The Truth about Real Estate Appraisal

[waiting hawk]

The Truth about Real Estate Appraisal
By Stephen G. Bishop

[L_Thek_onomics]

It sounds like a slander. Was this article published by any credible media?

L Thek

[Bugs]

I’ll post this comment before I read the piece. The name “Stephen Bishop” is a penname used by an older gentleman here in SD who has attempted to get into the appraisal business on two separate occasions (1994 and 2002) but was unable and/or unwilling to do it the right way. He is not now and never has been an appraiser in his own right.

He obtained a Trainee license a couple years back, associated with a couple of crooked appraisers (because those are the only types of people who will cut a trainee loose without any supervision) and then complained to the state that these guys were doing bad things. In doing so, he attracted attention from the state on his own substandard work, resulting in an investigation for violation of applicable regulations and ethical violations. He resigned his license while under investigation.

If the author of this piece is the same individual I’m talking about, you may consider his opinion to be uninformed and contaminated as a result of his choice of associates and his persistent efforts to get around the licensing requirements for appraisers here in California. Now, he mostly writes anonymous hit pieces speaking of massive corruption among all appraisers from the privacy of his 2bd apartment over in Clairemont (if he’s still living there).

I say all this and yet I also acknowledge that there are problems in the appraisal business, there are some crooked appraisers and the state has licensed many more trainees than our economy can absorb in the next 10 years. But not everyone is crooked and not every trainee has to sell out in order to make it into the business.

Now I’ll go read the piece and see what it has to say.

[Bugs]

I’m back and it is exactly as I suspected when I saw the name. I know exactly who this is and why he isn’t trying to break into the business anymore, and it has nothing to do with him thinking this is a crooked business. I’m glad he didn’t make it into the business, because in my opinion if he had gotten his own license it was his intention to run the most crooked shop in town. He would have never known how to do it the right way because he never worked with that type of appraiser or with that type of client.

His problem with the licensing program was that he thought he was too smart to need to adhere to the experience requirements to earn his license. He even goes on about it in this article. He’s a guy who worked and had some success in corporate America and thought that having to gain experience under supervision was demeaning to someone like him.

As for whether he actually is smarter than the average trainee, he told me a couple years back that I was stupid for thinking there was risk in the market trends because “this is San Diego and values never go down here”. Smart guy, huh?

The investigation that was underway when he resigned his trainee license involved, by his own admission, allegations that he violated our professional ethics as well as applicable regulations involving his license.

You folks are smart enough to read for content and make your own decisions about credibility, but allow me to say that among appraisers this guy is considered to be the ultimate troll.

[Anonymous]

Yes, this is a rant by the pseudonymous Stephen Bishop, but it rings basically true.

For the three houses I have purchased, the “appraisal” miraculously landed precisely on the purchase price. To the penny.

What a farce! Clearly, the appraiser decided that with 20% down, it didn’t much matter what the comps said. The appraisal price was what the purchase contract was.

When I asked about that, the standard answer was, “Oh, the market is the best appraisal.” Ha! Then who needs an appraiser?

I think one of the real problems is the inherent conflict of interest in an appraiser who is paid by one entity (the buyer) but is technically representing another entity (the lender). I now know to hire an independent appraiser in addition to the bank-specified appraiser.

Although this article is a rant-and-rave, the author makes some good points.

[Steve Beebo]

“Stephen G. Bishop” and Bill Rose, who resigned his appraiser trainee license twice, have the same address.

http://bishopfoundation.tripod.com/

Record 27 First Name Last Name MI Full Name
William Rose J WILLIAM J. ROSE
Xana Group, LLP 858-344-8475
1338 Knoxville Street San Diego CA 92110 San Diego
App. Type Lic. Lev. Lic. Num. Lic. Status Date Issued Date
Initial AT 024353 Resigned 01/09/2004 01/08/2006

There is a web site called Appraisers Forum,

http://appraisersforum.com

that is used by real appraisers, and this person is regarded as the biggest joke of all time to ever post on the site.

[Author]

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