This is a story about the housing mess the country is in. They are comparing it to Enron and said just like the Enron top people sold stock right before the bankruptcy, the CEO of Countrywide, the nations largest lender, just sold his stock too. For those that don't know, Countrywide just received a $2 billion bail out from Bank of America. The way things are going, there will only be two major lenders left, Bank of America and Washington Mutualy.

https://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...usingMess.aspx

What really pisses me off about this is Countrywide, in their greedy ways, brought all this on themselves. You see, Countrywide owns a company called LandSafe, which does ALL the appraisals for Countrywide. Well, it's total bull**** because to work for LandSafe, you have to give up about $150 or the $350 fee to get any business from them. So, not only is this a way for Countrywide to make more money, but their policy is this 'if you are on the LandSafe list, your appraisals never get reviewed.' I'm quoting this because I've heard this over the last 5 years about 100 times from my clients and Countryside lenders.

What kind of dip**** company is this? Seriously, just think about it for a minute....who is willing to work for that much less? Appraisers who can't get their own business and appraisers who are desperate. Who in their right mind would loan money without a reasonable system of checks and balances that the collateral is worth enough to cover the loan? A total dumbass, that's who. This is what these idiots have done for years. And now, because of their greed and stupidity, if they go under the housing market have problems.

Now, to tell you just how sorry these people are at this company, I will tell you this story. Ever since I got into this business there has been this dude named Jeff that has also done work for some of the same people I do. Now, for years this dude has constantly came in higher than me on values. I've seen his work, he's a liar, not a better appraiser. If I say the range is $180k to $200k, he says it's $200k to $210k. Time and time again he has taken money from me with these lies. Well, I talk to guy from time to time and we spoke about Countryside and LandSafe and he told me that he is on LandSafe's list and that they don't send him business because 'he doesn't hit the number enough.' Can you believe that crap? The employees of Countrywide have been pressuring appraisers to hit a certain number with no regard of what it would do to the company down the road. They know Countrywide won't review the appraisal so they search and search and search until they find the piece of crap that will get them the number and then when they default or have to sell because they lost their job it turns out the home is worth thens of thousands of dollars less.

This is the reason for the mess. If every appraiser in this nation was 100% honest and displayed the utmost in integrity, this mess would not even exist.

I recently was recruited to get on the FHA panel, which is a division of HUD, to help investigate appraisal fraud. I'm looking forward to getting these idiots out of this industry.