Appraisers Liable for Third Parties Data

Appraisers Are Ultimately Liable for Data Collected by Third Parties. 

Ultimately the appraiser is responsible and liable for data collected by third parties.

There has been a lot of discussion and debate among appraisers around liability issues for data collected by third parties for hybrid and desktop appraisals. On April 22, 2022, the Maryland Commission of Real Estate Appraisers cautioned its appraisers that they are responsible for the data they rely upon.

Hello Maryland Appraiser:

It has come to the attention of the Maryland Commission of Real Estate Appraisers, Appraisal Management Companies, and Home Inspectors (“Commission”) that there may be confusion over where a supervising appraiser and trainee are supposed to sign an appraisal report and how a licensed or certified appraiser is to disclose assistance and third party contribution. A supervising appraiser is only to sign the “appraiser” section when they have completed an interior inspection of the property as per the certifications page 5 of 6 of the 1004URAR: “I performed a complete visual inspection of the interior and exterior areas of the subject property.” If the supervising appraiser did not inspect the interior, they must sign in the “supervisor” section. See attached sample. Trainees, as well as supervisors that provide samples of appraisals incorrectly signed, may be subject to disciplinary action by the Commission pursuant to MD Ann. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. §16-701. Additionally, it is recommended to that each supervising and trainee appraiser visit the state website and review how trainees’ assistance is disclosed, see attached documents.

The Commission is also aware of the new Fannie Mae 1004 Hybrid and 1004 Desktop appraisal forms. Both utilize property data reports on which an appraiser would need to rely as a source. An appraiser preparing a desktop appraisal should refer to USPAP Standard 1 and Advisory Opinion 2. Ultimately the appraiser is responsible and liable for data collected by third parties.

Sincerely,

Maryland Commission of Real Estate Appraisers, Appraisal Management Companies and Home Inspectors

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25 Responses

  1. Lorrenzo Pi on Facebook Lorrenzo Pi on Facebook says:

    How about the appraisers stop appraising properties 30k over what there actually worth …..

    3
    • Avatar Jerrod Gates says:

      How about people stop paying 60K over list price and inflating the market providing me the support for the 30K.

      8
    • Avatar That Scott Guy says:

      How about buyers not putting contract contingencies saying they will ‘bring in $30,000 at closing if it under-appraises’ to meet the contract price…

      5
      • Baggins Baggins says:

        That is essential contractual language in heated markets. Buyers prove a higher market value by way of cash contribution. Price is not the same as value. You see, when financed buyers must compete and want to compete, they can’t drive up market values from existing market value benchmarks which are set by previous prices by way of credit alone. Buyers must have the ability to best other offers otherwise if all offers were static and chosen randomly, price would never again move in markets. If buyers could compete on credit alone markets would become swiftly over valued. The act of being willing to pay cash out of pocket over and above the listing price is an offer in earnest which has seller friendly terms that is more likely to land that buyer in the winning offer position. We see cash over appraisal gap clauses when other less influential terms like larger earnest or inspection relief are no longer competing with aggressive interests willing to pay more.

        That old thing that the local economy sets the housing market is in many ways not true anymore. 1 in 5 professionals on remote reportedly has company assurance they’ll never have to go back in again, and work remote has expanded rapidly. In markets around this country they are flooded with people suddenly uncoupled from their previous higher income environments. They are out competing locals throughout this country by applying their idea of housing worth to other markets, or at least a sliver of that to land the purchase ahead of other interested buyers.

        Instances of perceived over valuation may also be attributed to this trend because it’s like domino’s. If there are a half dozen offers over list all with gap clauses, depending on timing, just as soon as a few of them close with higher close than list prices, they then affirm a higher value basis which other parties can utilize to either attain more financing or relieve them of appraisal gap clauses because someone else set the new standard which they can now comp out against. The great reset is not just coming, it’s here. However, this migration trend is sudden in short order and may not continue in the same form long term. In markets with rapid rises there may also be a future expectation of slipping pricing as some normalization because there is still a pull of the local economic factors in play. It’s just that local economic factor regarding income vs payment affordability is not absolute, ‘as the crow flies’.

        edit., sorry these are retorts to the first comment. Logical explanations. Remember many people don’t grasp valuation concepts in the same detail, it can be important to spell it out carefully for better understanding.

        2
        • Avatar don says:

          I Noted a high offer on a comparable, I followed thru and found a 1031 exchange which was re-sold at a discount afterward. Lots (if not most) of commercial properties sold with 1031exchange’s, wherein prices were exaggerated and or discounted within the contract language. The words BOOT did not refer to footwear. Appraisers could or would not measure the sellers nor the buyers tax position.
          Real Estate is a sophisticated complicated business

          0
  2. Lori Noble on Facebook Lori Noble on Facebook says:

    How about we talk about the Administrative LAW and Antitrust.

