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The Nation's Housing
"Rule Ties Lenders to Appraisals"
by Kenneth R. Harney @ Washington Post.com
See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45285-2004Aug6.html

NOTE: Free registration may be required for guests to the WPost
for viewing the essay and the archive of Harney's essay work on housing.

EDITOR'S COMMENTS
by Ole Bear
It Takes Two to Tango

It is always interesting to see what Mr. Harney writes about with respect to the housing market. Mr. Harney's article is about Mortgage and Appraisal Fraud and it takes two to tango to do the dance -- a willing appraiser and the lender pushing the envelope applying lender client pressure on the appraiser -- or perhaps they have a pre-arranged deal which could even include kickbacks on the appraisal fees. Grin! This is a nasty world, Folks! Mr. Harney's article is highly informative, but represents only the tip of the iceberg.

Here's the big ice.

We find the quotes from Donald E. Kelly, the Victor Veep at the Appraisal Institute, most entertaining to say the least. He alludes to the fact that this is just a residential phenomenon alone. Nothing could be further from truth. The same stuff is happening in commercial valuation and lending as well. The same game is being played. The typical reader is led to believe that the Appraisal Institute is lily white and represents a body of professional membership. It seems Mr. Kelly forgot to tell you all that the appraisal management arm of the Appraisal Institute is owned by Real Estate Appraisal Services, Inc., which in turn is owned by Charter One Financial Corporation, the 25th largest bank holding company in the USA. He also forgot to tell you that Royal Bank of Scotland is in merger and acquisition talks with Charter One to become the 7th largest bank holding company in the USA. As long as gross conflicts of interest between the banking cartel and the realty valuation "trade" exists, the FEDs can throw every appraiser in Leavenworth and the problem of mortgage and appraisal fraud will still exist. Mr. Kelly also forgot to tell you all that the AI is cramming the AVM down the memberships' throats as the next best thing to sliced Wonder Bread. Mr. Kelly also forgot to tell you all that the AVM is now moving offshore to India and Pakistan and is now being performed by folks with Turbans sitting on Elephants with a laptop.

The banking cartel and the GSEs, who bundle and make pretty these loans for the global investors, do not want honesty and integrity in the realty valuation trade -- and they do everything in their power to weaken the valuation industry through bastard forms (i.e. the Fannie Mae 2055) and form changes, the use of AVMs (automated valuation models), drive-by appraisals, as well as blacklisting and other tricks to maintain their stranglehold on the realty valuation industry. This, of course, is all under the watchful eye of the American Central Bank, which is nothing Federal, nor a Reserve of any kind. Some big ice, huh?

© 2004 Realty Reality