Complaint Review: WJ BRADLEY MORTGAGE CAPITAL CORPORATION

Having stumbled upon this quite innocently I can not refrain from making a comment.  I've been in the mortgage business well over 2 decades.

After reading the complaint against this particular lender.  All I see is a disgruntled consumer.  This consumer even innocently disclosed that he, or she, found a deal elsewhere with better rate and terms. There are no cookie cutter rate and term mortgae loans availible.  Every deal has it's nuances whereas each loan is unique in some shape, manner of form.  Apparently this consumer, for whatever reason left this deal with WJ BRADLEY MORTGAGE CAPITAL in a status of "limbo". WJ BRADLEY MORTGAGE CAPITAL doesn't have a responsibility to turn over an appraisal.  Especially after this lender has diligently worked the file staying in compliance with federal and state underwriting guidelines.

WJ BRADLEY MORTGAGE CAPITAL has done nothing wrong in originating and processing this home loan to close.  If the consumer feels that there's a better deal at another company they must have yet another appraisal completed.

My comment is purely from the stand point that I have seen some many consumers get irratable and discontent.  Bottom line in this complaint is that the consumer feesl" ripped off" because WJ BRADLEY MORTGAGE CAPITAL would not release the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR)

I am in no way affiliated, nor have I actually ever heard of WJ BRADLEY MORTGAGE CAPITAL until tonight.

***Key: do NOT spend any money when you are still "shopping" for rates, closing costs, lender services, etc.***

If you are the "buyer", you pay for the cost of the appraisal.  This is a buyer's cost, regardless of the buyer's choice of lender.  However, some lenders are willing to offset this cost if you ultimately choose to do the loan with that lender.

If you are the "seller", it is recommended (not required) that you order an appraisal so you can justify your asking price during open house or inquiries about your home listing.

Government rules change or not:

* If the "buyer" is still "shopping" for a lender, do NOT order an appraisal report, regardless of what the lenders or the Realtor says.

** An appraisal report is valid for only 6 months, sometimes it can be stretched to 1 year, but an exception approval from the lender is required.  Based on the aftermath of the housing crises, the exception approval is "very" rare.

*** "Every" lender wants to be the one who orders the appraisal report (not the buyer).  This is because the lender is taking on the risks to lend hundreds of thousands of dollars, they want to ensure the appraiser is qualified and certified.

I've dealt with W.J Bradley and they've released the appraisal report as requested since my client paid for the report.

Even if Bradley had released the buyer's paid report on time as requested, the other lender "will" still order their own appraisal report.  Hence, another $425 is required from the buyer.

Appraisals are no longer portable.  The Home Valuation Code of Conduct went into effect May 1st, 2009 to protect appraisers from undue influence from parties related to the mortgage transaction.  While this sounds good in theory - what it has done is raise prices for the consumer.  Unless you have an FHA appraisal (which is attached to a property for 6 months) appraisals are now company specific and can not be moved from one lender to another.  Now it seems that consumers are either getting stuck with bad appraisals or they are having to pay the appraisal fee (of which the appraiser gets paid only a small percentage - the rest goes to the management company) more than once.