S&L; Fiasco Not Appraisers’ Fault

This letter is written in response to comments made by your syndicated columnist Robert J. Bruss. It has become very tiresome reading Bruss’ articles in the Real Estate Section in which he continues to misinform his readers about the appraisal profession.

In an answer that Bruss gave in the March 10 “Real Estate Q&A;,” he stated that “appraisers were to blame for the S&L; fiasco that cost taxpayers billions of bail-out dollars.” This is simply not true.

The S&L; fiasco was the result of bad loans made by bankers who were loaning money on properties they had no business making loans on in the first place. Some commercial appraisers contributed to the problem by making inflated appraisals on some projects, but for Bruss to place the blame for the entire fiasco on the appraisal industry is absurd.

Abuses by residential appraisers in appraising residential properties were rarely ever implicated in the S&L; mess.

Bruss must have been a victim of a low-ball appraisal to have motivated his vindictiveness.

DAVID EATON

The writer is an appraiser.