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Samantha Ross
12-16-2014, 11:41 AM
(by Catherine Hall--203k Queen)

As a 203k consultant, in fact as any professional will find, you must clearly define what your code of conduct will be in order to maintain professionalism and integrity. In a situation such as an FHA renovation where a customer is in a very stressful situation with significant and immediate time constraints placed on them, you may be asked to cut corners, to take shortcuts, to bend the rules a little bit, to help the project move more successfully for them but you cannot do this. You must always remember that you are not just representing that customer but you are also representing the lender and the federal government.

Let me give you an example:

I was performing a feasibility study for a customer who had a very limited amount of money that they could add to the purchase price of the property. The house itself had a lot of repairs that failed to meet the FHA minimum property standards and the cost of the mandatory repairs were definitely going to exceed the available amount of money the client could qualify for. The customer asked if it would be possible for me to put some of the items on the report as desired as supposed to mandatory and that way, they don't have to do them. My comment to her was that--

"Even if I did list some of these items that were going to be considered mandatory repairs as desired or even recommended, it will still come down to the appraiser coming down to the property. And if he/she found out those items as needing to be completed, they would be added back to the write-up. In that circumstance, my integrity was not going to be held to challenge because there's going to be accountability from the appraiser."

So you see, there's always someone else looking over your shoulder. Even if there was a situation where the photos would not exactly describe or clearly demonstrate the work that would be done, you always need to be aware that there is a potential that your file could be audited.

Mark Reinmiller
12-16-2014, 05:13 PM
Does this forum allow members to promote their businesses?

Jerry Peck
12-16-2014, 06:37 PM
Does this forum allow members to promote their businesses?

In this case, I believe so, to my recollection - she sponsors this forum. :) (pays for it that way)

http://www.inspectionnews.net/home_inspection/va-fha-hud-disaster-insurance-inspections-home-inspection-commercial-inspection/41263-please-help-me-welcome-samantha-ross.html