The Home Inspection Process Have inflated appraisals helped to fuel the current surge in foreclosures by credit-strapped borrowers? Are they at the core of many mortgage-fraud schemes? The four largest trade groups representing appraisers say yes — and they’re asking federal financial regulators to crack down on lenders and loan officers who pressure appraisers to raise valuations to allow overpriced deals to go through. ed by the 22,000-member Appraisal Institute, the groups told regulators on April 11 that subprime lenders experiencing high rates of foreclosures often have been guilty of “systematic inattention” to the accuracy and the sources of the valuations backing the mortgages they funded.

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