I just read the "Flawed Appraisals Hurt Home Sales, Slowing Housing Recovery" article displayed  on the Fox Business News site.  It sounded to me like Mr. Nielsen of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has taken up the torch that was carried by NAR's President early this year to force appraisers to conclude values that work better for the benefit of "everyone."

I can hardly wait for the day when the government dictates to appraisers that they can not use short sales and foreclosures in a market like Las Vegas that is dominated by them.  It will be a day not unlike the one we have already lived when government stepped in to distort the mortgage market by using Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to "help" low income individuals purchase homes with little or no credit.  We all know how that plan worked out . . thanks again Barney Frank.

So today it is seriously being proposed that we appraisers turn a blind eye to the thousands  of bank sales and sales made by individuals in foreclosure and in so doing artificially increase the value of the remaining homes and new homes to stimulate the market.  I would ask, "why not just have the government assign values based on the cost of construction?" At least that method of "fixing" prices does not ask all appraisers to play "make believe" and thus become complicit in the lie.

It was my understanding that appraiser licensing was established to protect the public, but if the government subverts the appraisal process to bolster prices it will destroy an appraisers ability to express an unbiased value opinion based on the market and destroy the purpose of licensing. » Read More