As an appraiser, do you feel like your clients are pulling all the strings? If Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has his way, proposed legislation to curb appraisal fraud and mortgage brokers who engage in deceptive practices, may change all that.
The legislation will be sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, and Rep. Tom Massey, R-Chaffee, during the 2007 legislative session, which opens this month.
The proposed legislation would:
- Give the state Division of Real Estate the authority to deny or revoke the registration of a mortgage broker who has been prohibited by any court from engaging in deceptive conducted related to brokering a mortgage loan.
- Prohibit a mortgage broker from compensating, coercing or intimidating a real estate appraiser in order to obtain an artificially inflated appraisal.
- Prohibit anyone else, including real estate agents, other brokers, lenders or homebuyers from improperly influencing or trying to influence an appraiser, and prohibits the appraiser from knowingly submitting a false appraisal.
Violations would be prosecuted as a class 1 misdemeanor for a first conviction and a class 6 felony for a second or subsequent conviction. Violators also would be subject to civil liability under the Consumer Protection Act.
The Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association (CMLA) "absolutely" supports the attorney general's proposed legislation, said CMLA President Chris Holbert.
Click here for the complete article. Thanks to the Soapbox blog for the story lead.
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