like most businesses lenders want to optimize their…
Fannie Mae Filed a Complaint Against Me An appraiser shared the following with us which was posted on one of the appraisers’ groups. Fannie Mae filed a…

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Copyright of Appraisal Reports – Again

Michael Ford — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 12:30:17 +0000

Why do we need a copyright in the first place? Before deciding whether you need to copyright, or whether it is too complex or not I urge all to read the information found in the following link. When I started searching to see what the specific requirements were, I initially thought I’d have to pay a fee and submit each ‘work’ (appraisal report) to the United States Copyright Office. Clearly not a practical process for most of us, even if the fee weren’t so high (about $114.00). I’m pleased to say if is not that complicated, or costly. In fact,...

Collateral Underwriter, What’s Under the Hood? Collateral Underwriter - Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO) FNMA has a fascination for first patenting garbage, & then implementing it…
My Day as an Appraiser Big Corporations like CoreLogic are like sharks... This morning, as I do every morning, I made some coffee and began…
Unintended Use & Misleading Appraisal Reports Unintended and Potentially Misleading At what point do we ALL say enough? When they insist on unlocked PDF, XML or…

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Unintended Use & Misleading Appraisal Reports

Michael Ford — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 12:30:16 +0000

Unintended and Potentially Misleading At what point do we ALL say enough? When they insist on unlocked PDF, XML or ENV formats that facilitate recipients in removing portions of appraisal reports they don’t like? Too late. When they blacklist appraisers for refusing to make post effective date contract analysis changes? When they set the fees we charge? When they change the scope of work after assignments are completed? When they LIE to borrowers about how much the ‘appraisal fee’ is? Now we have several that think THEY own MY professional work product? Like HELL they do! Any, repeat, ANY appraiser...

Software Provider Conflict of Interest(s)? ACI software & “restricted appraisals” that suffer from schizophrenia... It’s been awhile since I reviewed or researched influences affecting products…
First the Borrower Fee. Now the Appraiser… Two lawsuits place Class Valuation’s fee transparency and staff-appraiser compensation practices under federal scrutiny. Most appraisal disputes examine only one…
It’s Time to Take Out the Junk: AMC Practices Exposed Appraisers have spent years carrying the weight of broken AMC practices, and this article pulls every one of those practices…

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CoStar Suing Appraisers for Copyright Violations

Peter Christensen — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:30:35 +0000

CoStar accuses the “John Does” of violating CoStar’s copyrights by contributing photos or other information obtained from CoStar to the CompStak database… In the last week, CoStar Realty Information has filed several lawsuits against commercial appraisers and real estate brokers for intentional copyright violations and fraud relating to the alleged use of CoStar property data and photos without proper registration/payment. If you use CoStar, be sure you are doing so properly and within the terms of your license agreement. Examples of the types of alleged situations that have led to CoStar’s recent and past copyright lawsuits are: (1) sharing IDs/passwords, (2) obtaining an...

Is the GSE's "Appraisal Modernization" Really Just… Mass Appraisal tend to exhibit a regressive nature... In the intricate landscape of real estate mortgage financing, the notion of…
Security Bars Removal Law Debunks Alleged Racial… Complainant stated appraiser told them they should remove security bars from windows. Complainant stated this is evidence of "racist discrimination"...…
Commercial Appraisal Reports: How Much Do They Cost? Every business that owns a commercial property will require an appraisal. Commercial real estate transactions are the most common. Commercial…

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copyright - Appraisers Blogs

The Harbor Model: Where Appraisers Take the Helm

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Obscure Federal Official Has Hatched ‘Sick Chicken’ in Housing Sector

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ChatGPT Appraisal Error Sparks Ethics Debate

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Reindeer Standards As Unenforceable As Appraisal Code

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‘Pesky’ Words. Keeping Appraisers out of Language Purgatory

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How U.S. Home Valuations Are Being Subverted

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Two Cheers for an ‘Evolved’ Beltway Entrepreneur… David Bunton

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Justice for Texas Appraiser? You Bet. Price Tag: $99,000

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Exposing Occupational Licensing Abuses Nationwide

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Floor Plans Could Be an Issue in Appraising

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Are Reports Intellectual Property?

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USPAP & Questions on Confidentiality

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Appraiser’s Response to MyAMC

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Copyright of Appraisal Reports – Again

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Unintended Use & Misleading Appraisal Reports

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CoStar Suing Appraisers for Copyright Violations

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