Category: Appraisal

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Minimum Requirements for AMCs

Proposed Federal Regulation of Appraisal Management Companies (Minimum Requirements for AMCs) I hear a lot from appraisers concerning their interactions with various appraisal management companies (AMCs). Many keep wondering why appraisers are licensed and strictly regulated while it seems that AMCs for the most part have been left to do whatever they want. That was the case for a while; today the majority of states have already imposed regulations on AMCs. Currently, as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, a group of agencies are working together to set federal guidelines for AMCs. They are looking for feedback on these proposals and...

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Announcing VT Customary and Reasonable Fee Survey Release

Dear Appraiser Colleagues, Awhile back, you responded to a request from VaCAP to supply your e-mail address to participate in an upcoming Customary and Reasonable Fee Survey to be conducted by the Virginia Center for Housing Research and the Virginia Tech Program in Real Estate. This communication is to notify you of the survey’s eminent release. Please look for it to be sent to you via e-mail in the next couple of days. Your participation in the survey is vital to the success of this endeavor. Please take the few minutes necessary to complete the survey; it should only take...

Basement Homes and Appraised Values Gone Wrong 2

Basement Homes and Appraised Values Gone Wrong

95% of Appraisals on Homes with Basement or Lower Levels Have Errors, Errors that Affect the Home’s Value… In the majority of markets all across the country, it is virtually impossible to get an accurate appraisal on homes that have a basement or lower levels. That’s a pretty big claim. Can it possibly be true? Absolutely it can! And, it happens every day. No one in the real estate industry wants to bring this topic out in the open for fear the public would be outraged. Well, it’s time somebody gets mad. And for all the Realtor’s® big talk about...

XML MISMO UAD appraisal 0

VA Appraisals Must be in MISMO XML

VA Announces Electronic Appraisal Requirements: Appraisals must be in MISMO XML Effective June 1, 2014, all Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) appraisals will be processed in WebLGY under the VA Appraisal Management System (AMS). Therefore, beginning June 1, 2014, all VA appraisals must be uploaded in WebLGY in Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) compliant XML 2.6 GSE file format as VA will no longer accept appraisals uploaded in WebLGY in PDF format. Prior to June 1, 2014, VA appraisals must continue to be uploaded in WebLGY in PDF file format. Historically, VA appraisal form/formats conformed to appraisal industry form/format...

Good news appraisal profession 5

Good News….For a Change?

Appraisers to be paid within… It is all-too-rare that we hear positive news regarding the appraisal profession. There is an awful lot of complaining that goes on, most of it justifiable, but little good news that gets shared. Part of the problem is that there is no central source for information regarding our profession which appraisers might utilize in order to find out what is going on across the country and affecting our profession, and could be used to enhance our industry and our citizens in our own state. From what I have seen, most of any good news is being...

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The Cost Approach – An Approach to Value, Without Worth, Really?

Back to Basics (Part 2): The Cost Approach – An Approach to Value, Without Worth, Really? The foundations of appraisal were based upon three independent approaches to value. A system, when developed correctly, presents a check and balance within the report. The idea being that when an appraiser takes the time to develop each report, the data will show three independent motivations and three separate value conclusions. Nonetheless, the conclusions will support one another because the underlying principle for each approach is the principal of substitution. For the purposes of valuation or real estate appraisal, the principle of substitution is...

Back to The Basics - “Preaching” About the Basics of This Industry 0

Back to The Basics

…“preaching” about the basics of this industry… The more I read residential mortgage related appraisals, underwriter comments and comments from the quality assurance departments from major lenders, the more I have come to realize that it is far beyond time to get back to “preaching” about the basics of this industry. For those of you who have been in the business back when you would take the photos, pull it out of the camera, wait a few moments before you pulled the front off the photo before coating it with the “magic wand” to keep it from fading (thank you...

You Need This In Your Reports 6

You Need This In Your Reports

Please consider utilizing the following statements in your reports… In my years of appraising, I have had had to argue with many Lenders, Attorneys, and general pains in the butt. What many of us have found is that when Banks screw up, they come knocking at your door. What we need to do as appraisers is to state the separation of Lending liability to appraisal liability. Please consider utilizing the following statements in your reports after your statements of intended users that is required in your reports. I have been using this for years in my reports as it returns...

Where Did All the Good Appraisers Go - Imagecredit Flickr - gerlos 5

Where Did All the Good Appraisers Go?

The good appraisers are leaving mortgage appraising as fast as they can. Thus far the housing industry has been applying “Band-Aid” solutions to the bigger real estate crisis. There are several problems going on at the same time, all contributing to the big picture, which is bleak to say the least. One true crisis in the real estate industry is an “information crisis.” This information problem, trickles down to appraisals, lenders, and ultimately, mortgage investors. Standardization, national guidelines, and disclosures are the only way back from this nightmare (i.e. the RESPA disclosure. One fee on the good faith estimate for...

Confidential Information Sharing with Another Appraiser & USPAP 1

Sharing Report with Fellow Appraisers a USPAP Violation?

Is Sharing a Report with a Fellow Appraiser a Violation of USPAP Confidentiality?…Appraisers routinely share confidential information & communicate assignment results with other appraisers… Appraisers frequently are faced with chances to make mistakes related to confidentiality. The Confidentiality Section of the ETHICS RULE of Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), as published by the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) of the Appraisal Foundation and enforced by the North Carolina Appraisal Board, provides the rules for appraisers in North Carolina. Appraisers often are reminded about and advised how to avoid the pitfalls of communicating with property owners, real estate brokers, lenders...

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