Read About the Bad Boy of Appraisal Management

Story and link below. My introduction, comments and background posted on Appraiser Active.

 

Recent appraisal rules open door to shady middlemen

 

By Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent
In Print: Sunday, February 7, 2010

Last year, Global Appraisal Solutions of Clearwater hired appraiser John Viscusi to do property evaluations in the New York metro area.

But Viscusi says the company failed to pay him for 20 appraisals. And when he tried to contact the owner, Larry Holzer, he got no response.

Then Viscusi made an unsettling discovery. An Internet search for Global immediately linked him to another company, Appraisal Mediation Solutions. Its phone number: The same as Larry Holzer's. Its address: a UPS store in Clearwater close to Holzer's condo.

In 2007, Florida regulators permanently revoked Holzer's appraisal license because he had approved an error-filled appraisal done by a trainee under his supervision. The report didn't even have photos of the correct house.

The revocation barred Holzer himself from appraising property in Florida. But it didn't keep him from starting an appraisal management company, Global Appraisal Solutions, that could do business in Florida and every other state.