Thursday, June 28, 2007

eAppraiseIt v. Crowley Update

Word on the street is that the court did not grant eAppraiseIT’s request for a preliminary injunction.  What this means is that the Mortgage Fraud Watch List website will stay live and continue to operate.  The case against Pam Crowley will continue but it will not affect the website for the time being.  If eAppraiseIT were to win the litigation, they might get a permanent injunction at the end of the case which could stop the website from operating. 

mortgage fraud

1. I would hope that all appraisers would:
   1. voice their concern about eAppraiseIt’s unlocking and adding any information to a signed appraisal;
   2. voice their concern that eAppraiseIt may not be properly re-locking report they unlock for any purpose;
   3. that eAppraiseIt should indicate that they have unlocked and entered changes to a report through the addition of a cover letter that also indicates their acceptance of all liability for the contents of the report AND for any changes made due to their unlocking of a report, and;
   4. refuse to utilize eAppraiseIt until they agree to the above AND eAppraisIt withdraws all legal action against Ms. Crowley and any others who perform watchdog services for the appraisal industry.

   Posted by  on  07/06  at  05:17 AM

2. FYI First American aka eAppraisit

   If you do work as an appraiser for First American, also known as eAppraisit, your reports are probably being being used to farm information for their database for the below mentioned electronic valuation products.  Their stated business goal is:  “Our mission is to be the Leading Innovator in Electronic Valuation Services for the Real Estate Industry”.  Evidently appraisers working for First American are in fact working for eAppraisit.  You many want to put a very narrow “intended user” clause or copyright statement into your reports to make some attempt to prevent abusive use of your proprietary intellectual material / research.

   Also, in a summary of the electronic product description Value Reconciliation Report (VAA) it states that they provide “aerial photo of the subject’s neighborhood with the property and comparables flagged for easy identification, a feature not offered in standard desktop appraisals”.  This is not a valid statement from my perspective and business practice.  I always put in maps with comparable sales or listings flagged and I don’t know any appraisers that don’t.

   How about comments from those of you doing appraisals for First American?  Did you know you were working for eAppraisit?  I didn’t!  I quit doing work for them back several years ago when they refused to pay me for an order they requested additional work on and when they wanted me to sign their contract which allowed them to “use” my report information for their own purposes and I refused.

   I started working with First American when I got a request to do a retrospective appraisal for a title insurance claim that they insured and had to settle with the buyer over.  I got on their list through completion of that report and I have been getting occasional FULL FEE appraisal requests from them ever since. 

   No where on any of my requests or payments from them does it say that I am doing working for eAppraisit.  NOR have I signed any agreement that any information contained in my reports can be used for any other purpose other than the loan in question.  NOR is eAppraisit an intended user in the scope of work for any of their requests.

   I thought eAppraisit was out of business over other issues.

   The reference website for this information is http://www.eappraiseit.com/index.aspx?id=23

   The electronic products are referred to as Value Reconciliation Report (VRR) and the Vector Assisted Appraisal (VAA) products.  The information pages for the electronic products are accessed from the main home page.  I don’t have enough room to past the product summary information but you can find it if you are interested.

   I always find it interesting and curious to read what the AMC or Lenders tell their clients about the valuation methods they use.

   Posted by  on  01/07  at  10:02 AM