Do Appraisers Help With Mortgage Fraud?

Today's Florida Realtor News highlighted a story about a couple of mortgage brokers who were charged with fraud.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=250105

On paragrpah stated "Although 16 named individuals took part in varying roles in the complex network - and all are charged in the indictment with conspiracy to defraud - the premise actually was simple, the government filing shows"

So you know, appraisers had to be part of this in order for these loans to have gone through.   I recently finished a forensic review of an appraisal, where the stated value was $118,000 above the sale price.  The home was not listed in the MLS, had no market exposure, and was a sale between apparently related parties.

This was a perfect scenario for fraud!  The appraiser fudged some numbers on the comps, GLA was 'misreported', adjustments for GLA skewed low, etc, etc   In the end, you have someone who benefited from that over priced sale which likely was mortgage with 0% down.

The housing markets have a lot of player with many parties to blame.  This is why, more than ever, we need an industry of honest, ethical appraisers to help dig out and find the truth!