Clock winds down on Lucas County appraisal group

Marshall Isenberg and Deputy Barb Lau discuss a property for which they are determining a value. Mr. Isenberg and other private appraisers are training Deputy Lau to do the job they are losing. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Sitting in a car outside an East Toledo home with two other appraisers, Lucas County Deputy Barb Lau remains quiet while her colleagues debate the fair-market value of a house that is destined to be sold at sheriff's auction.

"I think we're talking 25, 27 max," says Tony Kirdahy, meaning a top market value of $27,000. A real estate salesman with 40 years of experience, he cites the decent condition compared to similar houses.

Marshall Isenberg, 81, who's been doing sheriff's appraisals since 1973, has come up with a more generous figure of $40,000, based on the 2006 selling price and the Lucas County auditor's valuation.

Deputy Lau settles the disagreement with a suggestion of $32,000.

So ends the valuation of a one-story house on Dover Place, one of 21 "drive-by" appraisals the trio would do March 10.

These are busy times for the county's foreclosure appraisers, who are paid $35 per appraisal, making as much as $150,342 in one year, as was the case of appraiser Dennis Isenberg in 2008.

But those good times are coming to an end.

Under pressure from budget-conscious Lucas County commissioners and the United Auto Workers union, which represents deputies and doesn't want to see layoffs of its members, Sheriff James Telb is eliminating the lucrative appraisal jobs that have gone to political friends of the sheriff over the years.

He is moving the work in-house.

He appointed Deputy Lau on Feb. 1 and plans to appoint a second deputy in the next two or three weeks and possibly a third deputy a couple of months after that.

"My goal is to phase out the private vendors and use all deputies," Sheriff Telb said. "There may be a time or two in the future on a large commercial job where we have to call in those private guys, but my intention on the day-to-day stuff is to do it all in-house."

He has not set a specific date for completing the transition.

Hiring the appraisers satisfies a requirement in the law that every property sold at auction must first be valued by three "disinterested freeholders" in the county.

Lucas County, like most other Ohio counties, has assigned the appraisals to part-time workers, but without public advertising or bidding.

Six of the nine appraisers are state-licensed to sell or appraise real estate. One has a private real estate appraisal certificate, and two have no formal certification.

All are registered Democrats, as is Sheriff Telb, who's been in office since 1984.

The longest-serving practitioners are:

•Longtime Democratic operative Domenic Montalto, 81, of Toledo, who also worked full time for then-Lucas County Treasurer Ray Kest as director of delinquent tax collections. Mr. Montalto has an Ohio real estate sales license.

•Marshall Isenberg of Sylvania Township, ex-husband of former Lucas County Commissioner Sandy Isenberg. He's a state-licensed real estate broker, salesman, and appraiser.

•Dennis Isenberg, 45, of Sylvania Township, son of Marshall and Sandy Isenberg and first cousin of Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop. Mr. Isenberg is certified by the National Residential Appraisers Institute, based in Amherst, Ohio.

•William Wolfe, 62, of Toledo, a former city employee who also worked for Mr. Kest. He said he owns property but has no formal certification.

•Elmer Scallish, 81, of Oregon, a retired assistant principal for Toledo Public Schools and former football coach for Waite High School who managed Democratic political campaigns. He is a state-licensed real estate salesman.

More recent additions to the team are Michael Ducey, 62, of Sylvania Township, Mr. Kirdahy, of Toledo, and John Yakumithis, 40, of Toledo, all of whom have state licenses in real estate sales or appraisals, or both.

Sandra Vanover, 61, of Toledo, a retired Lucas County sheriff's deputy sergeant, started as an appraiser in 2006. She could not be reached for comment.

In Lucas County, appraisers are handed lists of addresses to evaluate from Cathleen Tillman, director of the sheriff's civil division, after the Lucas County Common Pleas judge handling the foreclosure issues an order of sale.

With one person at the steering wheel - who is later reimbursed for his mileage - the team of three appraisers drives from house to house, typically covering 20 addresses in a five-to-eight-hour period and usually not getting out of the car.

There, they consult the information they already have collected - the Lucas County Auditor's valuation, the transfer history, and comparable sales in the neighborhood.

Once a value is agreed on, all three sign the estimate, and the driver returns it to the sheriff's office, which sets a sale date and submits the appraisal to the court to be included in the case file.

When the house is advertised for sale, the minimum bid will be two-thirds the amount set by the appraisers.

The appraisers get their money from the proceeds of the sale when the house is bought at auction, so in rare cases they are not paid, and at other times, the checks arrive months or even years later.

In 2008, checks totaling $263.50 were still to be sent to the widow of an appraiser who died in 2002.

Lucas County's appraisal rate of $35 a house has been in place since 1991 and is low compared to some other counties.

The rate is $75 a house in Wood County and $125 in Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is situated.

Summit County, where Akron is situated, has a formula based on the taxable value of the home, such as $50 for a house with a $50,000 valuation. Cuyahoga County pays $50 for houses up to $100,000 in valuation, with additional fees over that valuation.

