Florida regulators question accuracy or appraiser’s report

The Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board has flagged a 2018 report that an appraiser wrote in 2018, contending it includes falsified information.

Now, the appraiser faces an administrative complaint.

On his website, the appraiser says he has worked in Daytona Beach, throughout Florida, and in much of the eastern third of the nation.

For the appraisal in question, the man was nowhere near the commercial property site in South Daytona in June 2018 when the report was done, according to regulators.

In fact, state investigators believe the man was in Europe, even though he included in the report that the property had been visually inspected.

In this instance, the property was a restaurant, and the owner said she was in discussions with an investor who ordered the appraisal.

“I remember reading the appraisal and saying, ‘This guy never saw this,’ the property owner told The Daytona Beach News-Journal. “It was obvious when you read it.”

State investigators outlined a number of problems with the appraisal that range from the failure to report the presence of hazardous substances on site and inaccuracies regarding events such as prior sales.

The regulator’s report about the appraiser states the man “has resided for years outside of the state of Florida, did not personally inspect the subject property or the comparable sales and did not obtain assistance in the evaluation of the subject market in the development or communication of the report.”

The man’s license has been suspended. He shared a 14-page written response to the Florida Division of Real Estate with The News-Journal.

“I have been appraising … for 29 years,” the man wrote, “have trained a hundred or more appraisers, done some 10,000 appraisals, got a 93 on my state exam back in 1990 and was the third person finished with that test of 1,600 persons in the room taking the test at that time. I am a very good appraiser.”

An accurate appraisal is vital in a commercial or residential real estate transaction. An incorrect one could result in an owner selling for less than a property’s value or a buyer paying too much. Either scenario could result in legal action.