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Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog, is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors. She is an author and a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of mortgage fraud. Ms. Dollar is a shareholder with the law firm of Smith Dollar, PC, is licensed to practice law in California and maintains offices in Santa Rosa, California. Email Ms. Dollar
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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.
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
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 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
First American Ea is in business. First American plans to have all data reused. They not only have scraped data from the pdf’s in the past. The manually enter information into other systems using human review.
First American is in the process of hiding Ea and its history. They have a created a new Valuation group that is lead by the People of Eapraisit. The CEO is Joni Pierce of FA Res Value View, the CTO is Mike Perry of EA who has had a large behind the scenes empowerment of EA for over 10 years. THe sales staff are all ex EA staff the EA office in Boston is still full functional and the office in Poway is still full functional.
This group is very self driven and have shown little disregard for the US realestate health. They will do whatever there clients ask. Including data watch, value box and sell private data.
Good Luck
They are trying merge the shops and pretend EA does not exist. It does and is just a new name on the same old stuff.
EA has developed new software that manages the Apraissal reports and while doing so they developed a form scaper to harvest use and sell the Aprraisal information.
Failed Mortgage Firm Trustee Allowed $50,000 in Fees Union Leader
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge J. Michael Deasy will approve $50,000 in legal fees for the trustee of failed mortgage brokerage businesses Financial Resources Mortgage Inc. and CL&M Inc.
Bend Oregon Event to Help Homeowners Prevent Foreclosures Oregon.Gov
As part of an ongoing effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, state agencies are organizing a foreclosure-prevention event in Bend on Saturday, March 27, 2010.
Shelbyville Man Gets 2-Year Sentence For Loan Fraud Chattanoogan.Com
Prosecutor Gary Humble said the lost was approximately $2.3 million in the mortgage fraud involving hundreds of homes in the Shelbyville area.
Lend America, VP Ashley Banned from FHA Housing Wire
Michael Ashley, the embattled former vice president of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgage originator Lend America, and the company he worked for, were permanently banned from doing business in the industry last week.
Countrywide Tries to Pin Blame on Insurer Court House News
Countrywide Home Loans demands $111 million from Triad Guaranty Insurance, claiming Triad is trying to blame mortgage lenders for the insurer's role in the housing bubble and collapse.
Investors Say They Were Swindled in Property Scheme Fox 13 Now
Utah Division of Consumer Protection is joining forces with a few investors who claim they have been cheated by an agency called "Utah Mini Ranches.
Greenfield Man Accused of Housing Scam The Republic
A former real estate agent conned at least eight people by renting them properties actually owned by a federal agency and then running off with their deposits, prosecutors said.
Appraisal Institute Opposes Obama Administration's Plan for Homeowner 'Short Sales' PR News Wire
Citing concerns about increased mortgage fraud, four organizations representing more than 35,000 real estate appraisers today voiced their opposition to changes to an Obama administration program that will encourage "short sales" of homes.
Ownership Rights to Get Another Look TBO.Com
State lawmakers may beef up protections of property owners' rights by rewriting a law this spring that is at the center of a case of alleged fraud in Pasco County.
Thursday, February 18, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial Continued Testimony
As reported by Anne Mitchell, who viewed the trial:
Angela Parenza worked for Jeff Miller as the office manager for 7 or 8 years beginning in 1998. Parenza was indicted along with Miller and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering. Parenza testified that Miller or his contractors allegedly preferred to build all the...
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial Coverage Continued - Witness Testimony
Steve Middleton Testimony - Coverage Provided by Anne Mitchell
The Government continued in its cross examination of Steve Middleton. He was shown several HUD-1 statements involving sales of homes located in Overland Park, KS, and Olathe, KS. The HUD statements each allegedly showed line items of payments to (James) Moser & Associates, LLC's...
Monday, February 01, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial Coverage - Continued Witness Examination
According to Anne Mitchell, who is present in court for the trial:
Next Witness: Kelly Sanford
Kelly Sanford of the Federal Reserve was a short witness for the Government. Sanford manages electronic payments between banks and member financial institutions. He was shown copies of wire transfers and asked whether they coincided with the counts in...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 F. Jeffrey Miller Trial - Prosecution Witnesses Continued
According to Anne Mitchell, who is viewing the trial:
January 13, 2010
Witness: Rick Hayes
Rick Hayes testified that on the day that he closed on his Miller Enterprise home, he received a phone call from the Kansas Banking Commission informing him that his loan was fraudulent. After the Hayes responded to a classified ad, they met with John...
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The information and notices contained on Mortgage Fraud Blog are intended to summarize recent developments in mortgage fraud cases and mortgage banking matters nationwide. The posts on this site are presented as general research and information and are expressly not intended, and should not be regarded, as legal advice. Much of the information on this site concerns allegations made in civil lawsuits and in criminal indictments. All persons are presumed innocent until convicted of a crime. Readers who have particular questions about mortgage banking, mortgage fraud matters or who believe they require legal counsel should seek the advice of an attorney. The creators, editors and sponsors of Mortgage Fraud Blog do not intend to create a confidential relationship or an attorney-client relationship by communication via or arising from this site.
Rachel Dollar, the editor of Mortgage Fraud Blog, is an attorney and Certified Mortgage Banker who handles litigation for lending institutions and secondary market investors. She is an author and a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of mortgage fraud. Ms. Dollar is a shareholder with the law firm of 
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