Gary Lemieux, Grand Forks, letter: Shortage of appraisers delays area home deals
August 12, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Grand Forks Herald
There’s one thing that is holding up buying, selling, building or refinancing homes in the area appraisals Continue Reading
Actually the reason is quite simple Gary, good old fashioned greed. In order to obtain your full appraiser’s license and be able to perform appraisals that lenders will accept you must first apprentice with an experienced appraiser for approximately two years. The appraisers in Grand Forks know that any apprentice appraisers they train may well become their competition in the future. So by not training in their competition they ensure a full workload of appraisals that they can complete at whatever pace they see fit.
But it gets better, they also have another trick up their sleeves. From time to time new appraisers who were trained in other areas open up shop in Grand Forks. Over time some of the local appraisers will attempt to obtain copies of the new appraiser’s work. They will then use these copies to send a barrage of frivolous complaints to the ND State Appraisal Board, which you guessed it, can be done anonymously to the appraiser being filed against. These complaints require extensive responses which invariably fall on deaf ears. The appraisers filing the complaints are often well connected to the board and in many cases are actually former board members themselves. This has proven to be a very effective tactic to further eliminate and control competition.
Interestingly, originally in order to file a formal complaint you were required to provide your name with the complaint. For obvious reasons the appraisers using these tactics did not wish to have it be known who was filing the frivolous complaints. Wouldn’t you know it, the board began accepting anonymous complaints.
The board, which is funded with tax dollars and is mandated to be overseen by the governor, has a notorious history in years past of meeting behind closed doors, not publishing minutes, having board members overstay their term limits, and in at least one case, refusing a court order to reinstate an appraiser’s suspended license. Proving they are truly above the law.
The situation in Grand Forks is just a symptom of a corrupt and flawed system. I wish I could tell you it’s going to get better, but without major reform it’s only going to get worse. With the current situation everyone suffers, buyers, sellers, Realtors, lenders. Well everyone, except the small handful of appraisers left, that is. It’s working out great for them.
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One more example of the hidden corruption in God’s country.
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