Appraisers Still Feel The Pressure To Jack Up Home Values

Syndicated real estate columnist Kenneth R. Harney writes:

• Have the real estate valuation shenanigans and inflated home appraisals that characterized the boom years disappeared from the marketplace? Are mortgage loan officers and realty agents — even individual home sellers — continuing to influence or attempting to interfere with appraisals despite new federal rules that ban such behavior?

• Ask appraisers and many will tell you: It's still business as usual. Attempts at encouraging inflated appraisals continue to be commonplace, though in some cases the techniques have become subtler.

For more, see Appraisers Still Feeling Pressure.