Regulators ‘crack down’ on appraisers
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In addition to bad loans and mortgage defaults, fraudulent appraisals played a role in fueling the Golden State’s real estate meltdown, and now state regulators are taking a closer look.
Last summer, the Office of Real Estate Appraisers launched a investigation into a Whittier appraiser after the Orange County Register ran the article, ‘$625,000 house on a street wrecked by subprime loans?’
The appraiser’s evaluation of the home in a hard-hit Santa Ana neighborhood was later determined to be ‘grossly misleading.’
According to the Register’s follow-up story, the appraiser surrendered her license ‘and agreed to pay $2,000, if she reapplies for her license, to cover the cost of the investigation.’
The office found numerous problems with the appraisal of the property, the Register reported, including:
-- Omitting the fact that the home is next to an apartment building.-- Using inappropriate examples as homes with comparable prices.-- Failing to analyze the terms of the sale, such as the lack of a real down payment.... The office received 101 complaints in January and February, compared with 538 complaints in all of 2008. Members of the public are encouraged to file complaints about suspicious appraisals by going to http://www.orea.ca.gov/.
-- Scott Marshutz
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