Deeds steamed: The appraisal that may have burned taxpayers
Any homeowner seeking a loan or a refinancing might be wise to hire Patricia Filer. If her appraisal of Biscuit Run is any indication, she has an ability to find value above and beyond what the market will bear.
Biscuit Run— a massive undeveloped neighborhood saddled with debt and trapped by an unforgiving housing market— appeared to be rescued by a year-ago deal that hinged on a mysterious appraisal. When Courteney Stuart penned her investigative cover story two months ago, she theorized that the only way the tract’s wealthy investors could have paid off their delinquent loans and retained their investment was finding an appraiser willing to value the place four times higher than one arm of the state did.
Apparently, they found such an appraiser in the form of Filer at Orange-based Piedmont Appraisal Company. A story by freelance reporter Will Goldsmith asserts that Filer valued the land at $87.7 million.
“That’s a big number,” says State Senator Creigh Deeds. “That’s just a big number.”
But as Goldsmith reports (more)