HUD - Appraisers Blogs

Systemic Failures in FHA Appraisal and Loan Review

Desiree Mehbod — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:30:44 +0000

This case exposed the cracks in an FHA system where failures by the lender, the AMC, and the review process aligned in ways that no borrower could have anticipated. It shows how easily an appraisal error can escalate when every safeguard designed to prevent harm breaks down at the same time. When the first article about this case ran on July 15, 2024, it already raised serious concerns about how an FHA appraisal could miss something as basic as the type of water and sewer service. What has emerged since then paints a much larger picture, one that shows how...

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Bias Accusation Collapses as HUD Clears the Appraiser

Desiree Mehbod — Wed, 06 May 2026 12:30:26 +0000

HUD just confirmed what the appraisal showed from day one: the accusation never had a pulse. If you read the original article about Steve Orlowski, the Illinois appraiser dragged through a multi year circus over a baseless bias allegation, you probably walked away thinking that surely this nightmare had to end at some point. The state had already taken its shot, the facts were already sitting in plain view, and nothing in the report supported the accusation. But as every appraiser knows, once a complaint enters the system, it tends to move forward on momentum alone, even when the foundation...

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Waste, Fraud & Abuse Flourished Under Former Secretary Fudge

Jeremy Bagott — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:30:28 +0000

Appraisers harassed by HUD under Fudge know far more waste, fraud, and abuse is still buried. A report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that more than $5 billion in taxpayer funds were paid to unknown parties during former HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge’s final year atop the agency. The payments reportedly included aid to roughly 30,000 deceased individuals and thousands of ineligible recipients. In fiscal year 2024, according to the report: $77 million was paid to deceased tenants $150 million went to recipients with non-existent Social Security Numbers $288 million went to pay excessively high rents...

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How Bureaucratic Overreach Turned Real Estate Appraisers into Scapegoats

AppraisersBlogs — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:30:50 +0000

This is what bureaucratic overreach looks like: a maze of rules with no exit, a hearing held while you’re hospitalized, a lawsuit dismissed but still billed. Bureaucratic overreach isn’t a policy flaw, it’s a strategy. If you’re a real estate appraiser in 2025, odds are you’ve already met Kafka. Not in a literature class, but in your inbox, via a letter from HUD, a complaint from a borrower, or a summons from a regulatory agency that’s decided your opinion of value is now a civil rights issue. The federal government isn’t just investigating appraisers, it’s industrialized the process. Hundreds of...

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FOIA, AI, & the Appraiser’s Defense: A Blueprint for Fighting Back

AppraisersBlogs — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:30:12 +0000

Targeted under the guise of equity, I faced baseless accusations with no due process — until I used FOIA, uncovered the truth, and turned the tables. But I had a secret weapon: I used artificial intelligence. For decades, appraisers have worked in silence, held hostage by regulations, scrutiny, and — recently — false narratives of systemic racism. When the Biden administration launched the PAVE Initiative, it claimed to champion equity in housing. But behind the curtain, it became a political tool. The result? Appraisers like me were targeted based on ZIP codes, stripped of due process, and labeled racist —...

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TEAPOTS Exposed: The PAVE Initiative’s Illusion of Justice

Guest Author — Thu, 22 May 2025 12:30:03 +0000

The PAVE Initiative’s lack of TEAPOTS case entries reveals a fraudulent scheme that betrayed homeowners, vilified appraisers, and hid the truth from Congress. The Biden administration’s PAVE Task Force initiative was never a legally engineered program to uncover racial bias in the appraisal industry. It was, as I have now uncovered, a systemic administrative illusion: a complex, bureaucratic apparatus designed to justify federal grant funding, inflate internal performance metrics, and maintain political optics — not to administer justice. This wasn’t enforcement. This was theft of government funds dressed in legal theater. Homeowners were deceived. Appraisers were targeted. The law was...

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The Appraisal Profession’s Perfect Storm: A Veteran’s Take on a Dying Craft

Desiree Mehbod — Fri, 02 May 2025 12:30:49 +0000

The new UAD form, the AMC fee gouging, the waivers, the false bias claims. It’s a perfect storm of assaults. I’ve been an appraiser since 1993, back when fax machines were cutting-edge and the internet was a clunky novelty. Over three decades, I’ve seen this profession weather storms, economic crashes, regulatory overhauls, you name it. But what’s happening now? It’s not a storm; it’s a tsunami. Our industry is hemorrhaging talent, drowning under false accusations, and getting squeezed by corporate greed and bureaucratic overreach. As someone who’s stubbornly refused to bend the knee to Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), I’m here...

