This is a prime example of how one of the Washington State Department of Licensing Investigators, Arthur A. Abrahamson, let his personal vendetta for a good appraiser cloud his judgment (again), so much so that he would rather let a bad appraisal go uninvestigated. In fact Mr. Abrahamson actually closed the investigation when the State's own Expert Review Appraiser Roster member told them it was a BAD appraisal. Yet alone what Fannie Mae thinks.
Let's start at the beginning of this little story......
August 30, 1999
Appraiser, Joseph R. Murashie, who had been hired to perform a residential appraisal for a purchase money mortgage regarding a sale price between the seller (Razee) and a buyer (Haynie / Fowles) turns in an appraisal report with a value of the property at $245,000 as of the effective date of August 26, 1999. Part of the problem is that the seller and buyer had a private agreement to sell the property at the "appraised price". The buyer felt that the property was greatly over-valued, so they hired their own appraiser (George Nervik) to make an independent determination of value and to perform a building inspection before they would proceed with the sale. The property had serious problems that were not reported in the Murashie appraisal and the buyer felt that they wanted both an inspection report and an appraisal report.
October 13, 1999
Appraiser, George E. Nervik, IFA, turned in his appraisal report (37 pages including table of contents) and inspection report (6 pages) and an invoice. The Nervik appraisal indicates in great detail that the value of the property is $190,000 as-repaired and $175,000 as-is.
November 18, 1999
Loretta Haynie Fulk mails a complaint into the Washington State Department of Licensing Real Estate Section, to the specific attention of Cleotis Borner, Jr., the Program Manager of the Appraisal Section.
November 23, 1999
This is the date the complaint was actually received by DOL - not the November 30, 1999 as indicated on the "made up after the fact" activity log. Stupid DOL forgot that they date stamped it in.
December 3, 1999
Ralph Birkedahl sends the standard form letter to Haynie-Fulk telling her they are looking into it. Problems are already brewing though because DOL can't even get the address correct (they'll wonder later why the mail don't work and will blame it on the complainant).
December 6, 1999
The entire file is sent over to "investigations". No one seems to know who sent it over there, evidently there is someone on the State payroll by the name of "Unkn". Best guess is that sending it to investigations is likened to a "black hole", a gap in the time/space continuum, a tear in the fabric of the universe.....
No - this is not a typographical error - or as DOL likes to call them - a "scriveners error". The dates above and below are correct to the best of our knowledge and backed up by the documents herein. Read on - maybe you can help us find the 1 YEAR, 1 MONTH, 3 WEEKS AND 3 DAYS THAT THE STATE EVIDENTLY LOST...
February 2, 2001
The file is mysteriously returned from "investigations" (more on this later). It's not the real date - but we're saving that for later.
February 21, 2001
After the file set around for another 19 days, DOL finally decided to send it out to one the members of the Expert Review Appraiser Roster (ERAR), Mr. Barry Wilson. Mr. Wilson is an experienced, competent and honest appraiser, and as you'll see shortly, is very detail oriented.
March 30, 2001
Mr. Wilson wrote a detailed review of the Murashie appraisal - and simply put - he said it was bad. What he said exactly was "The report under review is not a credible appraisal".
April 3, 2001
Ralph Birkedahl at DOL (now the Program Manager) received the ERAR review from Mr. Barry Wilson (as shown by the DOL date stamp).
Ralph Birkedahl referred the file back to Investigations.
April 4, 2001
Sandra Spencer, the head of Investigations for the real estate section, assigned the file to Arthur A. Abrahamson.
Arthur A. Abrahamson reviewed the file. Oh no! Lions and tigers and bears - Abrahamson found out that there was a second appraisal done by Nervik - Abrahamson has had it in for Nervik for a couple years at this point (due to Nervik inadvertently showing up Abrahamson a few times at an NAIFA chapter meeting - yes, they both belong to the same South Puget Sound Chapter - and this is where the animosity ).
