FIRST ADVANTAGE APPRAISAL INC

Emailed the office and discussed my situation. An appointment was set up and the appraiser was 20 minutes late. Immediately rude and unprofessional. There was a miscommunication regarding gaining entry to the property. This was followed by a barrage of unprofessional emails after I decided to not use their service. Email trail below: ME: Hello, I received your name from a real estate broker who stated that you are a reputable appraisal company (Jill/Wade). I unfortunately just went through the process of a deed in lieu on a previous property of mine in Baltimore City. The house had previously been appraised for $200's and 300's thousand ( do have a copy of the appraisal). But when the bank appraised the house, it came in for almost a million dollars ($955K). Not sure how that came in so high, as the house has many issues (leaking roof, water main damage with no active running water, old fire damage in the basement and 1st floor, damaged windows, etc.). The house is in fact under contract now for $199,900. Because of the ridiculous $955K appraisal that the bank received, my CPA (and I) am going nuts with the tax consequences of the deed in lieu. I was told that I now need to hire an independent appraiser to get an appraisal on the house in order for her to challenge the property's assessed value and appraisal. We may also need an expert witness testimony on Maryland property value. So my question is 1. Do you provide that service. 2. Do you service Baltimore city 3. How much does this cost. 4. How soon can this be done? ------------------------ Them: Good Morning S, My name is Jill and I have received your email regarding appraisal services. Wade is out of town for the week, but hopefully I can help. We do offer coverage in Baltimore City. We would be available to schedule as soon as one morning next week. Would you please provide the property address? I would need to know what we're seeing in order to provide a fee quote. Also, Wade does do expert testimony. He does have a separate hourly fee for that. I will find out his hourly fee to do this and I can let you know. I hope this has helped. Thank you, JP First Advantage Appraisal Service 558 Lanny Court Millersville, MD 21108 (410) 729-3415 ------------------------ ME: Xxxx xxxxx xxxStreet, Baltimore, MD Thank you! SK --------------------------- THEM: Hi Thanks for getting me the information. The fee for this would be $400. We do require all private orders to be paid COD. We accept cash, check, money-order & credit cards. I have left a message for Wade so I can get his hourly rate for expert testimony. As I mentioned he is out of town, so I will get you that info ASAP. Let me know if you'd like to proceed in scheduling the inspection for one morning next week. Thank you, JP ------------------------ ME: Thurs morning would be best for me, but Thurs, Fri, Sat or Sun morning is ok. I work 8a - 8p on Mon, Tue, Wed (and won't be able to meet with you) and 6p - 6a Thurs, Fri, Sat. ME: I can do Thurs 9- 10 am. Now I don't own the house anymore, do you make arrangements with the real estate people? I think it's Long & Foster. Let me know. Thanks, SK ----------------------- THEM: Hi S We can make arrangements with the Realtor, but we do need someone to meet with the COD, or you can call it in on credit card. Should I put this on the books for Thursday morning, or should I be in touch with you realtor? Also, we do offer expert testimony. I have not been in touch with Wade for a fee quote because he is on vacation this week. I will provide his hourly fee for expert testimony once he's back in town. Please advise how to proceed. Thank you, JP ----------------------- ME: No I will meet you there for the appraisal and payment. It's not my Realtor though, I guess the bank hired them to sell the house. . . Since I did the deed in lieu, so I have no relationship with them. But Thursday at 9am is fine with me. SK ------------------------- THEM: Good Morning S I have been in touch with Wade. He told me there was some confusion this morning at xxx xxxxx xxx Street, and he was unable to gain access. Please re-read the emails below. My email on 7/5 @ 10 AM - I stated we could make arrangements with the realtor, but someone does need to meet with the COD. I asked if I should put the inspection on the books for Thursday, or should I be in touch with your realtor. You responded No, I will meet you there for the appraisal and payment. I believe this is where the confusion occurred, because I asked if I needed to contact the Realtor and you said No. At this point I have called the Realtor, Jim Mikula. He said that this property is owned by Fannie Mae and he is not willing to grant you access. Wade can do a drive-by appraisal