Tagged: appraiser

Appraisal Complaint Hotline Usage 2

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Proposes Rule to Improve Consumer Access to Appraisal Reports

Rule would give consumers additional rights to information on how a home value is determined WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a proposed rule that would require mortgage lenders to provide home loan applicants with copies of written appraisals and other home value estimates developed in connection with the application. The rule would ensure that consumers receive information prior to closing about how the property’s value was determined. “When looking to buy a home or refinance a mortgage, consumers need the best available facts and data,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “This rule would guarantee...

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Picture This! If You Dare!

Images of personal items and people must go! Crime and Punishment The appraiser who took the interior image below is currently serving a ten year sentence in the Fair Housing Maximum Security Prison outside of Atlanta. The charges ranged from willful imaging of stockings hung with care to wanton display of a nutcracker and malicious showcasing of Micky and Minnie without their written consent. Actually, the image below was taken by yours truly about a decade ago and somehow survived the underwriting process. The mythology of what constitutes a Fair Housing violation continues to vex this profession like some movie...

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AI Asks HUD to Withdraw Section 8 Provision Eliminating Appraisals

The Appraisal Institute and the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers issued a comment letter July 16 in response to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed rule on regulatory changes to their Section 8 Voucher Program. The rule proposes to eliminate an existing requirement that an appraisal be used to determine initial rent contracts to a Section 8 building owner. HUD cited a “lack of availability of state-certified appraisers” and “increased expenses in order to acquire state-certified appraisers” as the reasons for eliminating the appraisal requirement. In their joint letter, AI and ASFMRA asked HUD...

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REVAA and FAIR Approach for Appraisal Fees

REVAA and FAIR Call for Market-Driven Approach for Appraisal Fees Washington, DC (PRWEB) July 14, 2011, Donald Kelly, executive director, Real Estate Valuation Advocacy Association (REVAA), appeared today before the House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity to testify on behalf of REVAA and the Coalition to Facilitate Appraisal Integrity Reform (FAIR) on Mortgage Origination: The Impact of Recent Changes on Homeowners and Businesses. The testimony comes just prior to the Federal Reserve Board transitioning its rulemaking authority to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Members of REVAA and FAIR advocate that the Federal Reserve Board,...

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Regulators Should Take Actions to Strengthen Appraisal Oversight

Fed Report Scrutinizes Appraisal Processes The Government Accountability Office released a report June 28 that scrutinized real estate valuations in the wake of the recent mortgage crisis. The report, Residential Appraisals — Regulators Should Take Actions to Strengthen Appraisal Oversight, was produced using data from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and five of the biggest mortgage lenders. The report revealed that valuations received through broker price opinions and automated valuation models take less time and are less costly than traditional appraisal reports, but traditional appraisal reports are still mandated for almost all first-lien residential loan originations due to their greater reliability....

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Virginia Enacts New AMC Law

Gov. Bob McDonnell signed legislation (H.B. 408) April 11 that made Virginia the 10th state to enact new regulations regarding the operation of appraisal management companies. The new law will become effective July 1. Under the law, AMCs operating in Virginia will be prohibited from influencing or attempting to influence the development, reporting, result or review of a real estate appraisal through coercion, extortion or collusion by withholding or threatening to withhold timely payment or future business from an appraiser. AMCs also will be prohibited from: removing an appraiser from an AMC’s panel without first giving written notice to the...

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Home Appraisers Complain that New Regulations Hurt the Housing Market

On June 28, 2012 appraisers, appraisal organizations, and others testified before the US House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, on proposals to improve oversight, regulation, and enforcement of the housing appraisal process. Among the topics addressed were the implementation of new financial service regulations under the Dodd-Frank law, appraisal fraud, the role of state regulators, and oversight of the appraisal process at the local level. The topic of the hearing was Appraisal Oversight: The Regulatory Impact on Consumers and Businesses. You will can read the testimony by clicking on the following link.

UAD Update for Condos Without Unit number 5

UAD Update for Condos Without Unit number

Condos without unit number Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have added a new requirement for condo reports (form 1073/1075) in the updated UAD Appendix D, issued June 19, 2012 (see below): Unit # The appraiser must enter the address unit number/designator. During the appraisal process if an appraiser determines that a unit number is not available for a property known to be a condominium, the appraiser must put a “-“ in the unit number field. The “-” symbolizes that the appraiser has researched the property address and was unable to identify a unit # for the given condominium unit. This...

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Backseat Driving

A large lender has recently amended their appraisal policy regarding comparables. The table below was taken from their general information Correspondent Bulletin. The change greatly expands what and how an appraiser filters data. It appears as though this lender wants to stand over the shoulder of the appraiser to make certain that the filtering is to their liking. It brings backseat driving to a new level. Imagine driving someone to a destination and having to provide a detailed list of every possible route to this destination as you arrive. Imagine having to provide detailed routes that you never seriously considered...

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What is the FDIC Suing Appraisers About? Some Examples of the FDIC’s Specific Allegations?

The FDIC continues to sue residential appraisers in connection with origination appraisals and review appraisals performed for failed lenders between 2003-2009 on loans now in default. It may be helpful, or scary, for appraisers and AMCs to see for themselves exactly what kinds of alleged USPAP violations or other errors the FDIC is claiming in lawsuits against appraisers. Therefore, I have copied below the FDIC’s actual allegations against several appraisers. These are word-for-word the entirety of the FDIC’s claimed errors against these appraiser defendants. Please don’t shoot the messenger. I’m a lawyer, not a USPAP expert, but even I know...

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