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NFHA Funding Dries Up

AppraisersBlogs — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 12:30:37 +0000

The NFHA is feeling the heat as their funding evaporates, putting a major kink in their anti-appraiser crusade. The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has found itself in a precarious position as their funding well runs dry, jeopardizing their ongoing legal battle against Maryland appraiser Shane Lanham. This development is a ray of hope not only for Lanham, who has been unjustly accused of racial bias in his appraisals, but for the entire appraisal community who have been unfairly targeted by NFHA’s relentless smear campaign. The NFHA, in cahoots with the Biden administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)...

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HUD Investigation Leads to Illegal Break-In & Evidence Tampering

AppraisersBlogs — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 14:00:31 +0000

Over the past four years, I have been subjected to a relentless, unjust investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – not because of any wrongdoing on my part, but simply for conducting an honest, independent real estate appraisal. What began as a false racial discrimination claim by a disgruntled homeowner has now escalated into a coordinated effort to suppress evidence, manipulate legal records, and intimidate me into silence. If the disturbing allegations made by Ken Mullinix are indeed true, they paint a chilling picture of corruption and abuse of power within the U.S. Department of...

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Class Action Lawsuit of Targeted Appraisers

Guest Author — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 13:30:19 +0000

Join me in this class action lawsuit and help take a stand against HUD and the wrongful persecution of appraisers. Nationwide Call to Action: Seeking Legal Representation for Class-Action Lawsuit Against HUD Investigations For over two Years I have been subjected to systemic abuse, unwarranted investigations, and procedural violations at the hands of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). My name is Kenneth Mullinix, and I am an experienced VA-approved appraiser who has been targeted in a series of baseless investigations that have severely damaged my career, reputation, and personal well-being. Despite being cleared by other authorities after...

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Lack of Evidence, Appraiser Challenges Discrimination Claims

AppraisersBlogs — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 12:30:29 +0000

The next morning I went to my trusted AI program and asked if there was any evidence of bias. “Where is the evidence?” The issue of perceived bias and discrimination in the appraisal industry has become a highly contentious and polarizing topic in recent years, sparking intense debate and controversy. At the heart of this complex issue lies a fundamental tension between the appraisal profession’s commitment to objectivity and impartiality, and the persistent allegations of systemic racism and unfair practices that have plagued the industry. As exemplified in the response from Maryland Certified General Appraiser William Turner to an article...

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NFHA’s False Narrative Undermines the Appraisal Industry

AppraisersBlogs — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 12:30:59 +0000

A barrage of billboards, magazine ads, and TV/radio public service announcements is being used to amplify and spread this false narrative. The latest attack on the appraisal industry is being spearheaded by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), who are aggressively pushing a false narrative of widespread appraisal bias against Black and Latino homeowners. Through a relentless media campaign employing emotive messaging, vivid anecdotes, and dubious statistics, these entities are painting a picture of widespread, systemic bias among appraisers against Black and Latino homeowners. However, the reality is that not a...

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How Deep Fakes Have Burrowed Into Home Finance

Jeremy Bagott — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:30:11 +0000

Fannie and Freddie have been toiling at the coalface of “synthetic appraisals” – “black box valuations.” In the 1960s, technocrats at the Pentagon used the latest IBM mainframe computers to analyze complex data related to the Vietnam War. Planners fed punch cards into the machines and ran endless simulations, hoping to determine strategies for winning the war. In 1967, analysts finally asked the computer, “When will we win in Vietnam?” The machine’s answer: “You won in 1965.” It exposed the hubris and naiveté of those who believed computer-generated models could capture and quantify millions of complex human interactions on the...