Marshall Isenberg said he was a Probate Court appraiser when he helped Bill Callanan win the election for sheriff in 1972, making Mr. Callanan the first Democrat to hold the office in 20 years.

He said he learned about the appraisal jobs, applied, and has been doing it ever since.

"We'd go out on the weekends and there'd be six, seven appraisals, that was it. We used to get $5 apiece," Mr. Isenberg said.

The volume has multiplied in recent years.

In 2001, the appraisers shared a total of $106,994.

In 2008, payments to appraisers totaled $450,591. Payments last year dipped to $398,842.

The top-paid appraiser last year was Dennis Isenberg, at $118,821. He did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

The appraisers say they never cut corners by assigning property values without visiting each house or by having only one member of the team visit the house.

"That was a no-no. You always go in groups of three," Mr. Scallish said. "It's not an easy job, truthfully. It's a job people have got to know what they're doing. You're dealing with people's money. When you start low-balling things, you're hurting people. The name of the game is help as much as you can for those who are being put out."

Marshall Isenberg said the work has been "wonderful," but said he wishes he could get in two more years to finish putting a daughter through college.

Mr. Montalto, 81, has been one of the most active appraisers over the years, coming in second in total payments most years behind Dennis Isenberg.

Records show that Mr. Montalto managed to get a lot of appraisals done while employed by Mr. Kest.

From Jan. 6 through March 23, 2005, Mr. Montalto drove on 253 appraisals. During that same period, he took only 16.5 hours of leave from his treasurer's office job, according to vacation records.

But he said he never did appraisals on county time but used weekends and holidays to get the work done.

Appraisers say completing a list of 20 appraisals typically takes five hours or more.

Mr. Montalto didn't deny that political connections played a role for some appraisers to get hired.

He said it's no different from the accepted practice of county commissioners hiring their campaign helpers as administrative assistants or state Rep. Peter Ujvagi (D., Toledo) as county administrator. The longtime local elected official was hired to start this Thursday, replacing former administrator Michael Beazley.

"People you know, people you trust," Mr. Montalto said. "There were people doing it who hadn't done any of that campaign stuff, too."

Sheriff Telb said, "Most of those guys were appraisers before I became sheriff. Very rarely did I have any problems."

Deputy Lau, 53, who has been with the sheriff's department 15 years, said she applied for the opening because the work looked interesting.

Her preparation, other than being a homeowner, is a two-day course of training in real estate valuation at Hondros College in Arrowhead Park in Maumee and then about three weeks riding around with the other appraisers as on-the job training.

Since March 1, she has been a full-fledged appraiser, riding as the third appraiser on each team.

Deputy Lau said the appraisers who have been showing her the ropes have been very kind, even though they are training her to replace them.

"The first week, it was very overwhelming. The problem was a lot bigger than portrayed," Ms. Lau said, referring to the factors that have to be taken into consideration, such as the direction of the economy and the number of boarded-up houses in the neighborhood, if any.

Of her two days of training, she said, "It gave me an experience to what to look for, but most of the learning is basically hands-on."

Sheriff Telb said turning the work over to full-time employees makes sense at a time there are so many appraisals to be done that the payments easily cover the costs of three full-time sheriff's deputies, at about $70,000 with benefits.

He said if the economy improves in two or three years and the demands for appraisers fall off, it might make more sense to return to privately contracted appraisers.

The switch to deputy appraisers is creating some concern among the appraisers and with Ms. Tillman, the director of the sheriff's civil division.

She said that she relies on the expertise of the private appraisers who provide their own comparable sales information, drive their own vehicles, schedule their own time, and go to court to defend themselves if an appraisal is challenged.

She said the deputies need more training than they've had and added that she will have to be more involved in organizing the appraisal drive-by schedule.

"If they're working under me, I think I need some more training, too. I just want to make sure things are done properly," Ms. Tillman said.

Current appraiser Mr. Ducey said he has not worked on any campaigns and had no personal connection with the sheriff before he was hired last year.

He questions whether the training given the deputies is adequate.

"I think the whole county should be concerned," Mr. Ducey said. "It probably takes a minimum of three years to get somewhat proficient in the profession, and that's going at it full time."

Mr. Kirdahy, 75, said the use of deputies as appraisers raises concerns for him.

He said appraising property values requires training and that putting them on appraisals misuses the training they received in law enforcement.

He also wondered whether the deputies would attract unwanted attention if they wear their uniforms, as Deputy Lau has done.

"Deputies are trained in police work and they're going to put them in an unrelated field," Mr. Kirdahy said, adding that he has no problem with Deputy Lau.

"She's very good," he said.

Contact Tom Troy at:

tomtroy@theblade.com

or 419-724-6058.

41.6131 -78.0169

Tony Kirdahy and Lucas County Deputy Sheriff Barb Lau look over a property scheduled for sheriff's auction. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Sitting in a car outside an East Toledo home with two other appraisers, Lucas County Deputy Barb Lau remains quiet while her colleagues debate the fair-market value of a house that is destined to be sold at sheriff's auction. "I think we're talking 25, 27 max," says Tony Kirdahy. A real estate salesman with 40 years of experience, he cites the decent condition compared to similar houses.