Tagged: E&O

You Are Not Alone - American Guild of Appraisers - AGA - Imagecredit Flickr - David Pacey

November 11, 2015

You Are Not Alone – AGA

How many appraisers do you know that are enthusiastic about the future of our profession? How many appraisers believe that they are alone in the fight to save their profession? How many appraisers do you know that feel trapped in a “no win” situation with increasing liability and time commitment without being properly compensated or appreciated? My name is Jan Bellas. I am the National Membership Coordinator for the American Guild of Appraisers (AGA). Please give me a few minutes to tell you how the AGA can help you and other professional real estate appraisers. AGA is a national organization focused...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

October 28, 2015

Llano Cases – A Nightmarish Affair

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...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions

October 15, 2015

Claims, Complaints and E&O Insurance

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,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions / Indemnification Clauses

October 14, 2015

Beware of Appraiser Karma – Llano Cases

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…

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions / FDIC

September 15, 2015

Ganter Brothers Versus Appraisers

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...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice

August 26, 2015

Why Are They Suing So Many Appraisers?

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...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O

August 14, 2015

Appraisal Fees ARE Being Manipulated

Gas prices in California were $4.25 to $4.50 when oil was last at $100 a barrel. A week ago they were $50+/- a barrel and our pump prices were still over $4.00 a gallon. We are told ‘environmental’ mandated blended methanol is the cause of the $1.30 higher pricing than anywhere else in the Continental US. When those environmental laws were being passed we were told they’d only add from $0.05 to MAX of $0.15 per gallon-NOT $1.30 or 43% more! We KNOW that California politicians have also very recently heavily increased gas taxes in their never ending war against internal combustion....

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

FHA vs USPAP - FHA vs USPAP - FHA requirements – Appraisers Caught in Catch 22

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August 10, 2015

FHA Requirements vs USPAP

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...

AAREA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal Organizations / Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers

August 5, 2015

Help I Got a Subpoena!

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...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions

Appraisers Participation Needed - NMAC Tackling BPO & CU Issues - Imagecredit Flickr - Miles Heller

June 22, 2015

Appraisers Participation Needed – Tackling BPO & CU Issues

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...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News