EappraiseIT gets hit with big settlement
According to an article in "News Daily" Friday: NEW YORK, Sep. 27, 2012 (Reuters) — A company accused of inflating home appraisals under pressure from Washington Mutual Inc before the housing crisis agreed to pay $7.8 million on Thursday to settle with the New York attorney general.
Ask any loan officer or appraiser struggling to hang onto their careers and they'll say no amount of money is enough!
EappraiseIT and WaMU were the root cause of HVCC/AIR
Loan officers and appraisers today have been saddled with HVCC/AIR (home valuation code of conduct and appraisal independence) since Andrew Cuomo as AG of New York set the standards which got implemented into Dodd Frank. Cuomo on the trail of WaMu got derailed when he set HVCC as an appraisal standard vs going after the bank and appraisal company.
Sadly the very appraisal company (EappraiseIT) was the flawed MODEL he used to set HVCC. This system did not work, so he made it mandatory for all of us.
"EAppraiseIT let bank loan officers determine the pool of appraisers to be used."
"One appraiser testified he stopped getting work from eAppraiseIT in April 2007 because he failed to pump up valuations."
HOME OWNERS TODAY CAN THANK EAPPRAISEIT, WAMU AND ANDREW CUOMO FOR APPRAISAL HEADACHES
As a result of HVCC, appraisals cost more, take longer and are less accurate than anytime in history. HVCC removes the loan originator from the ordering process, instead appraisals are ordered blindly through third AMCs (appraisal management companies). As a result the appraiser most familiar with a partciular market most likely will not be selected to do the job. More often the assignments go to the appraiser who is willing to work for the least.
AMCs have popped up as a new business model, keeping a large portion of the fee the homeowner pays, leaving little for the person doing the actual job. Seasoned appraisers either have to work for a small portion of their usual fee or leave their career. Since their income is now based on someone assigning them work vs going out and getting their own work, many have been financially devastated.
The news EappraiseIT has been hit with a big settlement is not nearly enough. Cuomo should have pursued WaMu and EappraiseIT and sent them to jail. The appraisal world would be a better place.
Alyson Austin, a CoreLogic spokeswoman, said eAppraiseIT is part of CoreLogic Valuation Services, a business the company is shutting this month. She declined immediate comment on the settlement.
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