Category: The Appraisal Foundation

May 22, 2018

Improper Direction to Appraisers

…specific prohibited direction to appraisers involved in federally regulated transactions… Improper direction to appraisers as a new special lender condition Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen: The following article appeared in a recent online post at http://appraisersblogs.com/appraisers-asked-2-overlook-weed-cultivation (also copied to this letter following our inquiry). We consider the original author to be a credible source. Due to the serious implications of any appraisal management service giving such specific prohibited direction to appraisers involved in federally regulated transactions we believe it to be our duty to bring this to your collective attention. We respectfully request that each Federal Regulatory Agency review this issue...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

MISMO, Appraisal Data Mining, Hybrids, and Other Fraud Facilitators

May 1, 2018

Who’s to Blame?

Looking at who and what MISMO Directors are, is it a surprise that FNMA included language in basic appraisal forms resulting in appraisers having infinite liability and no ownership over their own work product IF they do work for FNMA?… European Union General Data Privacy Regulations (EU GDPR) may seem like a stretch for an Appraisers Blog topic, but please bear with me. For some time now, The Appraisal Foundation has been focusing on major international valuation issues other than real estate appraisals. IVSC is one of the bigger and most detrimental misdirection’s they’ve taken as far as impact on...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

April 25, 2018

Working Paper Credibility Questioned

NO REAL ESTATE APPRAISER IN THE COUNTRY IS ALLOWED TO MISS THE MARK BY 7.8% WITHOUT RISKING LOSS OF LICENSE! The Working Paper demonstrates more than anything else, that given an 8-hour work day the computer will take 6 full working days (1.2 working weeks) to arrive at a result that is at best 7.8% error prone. Office of the Director, Honorable Melvin Watt Federal Housing Finance Agency… Dear Sir(s) The American Guild of Appraisers is a Guild within the more than 12 1/2 million members, retirees and family members of our parent union OPEIU, AFL/CIO. In addition to representing...

AGA / AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

April 5, 2018

Credible Third Party Inspections

…producing credible real estate appraisal reports… Is it any wonder that The Appraisal Foundation has lost nearly all credibility as America’s self-proclaimed foremost authority on appraisal matters? I humbly submit their most recent offering. Excerpt from current ASB Q&A: “2018-19 USPAP Q&A Issue Date: March 29, 2018 The Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) of The Appraisal Foundation develops, interprets, and amends the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) on behalf of appraisers and users of appraisal services. The USPAP Q&A is a form of guidance issued by the ASB to respond to questions raised by appraisers, enforcement officials, users of appraisal...

AGA / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / ASB

March 20, 2018

Appraisal Waivers

TriStar Bank’s request for appraisal waivers: The Appraisal Subcommittee has reached out to the Network Coalitions and has requested appraisers to attend their upcoming meeting on appraisal waivers. Direct from the ASC announcement: ASC Special Meeting – April 12, 2018 Tuesday March 06, 2018 The ASC will hold a Special Meeting scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on April 12, 2018, at the Federal Reserve Board facilities at International Square, 1850 K Street NW, Washington, DC. The purpose of this Meeting is to consider the temporary waiver request from TriStar Bank of Dickson, Tennessee. The agenda for the Meeting will be posted...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee

February 26, 2018

AQB Qualifications Criteria Changes

Folks, I wanted to wait to send info about this until the AQB actually published a document showing the actual ‘new’ Qualifications Criteria for Real Property Appraisers. When first announced a few days ago, no official document was posted – only a news release. These take effect May 1, 2018. See the attached 4 page PDF. Due to ‘states rights’ issues in 54 jurisdictions (states & territories), implementation may not actually happen on 5/01/18. The document says this: “Because state appraiser regulatory agencies are only required to adopt minimum AQB Criteria, it is crucial that candidates contact their state to determine if the state intends...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / AQB / The Appraisal Foundation

TAF Admits Current USPAP Is Inadequate & Requires Substantial Change

February 7, 2018

TAF / ASB Challenge USPAP

30 days after implementation of the last changes, ASB/TAF is already admitting they think the current USPAP is inadequate and requires substantial change. They’re ALREADY Doing It Again! On January 30, 2018 the Appraisal Standards Board announced the release of their Discussion Draft for the 2020-2021 USPAP based in part on a survey from 2017 & prior draft comments. I’m confused. Didn’t we just have the 2018-2019 become effective 30 days ago? Should all those that have not yet purchased 2018-2019 just save their money and wait for the significantly revised 2020-2021 revisions? Rely on word of mouth and online...

AGA / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee / Appraisers News

January 16, 2018

Experience Requirements Reduced

Sometimes the only substitute for experience, …is more experience. Dear Mr. Traynor: The American Guild of Appraisers has long been on record in opposition to the original requirement for a college degree to become any level of real estate appraiser. This was never a requirement of Congress at all, but rather one developed by the AQB over time. While we are pleased AQB has abandoned the college degree at the licensed and residential certification levels, we are disappointed to see it is still being proposed at the general certified level. We repeat for the record; there is nothing involved in...

AARO / AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News

Order Takers? AQB Advocating For All The New Garbage Products

January 15, 2018

Careless Order Takers?

Appraisers were simply order takers… A friend that refers a lot of commercial work to me forwarded the following communications from an AMC. He’s been telling to ‘go away’ for some time now. This time he played along to see exactly what it is they are hustling. I’ve redacted my friends name and eliminated excessive line spacing and repetitive email signatures. I also bold highlighted references to John Brenan & AQB communications. Otherwise it’s as copied from my email. We’ve all heard enough about hybrids so you can either read the copied emails or skip them. It’s the article from...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

November 29, 2017

The Story About “Hybrid” Who Does What

WHO actually fills in the subject info in ‘hybrid reports… Appraisers, This is a long message… grab a cold one and settle in! Last Wednesday, (yah, bad on me!), I sent out a message asking appraisers who have done, or are doing, the new ‘hybrid’, ‘alternative’, ‘bifurcated’ or “easy squeezie” desktop reports promoted by some AMC’s and others, what the actual process is concerning WHO actually fills in the subject info in ‘hybrid reports’. A number of appraisers took time to answer via email that afternoon. Among the responses, I actually CALLED and talked to 4 appraisers who are from different...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / The Appraisal Foundation