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Value pressure & discovered mistakes

Admit your errors before someone else exaggerates them.

Q: " An irate real estate agent started calling and emailing my office about a week or so ago. He is annoyed that an appraisal I prepared came in lower than his contract price. Of course, he sent a list of other sales that he wants me to review and he is demanding that I "correct" my appraisal or he is going to file a complaint against me to the state licensing board. I responded to him in an email stating I cannot discuss the report with anyone but the client and stating he needs to send any inquiries to the lender. He is continuing to call my office, and is very nasty to the staff, but that is not my problem. After he called the first time I did pull out the report and I actually found a mistake. I don't honestly know how this happened, but the information for Comparable Sale number 2 is all wrong. The adjusted Sales Price is OK but almost everything else is wrong. I can't believe I did not see this before the report went out and I can't believe the real estate agent has not pointed it out during one of his tirades.

I can't just send a "revised" or "corrected" report to this AMC. They have to send me a revision request and that would allow me to send a revised report. I contacted the person I deal with over there and he promised to send me the request for revision. I followed up after a few days and still have not received the request. It seems pretty certain that this real estate agent is going to file a complaint against me with the state board. In anticipation of that I wanted to at least correct this sloppy mistake. Do you have any suggestions on how I can best handle this?"

A: I understand your concerns but I don't want you to pester the client. Your contact might just be busy or he might not want to bother with having to explain why he sent a request for a "corrected" report. At this point, I think you have to document your file as best you can in anticipation of having to explain this situation to a state board investigator. I would suggest one more email to your contact at the AMC confirming that you found an error in the report and that you asked for an opportunity to provide a "revised" version. I would then go ahead and prepare the revised report while all of this is fresh in your mind. Keep that revised report in your file, so it will be there later, if needed. Of course, if you do receive notice of a complaint made against you to the licensing board make sure you report it to your insurer as soon as possible.


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