Category: Appraisal News

Greed Takes Over With Next Loss of Memory 14

Greed Takeover Coming Soon

Basic greed and institutional memory I am amazed how many times in my lifetime I have seen the past repeat itself. Beginning in the 1970’s, I have witnessed one form of financial meltdown after another, each occurring almost precisely 10 years after the last. I once had a wonderful professor who explained that the seemingly inevitable repetition of the past was based on numerous, very different factors, but with two factors appearing in virtually every case. The two “alpha” factors are (1) basic greed and (2) institutional memory. Basic greed is when one group of people is willing to compromise...

CU Robot Keeps Score on Appraisers 51

Collateral Underwriter Crumbles

CU Robot Keeps Score on Appraisers Appraisers, No, this is not about “cuukie” crumbles. It’s about what the Fannie Mae Collateral Underwriter (CU) process is finding in far too many appraisal reports. A few days ago, I had an opportunity to speak with someone on the ‘inside’ of Fannie Mae. The discussion evolved to “what are the most serious items the CU process is finding in appraisals?” The CU process, which became effective January 26, 2015, is a giant electronic robot collecting tons of specific data from submitted appraisals to FNMA. This data can then be tied directly to the...

Social Media & USPAP Confidentiality Requirement 35

Think It Through Before You Post!

Appraisers are Professionals, Social media is a fact of life. There are many appraisal industry social media outlets for appraisers to connect. These forums provide a great resource for appraisers to seek advice from other appraisers, voice their opinions on industry related issues, and sometimes just to vent a bit after a rough day. This is where we need to be careful….. We have all read comments on social media outlets that you just have to stop and think to yourself, “I can’t believe someone actually posted this”. Confidentiality is a requirement of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice....

ppraisers Under Siege & Cost of Appraisals 31

Appraisers Under Siege & Cost of Appraisals

Appraisals that were just $400 are now $550 This little ditty of a few hundred words is via Jonathan Miller’s Housing Notes blog on June 24, which I hope he, and Mr. Chrisman, won’t mind if I re-post. I added a bit more below: Appraisers Remain Under Siege Miller: The banks have won and the appraisal industry has lost. At least for now. Here is a series of feedback from Rob Chrisman (Mortgage News Daily blog) in his must read newsletter on the mortgage industry. It is a heavily read source of in-the-trenches mortgage insights that I subscribe to. He...

Income Affected by Low Fees - Let's Talk Fees 50

Let’s Talk Fees

How different fees can affect an appraiser’s income. OK, before you lob spears and bricks my way, we can. This is not a ‘public event’ filled with associates in an open meeting setting. In places like that, the FTC takes dim view of any fee discussion, fearing price fixing and collusion. But privately, fees can be discussed among peers, with no agreement that any certain, mandated fee be charged by everyone. The gubmint can’t stop you from talking with an associate. For weeks and months, appraisers across many of the forums I read have been discussing the need for appraisers...

Market Action and Reaction 5

Market Action and Reaction

I believe it is time that we take a practical look at what a subject’s market is… Drawing on part of my heritage, the Native American Cherokee part, “Many Moons Ago” when I was employed as a Management Consultant/District Director for a Century 21 Franchisor, one of the challenges that I faced in dealing with over 50 separate brokerages was helping these often small brokerages define their markets. There was a theory that someone had come up with that it was about a 3 mile radius around their office. Well, in some cases that would have put some markets in...

Noise Level Rating 7

Noise Level Rating

How loud is a location due to environmental noise Appraisers, I’m a pen pal to a Southern California appraiser, who posted this message about Soundscore to a forum I read. Here’s a site I found that provides some very useful information as to how loud a particular site or location might be. Type in an address and, voila! Their system comes back with a rating as to how much noise the site has from vehicle traffic, airline traffic, and local sources. It’s on a scale of 50 to 100, with 50 being very loud and 100 being very quiet. This...

When Residential Appraisers Fail to Bracket 5

There Go My Brackets

When appraisers fail to bracket… Forget college hoops and all of the upsets. This is about the upsets that occur when residential appraisers fail to bracket. Say that your subject property has a contract for $102,900. Ideally your three sales should surround the contract price like a cozy, warm blanket. Comp #1 might end up, after adjustments, at $100,000. Comp #2 might reach $102,500 and Comp #3 might conclude at $104,000. Yay! All you need is a pretty bow and you can deliver a lovely report to your client. But…it really doesn’t work that way on most days. Does it?...

Low AMC Fees? FDIC Wants to Hear from Appraisers 24

Low AMC Appraisal Fees? FDIC Wants to Hear from Appraisers

AMCs paying low fees, Appraisers and Regulation Z of TILA VaCAP recently learned of some encouraging news. The FDIC wants Regulation Z to be followed and will enforce it for appraisers. Here is what VaCAP received from an appraiser who reached out to the FDIC: I just had a call from an extremely pleasant lady named Susan Welch from the FDIC Consumer Response Center (1-800-378-9581). I had sent a note over regarding an AMC attempting to get me to sign a “Base Fee Letter” agreeing to a drop of my base fee for full appraisals to $325 from $400-500. She...

Earthworm AMCs and Free Appraisals 11

Earthworm AMCs and Free Appraisals

Quit working for the earthworm AMCs I love reading Jonathan Miller’s Housing Notes blog each week. Here is one of his entries from last week. Below this I’ll add my own $0.02. Actually, it’s worth a nickel! Let’s explore the concept of free appraisals. The idea that “you get what you pay for” doesn’t seem to apply to real estate. Appraisers have been under siege for the past decade and the industry is decimated. There are only a few good appraisers left in each market as lenders and the Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) they use have pressed hard to convert...

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