Response from BART GHORMLEY APPRAISALS
On the day of inspection, the homeowner assured me that I was hired to appraise the market value of his home regardless of the outcome. That was performed. Subsequently, I received two phone calls from him asking me, indirectly, to inflate the value of his property. When the appraisal process was explained, and the rationale for the value, he disregarded that and insisted that I use properties that were located outside of his neighborhood. Since 1997, as a Texas licensed and state certified real estate appraiser, I've had to adhere to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) protocols and procedures. This standard of requirement made no difference to the homeowner. I felt very misled as to the real purpose of why he hired me: to be a rubber stamp for a predetermined value. I don't believe he realized it, but he was asking me to commit fraud. No appraiser is going to last very long in this business if they succumb to outside pressure to be dishonest. I welcome and need homeowner input to make an informed decision about the market value their home. But yielding to demands that would artificially raise the value of their property defeats the whole concept of an unbiased opinion.