I second that motion because that is where my loan and housing situation stemmed from though the house is in wisconsin

As a mortgage broker, St. Elmos Fire, I can tell you that more times than naught I was told by a Realtor “well, I have my own appraiser who can get my listing price” and as an appraiser you also know that you could manipulate comps with percentages on adjustments, etc. to make the numbers work. In actuality, your theory above probably did contribute to the added crisis but a lot of these appraisers were receiving ‘kick backs’ from realtors and builders alike to raise values. Besides, with so many sales occurring during the boom and values rising faster than the sun it would have been prudent on an appraiser to know that this was a volitale market. Even I knew it was a bubble and soon to burst as I knew a market could not continue to bear such upswings in value. C’mon, there are ethic principles to abide by. Not that I am a saint by any means but for these situations back then my answer more or less was ‘hit the road, jack and don’t ya come back no more,no more’. New regulations in my industry have weeded out most of the bad and it’s now time for the other parts of the industry to do the same!