Released: June 02, 2007

Reprisals on property appraisals

Source: Kenneth R. Harney, Washington Post (Free Registration)

A federal class-action lawsuit is focusing attention on an issue that’s important to homeowners nationwide: Who - or what - tells you how much your property is worth? Is it a person? A digitized substitute? Does it matter?

A group of professional appraisers is suing a major mortgage technology firm, charging that it systematically takes their appraisal report information, warehouses it, and markets it to lenders and developers of electronic substitutes for traditional appraisals.

The suit was filed last month by appraisers in Maryland, Virginia and Oklahoma against FNC of Oxford, Miss. FNC markets a high-tech system that converts traditional appraisals into electronic formats, then sends them to mortgage lender customers. FNC says it processes about 400,000 appraisals a month and deals primarily with the 45 to 50 largest mortgage lenders in the country.

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