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Stoked by HUD, Cottage Industry Shakes Down Mom-and-Pop Appraisers

Jeremy Bagott — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 12:30:11 +0000

The harassment campaign benefits a number of odd bedfellows: the housing lobby, which wants unfettered access to federal funds and taxpayer-backed mortgage guarantees through Freddie, Fannie and the FHA – they see appraisals as an unnecessary bottleneck. A firm called Mizrahi Kroub is the largest filer of so-called “digital Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits.” The New York law firm files about a quarter of all such cases nationwide, according to a provider of web-accessibility services. The firm, which employs nine lawyers, has brought more than 1,100 web-accessibility cases against small businesses for missing alt-text, incorrectly formatting lists or providing unclear...

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Misleading Ads Sow Mistrust

AppraisersBlogs — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 12:30:42 +0000

These misleading ads are sowing seeds of mistrust in a time-tested profession. The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has recently launched a concerning campaign of poster ads, billboard ads, and magazine ads that falsely accuse home appraisers of basing their valuations on the personal characteristics of the homeowners or prospective buyers, rather than solely on the objective merits and features of the property itself. This is a deeply misleading and unjust narrative that undermines the integrity of the appraisal profession, which is founded on the core principle of providing an independent, impartial assessment of a home’s value. Appraisers are highly...

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Objectionable Valuations Become Hate Speech, Inflating Home Prices

Jeremy Bagott — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 12:30:33 +0000

The censorship, scapegoating and sidelining of appraisers has done real damage to borrowers and the purchasers of bonds… Attacks on free speech are on the rise in the English-speaking world. A bill introduced in Canada to thwart online “anarchy and lawlessness” would create a Canadian Ministry of Truth empowered to punish authors Ottawa politicians find problematic. In response to the worst rioting in Britain in years, about 4,000 people have reportedly been jailed for online thought crimes. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to prosecute anyone his government believes is whipping up people’s emotions on the Internet. There’s even...

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Uncovering Flaws in FHA Appraisal & Loan Review Process

AppraisersBlogs — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 12:30:32 +0000

The story of this single mother’s harrowing experience with a defective home purchase and HUD’s negligent oversight exposes deep flaws in the FHA appraisal and loan review process. After sacrificing for years to rebuild her credit and earn the right to become a homeowner, this borrower found her dream home in the country – or so she thought. During the home inspection, several issues were flagged. The seller, an investor who had purchased the home in an estate sale, was unaware of the septic system’s location. The seller agreed to have the tanks pumped so the location could be determined....

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Gov’t-Indulged Middlemen Are Wrong RX for Battered Borrowers, The Infirm

Jeremy Bagott — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 12:30:21 +0000

The U.S. government impoverishes homebuyers as it does the chronically ill – by promoting the use of middlemen who prey upon them. A cadre of such middlemen was created decades ago as a firewall between Big Pharma, the insurance companies and the pharmacy chains. Called “pharmacy benefit managers,” they were to negotiate drug prices, streamline distribution and manage lists of prescription drugs covered by insurance plans. But since the government has gone whole-hog into health care under the Affordable Care Act and into drug-price controls under the Inflation Reduction Act, things have gotten crazy at the slop trough. Today, according...

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Unresolved Complaints Filed with HUD

AppraisersBlogs — Tue, 28 May 2024 12:30:09 +0000

The “unresolved complaints” may not be as clear-cut cases of discrimination as they are being portrayed. The lack of resolution in the fair housing complaints filed with HUD regarding alleged appraisal discrimination has become a pressing concern for all parties involved. As highlighted by Peter Christensen, HUD has received over 200 such complaints since 2020, yet has failed to make a determination on the merits of any of them, either way. This suggests that the complaints are not as straightforward as they may initially appear, and that there are significant challenges in distinguishing legitimate grievances from those driven by other...

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Low Value = Material Deficiencies? New FHA ROV Policy

Dave Towne — Fri, 03 May 2024 12:30:42 +0000

The implication that if the VALUE is too low, then there must be “material deficiencies” present, is deeply troubling! Up until recently, there has never been a standardized policy for mortgage loan related Reconsideration of Value (ROV) requests after an appraisal has been submitted. Now there is, per the attached PDF HUD/FHA mortgage letter. The GSE’s have similar policies. I’m not opposed to having a standardized ROV policy. However, these policies are in keeping with the new initiatives surrounding alleged and often unproved appraisal bias and discrimination claims. But when one reads deeper into the reason for implementing these procedures,...

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