8,353 licensed appraisers sign Web fraud petition
Petition to Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
The number of appraiserspetition.com petition signers surpasses 10% of the total 80,000 licensed appraisers in the U.S.
"The ASC's (Appraisal Subcommittee) mission is to ensure that real estate appraisers, who perform appraisals in real estate transactions that could expose the United States government to financial loss, are sufficiently trained and tested to assure competency and independent judgment according to uniform high professional standards and ethics."
- From the ASC website.
The concern of this petition has to do with our "independent judgment" in performing real estate appraisals. We, the undersigned, represent a large number of licensed and certified real estate appraisers in the United States, who seek your assistance in solving a problem facing us on a daily basis. Lenders (meaning any and all of the following: banks, savings and loans, mortgage brokers, credit unions and loan officers in general; not to mention real estate agents) have individuals within their ranks, who, as a normal course of business, apply pressure on appraisers to hit or exceed a predetermined value.
This pressure comes in many forms and includes the following:
the withholding of business if we refuse to inflate values,
the withholding of business if we refuse to guarantee a predetermined value,
the withholding of business if we refuse to ignore deficiencies in the property,
refusing to pay for an appraisal that does not give them what they want,
black listing honest appraisers in order to use "rubber stamp" appraisers, etc.
We request that action be taken to hold the lenders responsible for this type of violation and provide for a penalty on any person or business who engages in the practice of pressuring appraisers to do dishonest appraisals that do not provide for independent judgment. We believe that this practice has adverse effects on our local and national economies and that the potential for great financial loss exists. We also believe that many individuals have been adversely affected by the purchase of homes which have been over-valued.
We thank you for your cooperation and assistance.
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That means that more than 10% of appraisers who know about this petition were willing to put their livelihood at risk by putting their name and address on a Web site to complain about pressure they are getting from lenders to commit felonies. Was your home legally appraised for your recent purchase or refi? Only your lender knows for sure.
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