    Federal Trade Commission should find it compelling that states would allow competitors to participate while blocking licensed and credentialed appraisers.

    Isn’t the unregulated participation how AMCs grew? It took until 2015 for most states to adopt AMC regulations but even then, it didn’t matter because most states operate without supervision.

    The appraisal profession is a walking antitrust machine built upon Regulatory Capture to give banks the “appearance” of safety.

    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/regulatory-capture.asp

    14
  3. Lori Noble on Facebook Lori Noble on Facebook says:

    “Friendly competition makes for success and economies that work.

    Excess competition is ruinous.”

    Especially when it is unregulated.

    8
    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Amc’s were on the hook for racketeering and price fixing but pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a few big box amc’s whom did actually pay consistent rates (ignoring the vast majority of amc companies which did not). Although those rates were consistently low and not in compliance with the original spirit of Dodd Frank Reg Z Appraiser Independence on Customary & Reasonable billing, the CFPB work around changing customary AND reasonable, to customary OR reasonable had already been put in place.

      CFPB: Please advise when the fictitious safe harbor interpretation of C&R rules will be rescinded.

      Personally I’m more for RICO because the way the amc industry destroyed the viability of this profession and continue to advocate against individual licensed appraiser participation which their very industry was founded upon continues to bedazzle and confuse. Amc’s don’t want a cut, they want the whole pie, and are willing to collude and capture the entire labor share of this market. They all operate the same, in some form of a predatory manner. They’ve already pulled the rug out from under over a hundred thousand appraisers, more to come soon. When an entire industry uses regulatory capture to wipe out another entire industry of licensed career professionals. Now they’ve enlisted the help of slanderous academics whom insist there is no such thing as an open free market, and all instances of perceived value disparity is due to racist appraisers who refuse to compare home values from far far away in other distinctly different markets. Tech industry rides the wave every step of the way, ready to go with technical products which further erode trust of consumers, further compromise and broker out private data, while using mass aggregate data to discover averaged value rather than specific market evidence.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act

      Here; check on the REVAA 501C companies taxes;
      https://appraisersblogs.com/nurses-plight-signals-dystopian-future-4-occupational-licensees-appraisers-take-heed/#comment-34267

      6
      • Avatar Raymond says:

        Baggins for Appraiser Czar.

        1
        • Baggins Baggins says:

          Someone here works with lawyers here right? The amc debacle could turn into one of the largest class actions in American history, theoretically. I’m just like, can we have the good old days back where an appraiser was free to market ANYWHERE, at an equivalent rate? Appraisers violate the management clause, providing a thing of value to be the preferred selectee when working with amc’s (aka discounted fees where the difference becomes a financial incentive to the management company and cost savings are not returned to borrowing consumers.) As amc middle managers do not return cost savings to consumers with their improperly co mingled service fees and overwhelm the cheapest appraisers. We are no longer in control of our fees or time with ML work. None of us are insulated. I have a direct lender paying me $750, another $650, another $575, and I’ll take reo’s for $450. I’ve got one lender which runs it up to $950 with rental, the other pays $+$100 for rental and income. Nobody cares what I say my fee is in mortgage lending, some under pay and play me against other appraisers, others want me to stay around and pay more. I’ve got a lender paying me several hundred more than what they charge the borrower. I’ve got amc’s trying to pay me half of what the borrower was charged. It’s a game of landing a client whom funnels the entirety of the appraisal services fee to the appraiser, or landing an amc whom cuts that same fee in half before allowing the appraiser to keep working. What this industry needs is a new specific disclosure; Appraisal development fee, and appraisal services fees. They are not the same action and should not share the same fee. I want to mandate title fee outsourcing for better impartiality, and I’ll be the title services request manager. No qualifications required, I’ll simply send the most work to those whom charge the least and I’ll get away with that as lenders will no longer be able to order services directly from title companies. Then I’ll be the one bragging about record setting business growth and income. I’ll send every title services company in this country a never ending series of emails letting them know we’re accepting new vendors and to please quote all fees ahead of time. They’ll simply have to learn to share some of that fee if they want to keep getting orders. These methods worked for appraisal, why not expand? This model is expanding as amc’s continue to get away with this predatory billing and distribution model. This will not work out how it reads on paper because human home owners are going to be very confused whom is who.

          5
    • Avatar don says:

      Carefully word your engagement letter, the forms don’t protect you.

      1
      • Baggins Baggins says:

        Agreed. CE classes on liability protection are a must. I would screen capture and save every suggestion for many cycles. Then one day I printed everything out, created an all new pre written disclaimer and have ran with it ever since. I don’t recall much of that on the PSI exams. If government interests wants something different from the appraisal community, they should start with the education providers. Nobody forced me to read and comprehend the 10,000+ pages of local, national, and lending specific regulatory documents, nor was I ever tested on that to attain a license. I put forth the effort myself voluntarily.

