Home Appraiser Fraud - Ritholtz

Just when you think the insanity is over, there it is...again. The Big Picture has a great watchdog piece on how the NAR and NAMB are at it again.

I am beginning to suspect that the Realtor’s association and the Mortgage Broker’s association are pro-fraud.

Yesterday, I noted the bizarre (and potentially corrupt) statement from NAR economists Lawrence Yun calling for appraisers “familiar” with local neighborhoods:

“Lenders are using appraisers who may not be familiar with a neighborhood, or who compare traditional homes with distressed and discounted sales. In the past month, stories of appraisal problems have been snowballing from across the country with many contracts falling through at the last moment. There is danger of a delayed housing market recovery and a further rise in foreclosures if the appraisal problems are not quickly corrected.”

I called that a thinly veiled hint for “friendly” i.e., “corruptible” appraisals.

I did some more digging, and I quickly discovered what this contemptible suggestion was all about: It is part of a broader lobbying effort by the The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and The National Association of Realtors (NAR) against honest appraisals.

 

In the area I am in dirt floor shacks, complete with rats were magically worth $200k, land that was a glorified cliff buffer strip so if you ran off the road you might have a chance of not plunging 500 feet, were being appraised at $300k and on and on. I'm just waiting for that shoddy construction, properties and appraisals to come home to roost in further losses, lawsuits and god knows what else.

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