Questions 1. How is an opportunity created to commit appraisal fraud? Does the appraiser act alone, or is collusion routinely involved? 2. How is appraisal fraud detected? Is intent to deceive easy to prove in appraisal fraud? 3. What pressures or perceived pressures can motivate appraisers to make faulty valuations? 4. How do appraisers rationalize their fraudulent behavior? 5. Why would a county perceive pressure to fraudulently inflate property values? 6. What controls would help to prevent appraisal fraud? 7. What natural controls exist to prevent homeowners from the desire to "massage the value" of their homes? (Hint: Think about a homeowner's motivation.)\fAnother unique twist to the plot is that few of the people involved in making mortgage loans have a long- term interest in them. Traditionally, bankers made loans directly and held them, giving the lenders a strong incentive to find fair appraisals to protect their interest. Today, however, many appraisers are picked by independent mortgage brokers, who are paid per transaction and have little stake in the long- term health of the loans. Many lenders have also lost a long-term interest in their loans, because they sell them off to investors. Appraisers increasingly fear that if they don't go along with higher valuations sought by brokers, their business will dry up. Do you think a county appraiser would do a lot better than a private practitioner? Joel Marcus, a New York-based attorney recently had his property valued at $2.2 million by a county appraiser, up from $2 million the previous year, which means a $7,200 jump in his property tax bill. Based on recent home sales in his neighborhood, Marcus believes his property is valued at between $1.7 and $1.8 million. Based on this information, Marcus has appealed his appraisal. Although a good appraisal requires doing hours of legwork, visiting a property to check its condition, and coming up with at least three comparable sales, Percudani says he isn't surprised that later appraisals, or even different appraisals made at the same time, could result in different values. "Appraisals are opinions," he says. "Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder." Stranieri and Percudani deny any wrongdoing and say they operated independently and that any home that declined in value did so because of a weak economy. "It's like buying a stock," Percudani says in an interview. "The value goes up. The value goes down.&quot