        At some point I was forced to stop working with amc’s and even other lenders whom did not use amc’s. I often found myself in positions where I appeared to be the only person whom actually understood a great many basic concepts. Having ‘managers’ whom were not even qualified to perform the tasks they supposedly managed was the precipice. For at least the past 5 years I have only accepted mortgage lending clients whom hire a licensed appraiser or multiple appraisers to run the panel and be available to consider complex scenarios.

        When we talk about ‘third party’ in these contexts such as outsourced inspections, we’re actually talking about fourth and fifth party participants, if not more.

        6
    • Avatar don says:

      Who are the regulators? are they appointed or elected? and what difference does that make?
      Do you trust your local politician or your local media? or the guys at the bar? Which BAR?

      0
  4. Avatar Xpert says:

    One more reason to decline desktops/hybrids.

    13
  5. Avatar Koma says:

    Hello, this is not new and I’ve pointed out this fact over the past few years. This is the only reason they want us to complete this junk…THE LIABILITY LIES WITH US. Perform these at your own risk. I personally will not perform hybrid/desktops period.

    9
  6. Avatar Rick Daniel says:

    It’s interesting that the State of Maryland is giving appraisers “advice” on a proprietary form when appraisers should know this if they follow USPAP.

    2
  7. Avatar That Scott Guy says:

    I find it absolutely sickening that the AMC will provide the appraiser with the subject sketch, photos, and data collected by a 3rd party NOT CHOSEN BY THE APPRAISER….then hold the appraiser responsible/liable for data they didn’t collect.

    Are the ‘data collectors’ trained to measure to ANSI standards? I bet not.

    This industry has sadly transformed into a clown show. One more nail in the coffin….

    6
    • Avatar Jerrod Gates says:

      At which point is that coffin just an iron chest of nails with a wood binder.

      2
    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Scott, am I reading this guidance correctly? The board advised appraisers using outsourced inspection, they must sign the supervisory line? While not actually being in supervision of anyone?

      Just when you thought the appraisal management company could not screw it up anymore, viola! The third party company is hiring another 4th party company which outsources 1099 per diem ‘inspection requests’, and the fifth party pizza delivery guy with an iphone inspection app sends the data back to the appraiser whom signs as their supervisor? Does this make the technical services company whom ‘hosts’ the ‘digital inspection data’ on their cloud servers which create a unique ‘home fingerprint’, are those the 6th party companies? Then the 6th party will sell to data aggregate 7th party companies whom sell results back to the first and third party companies. Or something like that. This is hard to keep up with. It seems like complete confidentiality with a few limited parties involved was a more comprehensive program…

      How about lenders start providing appraisers copies of the actual licensed home inspectors report instead? Ask for that document every time you get a sale, and you won’t have to worry about getting orders from that company ever again. People looking from the outside in do not understand how much deception appraisers already have to put up with. Last week I called the list agent and the buyers agent called me back feeding me unsolicited comps data… Curious… Can we outsource those guys instead? Ha!

      3
  8. Avatar Raymond says:

    IMO, hybrids/desktops are yet another effort by the lenders/amc to achieve faster and cheaper appraisal fees. All at the expense of the appraiser’s income, his/her professional liability and the appraiser professional integrity. Best wishes appraisers, I’m heading out.

    6
    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Regorra; Dedicated to getting you the appraisal back as fast as if you ordered a pizza.
      https://www.reggora.com/about/
      We’re Making 2-Day Turn Times a Reality. The residential appraisal process can take weeks. In a world where we can hail a personal driver within minutes and track exactly how many blocks until our pizza arrives, why should the experience of getting an appraisal (part of the biggest purchase most people ever make) be any different? That’s where Reggora comes in.

      These tech companies don’t know a single thing about the appraisal services they’re designing entire systems of ‘appraisal management tools’ around. Go ahead, call up any given tech support person for any given company in the appraisal support industry anywhere at any time and see if they can answer one single regulatory structure question accurately. I’ve tried. They can’t.

      3
  9. Avatar hammering hank says:

    Whomever is doing hybrids/desktops are suckers.

    1
    • Avatar Koma says:

      Whomever? I was talking to one of my mentors who just retired recently and she stated a few of her appraiser friends were also going to retire, but now they are perfoming only these types of reports and they said it was easy money. We were both like WOW!

      1
  10. Avatar Pat Turner says:

    We should approach every state board to demand the same enforcement attitude.
    Oh……..that would take some effort …..I forgot

    3

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Appraisers Liable for Third Parties Data

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