When Fire Damage is Concealed
This was a situation in which a hard money lender called me in for a second opinion about an appraisal of a historic building in Sutter County, California. The building was vacant but the appraiser used the assumption that it would reach full occupancy in one month. Naturally, when I confront a vacant building, I call the city to ask if it has a Certificate of Occupancy. Not only was there no certificate of occupancy, it had expired building permits to correct previous fire damage. Then I consulted the media and quickly found a photo of the building actually on fire: So either the appraiser was negligent or perhaps even participating in a loan fraud.