Arthur A. Abrahamson spoke with Mr. Grins Pierce to verify the sales price and sale closed at $225,000. But what's not reported in the "file" is that Grins Pierce listed the property on March 14, 2000. This is six and a half months after the first appraisal by Murashie and five and a half months after the second appraisal by Nervik. The file also fails to report what work was done to the property in that time. Nor is there any mention of what went on the market place during that time. And of course why would anyone discuss the relationship between the March 14, 2000 listing date, the August 7, 2000 off market date and finally the December 1, 2000 closed date. What do you think was going on during all that time?
April 12, 2001
Arthur A. Abrahamson, Cleotis Borner, Jr. and Sandra Spencer have a "meeting". They are already hunting Nervik because he refused to help cover up those bad appraisals done by James Benson (Senator Benson's brother) and they had to get Tesso to sign off on them, even though they were bad. Then Nervik refused to jack up the value of the appraisal on Cleotis Borner Jr.'s church (they wanted it inflated by one million dollars above the market value because the church was having financial difficulties). Nervik refused to participate in the "good old boys club".
It was determined that they can not prosecute Murashie for his bad appraisal because in doing so they would have to admit that Nervik's appraisal was good. No matter that their own expert, Mr. Barry Wilson, had told them Murashie's appraisal was not credible - DOL simply can not admit Nervik was right. So DOL decided the only way to come out on this investigation was to do nothing. Case closed.
April 18, 2001
Not wanting to attract any attention to this file, they decided not to issue a closing letter to the complainant, claiming that they did not have their address and that they have not had contact with them for 15 months. Well geez guys, who's fault was it that you failed to contact the complainant for 15 months? Are you blaming the complainant for not doing your job - staying in touch? And as for finding them - anyone with a 4th grade education could have simply looked in the phone book - yes, they are listed, then and now. Oh, and if you had been thinking - you'd have asked for their email - they have that too. But hey, don't believe me, download it and read it for yourself. You be the judge, is there a problem here.
1999-12-0001APP-Murashie-Watson-Investigation-DOL.pdf
So that you can truly appreciate the conditions that were present when the property was appraised, give the color copy of Nervik's appraisal a good look over - actually you can just jump right to the photos and that will tell you most of what you need to know.
990924G1-Appraisal-Inspection-Haynie-Legalsize.pdf
August 28, 2001
Brace yourself - DOL has received more "complaints" against Murashie. We've only been allowed to see one of them, it was from Fannie Mae in Washington, D.C. I won't bore you with too many details, other than to say it's more of the same. Same DOL Players - Arthur A. Abrahamson, Sandra Spencer, Ralph Birkedahl and Cleotis Borner, Jr. Same results too - bad appraisal and another closed investigation. Swept under the carpet. But hey, don't believe me, download it and read it for yourself. You be the judge, is there a problem here.
2001-08-0017APP-Murashie-Investigation-DOL-Closed.pdf
September 16, 2004
Now in case you were thinking that those problems were behind us because Cleotis Borner, Jr. was gone - you'd be wrong. DOL found another guy with equal qualifications and ethics to take over - at least for a while. Meet William David Santhuff, the replacement Program Manager (for about 16 months). Numerous people tried to bring to his attention the many problems within the Appraisal Section. But Santhuff chose to simply "go along" with the good old boys and the way its always been. Santhuff would tell you to your face that he was shocked and that this was not going to be allowed to go on any longer, then help to bury the files as soon as you leave the building. Of course there could be a problem - maybe not every person at DOL and the AG's Office wants to see this buried so deep. But Santhuff was given a chance - and did nothing with it but continue the cover-ups. But hey, don't believe me, download it and read it for yourself. You be the judge, is there a problem here.
04-09-16-Email-from-Nervik-to-Santhuff-re-Murashie-Abrahamson.pdf
This is just the email verification showing that the email was delivered to Santhuff.
04-09-16-Email-from-Nervik-to-Santhuff-re-Murashie-Abrahamson-email-proof1.pdf
Stay tuned - there is more to come. We are an all volunteer organization - so this is done on our own time and at our own expense.
And "Win-Lose-or-Draw" we ain't going away. Return to Homepage.