for this. He would be able to write the report based on information from the listing, public records and any information you may be able to provide. The fee for this is $350, COD. Wade is in the area tomorrow morning, so he could do it then. You can reply to this message or you can call me at the office to advise how you'd like us to proceed. Thank you JP ------------------------ ME: JP, I'm sorry you misunderstood me. You asked several questions and my NO response was in regard to calling the payment in on my credit card, not to the realtor. I then went on to explain to you i had no relationship with the realtor Long and Foster, as they were hired by the bank. Your 1st statement on July 5th was that "WE COULD" make arrangements with the realtor, but need someone to meet at the house for PAYMENT. So I assumed that "YOU" were making arrangements with the realtor. MY RESPONSE: No I will meet you there for the appraisal and payment. It's not my Realtor though, I guess the bank hired them to sell the house. . .Since I did the deed in lieu, so I have no relationship with them. AT ANY RATE, I WILL DECLINE THE DRIVE BY SERVICE BY YOUR COMPANY. IT IS NOT OPTIMAL AND WILL LOOK FOR OTHER OPTIONS AT THIS POINT. Thanks for your time SK -------------------------- THEM: S, Jill asked you specifically if you wanted us to make arrangements with the realtor and you said no. How did you expect us to go into the property? Wade ----------------------- ME: Wade, It's done a done deal. She asked if I wanted to pay calling my credit card in. And I said NO and that i will meet you there for the appraisal and PAYMENT. Her 1st statement in that email was that she "could make arrangements" with the realtor, but someone needed to be there for COD payment. I told her again and again that I had no relationship with Long and Foster and I no longer owned the home. There was a miscommunication on her part. Re-read the entire trail if emails. SHE MESSED UP. So to answer your question: I expected YOU to have access, as she specifically said the "WE COULD MAKE ARRANGEMENTS". SK ---------------------- THEM: You cannot read. She asked you if you wanted us to call the realtor and you said no. Jill said she could, not would. Done deal or not you wasted three hours of my time because according to the listing agent who knows who you are, you are not permitted in the home. You had to have known that. You wasted nearly 3 hours of my time. You are ignorant in expecting me to have access when we clearly stated for us not to call the realtor. Wade -------------------------- ME: Jill wasted my time too!! I don't think she is incompetent, I think she just had a bad day or miscommunication. You said your company would never contact the realtor in 25 years. She said she could. . . . So I think you should revisit your policies. Furthermore, I never met, heard or spoke to that listing agent. So how was i suppose to know you couldn't get access. Don't make up things to support your blunder. And I beg to differ, I can read and write amongst other things. I have never met such unprofessional people in my life! So glad I did not use your service after all. Tell Jill thanks for messing up! You are extremely unprofessional and you should be reported to the appropriate authorities. "you cannot read??"" Real adult of you! Have a great life. Please don't email me again. I have no more need for communication with you. SK ---------------------- THEM: You are an ignorant person. We deal with professionals here and you are not one of them. No wonder you had to short-sale your property. Wade --------------------- ME: So you think your emails to me are professional and not ignorant. You don't know my story and the reason for the for short sale sale. PLEASE, delete my email. I never do business with such unprofessional people. Not sure what I did that was unprofessional, but anyway have a great life! May God's face shine and be gracious unto you! SK ----------------------- THEM: We are professionals who do not waste peoples time. The realtor said he had talked to you before, so you lied to us about not knowing who the realtor was. You tried to use me to get back into the house knowing that the realtor did not want you back in there. He told us that. ---------------------- ME: Then he is a liar. I told you it was Long and Foster in one of the 1st emails, but that I did not own the house anymore and that I had no relationship with them. There was never a mention of me being prohibited in the house. I never tried to use you to get into the house. I just needed an appraisal. Anyway, have a nice life! But really PLEASE DELETE MY EMAIL. You will be spammed from this point on! Thanks SK THIS WAS A VERY HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!