Appraiser gives up license
| Thursday, Mar 11 2010 04:42 AM
Last Updated Thursday, Mar 11 2010 04:41 PM
A Bakersfield man gave up his appraiser's license rather than fighting state allegations that he signed off on a deeply flawed appraisal of a local hotel.
Dwight Reynolds, 64, first received a general real estate appraiser license in 1992, and it would not have expired until August if he had not relinquished it.
The surrender of the license "shall constitute the imposition of discipline against respondent ... and shall become a part of respondent's license history," wrote Bob Clark, director of the state Office of Real Estate Appraisers, in an order signed Dec. 22.
The Californian only recently learned of the order after submitting a California Public Records Act request for documents related to the discipline of any appraisers working in Kern County.
The complaint said that in December 2007, Reynolds co-signed as supervising appraiser for a report on a 22,476-square-foot, three-story, 49-room hotel that was riddled with "errors and omissions" in violation of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, a set of mandatory rules that govern the appraisal industry.
The report failed to analyze relevant sales of comparable properties, provided insufficient information on renovations proposed for the property, and offered conflicting information on the cost of those renovations, according to the complaint.
Reynolds also failed to develop a price per room analysis, which is typical in reports on hotels, and he didn't disclose that much of the report's conclusions were based on another appraiser's draft report, according to the complaint.
Reynolds disputes the charges, but said he voluntarily surrendered his license to avoid the expense and uncertainty of a hearing.
"I was thinking about retiring, anyway, so I just decided to be done with it," Reynolds said when reached by phone Thursday.
He added that there was more to the case than meets the eye from reading the state's official accusation.
"I'm not one of the bad guys," he said. "I've never had any problems like this before. There was another appraiser involved in that appraisal, but I probably shouldn't say anything more about it."
The complaint also accused Reynolds of failing to disclose that the commercial property that was evaluated was not within the scope of his co-signing appraiser's residential license.
Since the report was written, co-signer Janet Vasquez has moved to Ventura County. Her state license lists her employer as VIP Appraisals.
Vasquez declined to comment.
