Your Executive Committee met last week to discuss future events and issues that impact us all in our day to day lives as professional Appraisers. Everyone of us is an unpaid volunteer working for you on issues that you may not even be aware of. Bernie Bugg and I met with the president and director of WRVA radio to see how we get our story out there. They were surprised and shocked to hear what is going on in the mortgage Appraisal world. They see the looming potential dangers. We are in negotiations with them now. It looks very promising! VaCAP memberships/website address (appraiser...
Criminal Charges Brought Against AMC Owner VaCAP has been informed that AMC owner Brian Coester, of Coester Valuation Management Services (VMS), has new criminal charges filed against him. We have confirmed these charges through the court system public access system: Maryland Judiciary Case Search Criteria Below is a list of 19 court cases found under the name Brian Coester: Is Another Financial Scare on the Horizon? George Will, Washington Post Writers Group, has an interesting column in entitled “America is overdue for another Lehman-Like Episode”. In this article he stated that the stock market has enjoyed its longest-ever bull run. The...
…surveys indicate that appraisals ordered directly by lenders take much less time… Dear Colleagues, There is a current narrative that appraisals take too long and cost the consumer too much! Does this sound accurate? Preliminary coalition surveys indicate that appraisals ordered directly by lenders take much less time than appraisals ordered by AMCs. Additionally, the cost of Hybrid Appraisals has been disclosed in reports as $495 being paid to the AMC. How is this a savings to the consumer? They get an inferior valuation product and pay the same price as a full appraisal. Who is truly benefiting from this scenario? Fannie...
States Support Louisiana Real Estate Appraiser Board against the FTC States (and appraisers) are very interested in the outcome of the LREAB vs FTC to protect their own sovereign actions. On July 11, 2018, the states of Mississippi, Idaho, Iowa, Rhode Island, and Utah filed an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit supporting the Louisiana Real Estate Appraiser Board. See the entire brief here or below. The outcome of this will impact each and every one of us. As we reported a few days ago, one lender, BB&T, has opted to step up...
VaCAP has learned from one of our members, BB&T will be following the Veterans Administration Fee Schedule moving forward. They will also being reimbursing appraisers for all upload fees. This is exciting news. Please share with your contacts and clients. See the announcement below. To: BB&T Approved Mortgage Appraiser Continuing our commitment to compensate appraisers with fees which are customary and reasonable, BB&T utilizes the Veterans Administration’s published fee schedule as a foundation. We wish to inform you that we are adjusting our mortgage fee schedule to remain consistent with recent fee increases announced by the Veterans Administration to certain states in...
Treasury report calling for a more digitalized mortgage process, including the use of AVMs, hybrid appraisals & appraisal waivers… A few days ago, HousingWire reported the Trump Administration calling for sweeping changes to the financial ecosystem. In short, the article references a report by the Department of the Treasury calling for a more digitalized mortgage process, including the use of AVMs, hybrid appraisals and appraisal waivers. The HousingWire article has a link to the Treasury Report, which is 222 pages or you can click here to read the report. VaCAP has received a copy of the ASA’s response to the Treasury Report....
Is the property inspection by an unlicensed person considered assistance? We came across an article written by fellow appraiser, George Dell. Some of you may have heard of him, read his blog, or taken one of his classes. This article “What is a Hybrid?” hits home to many of us and thought it was worthy of sharing. Those promoting hybrid appraisals have been claiming USPAP compliance. Well anyone who has ever taken a USPAP class knows no form or product is USPAP compliant. The appraiser’s actions are what make a report USPAP compliant. In George’s article he points out the discrepancies...
Registration Act, reinserts the definition of “appraisal firm”… Bifurcated (Hybrid) Appraisals Take Another Hit Last week VaCAP shared some information questioning the legality of these products in Virginia. This week Phil Crawford, Voice of Appraisal, talks about the ethical side of them and how appraisers completing these could be on the receiving end of legal actions. Listen to show E206 at Voice of Appraisal NAR Appraiser Liability Webinar On July 17, 2018, the National Association of Realtors along with Peter Christensen from LIA, presented a Webinar on liability issues for appraisers. A strong concern about the certifications exists that open up liability...
Contract Date / Acceptance Date Study expanded. VaCAP did a sample study this past winter to determine the number of days from contact ratification to appraiser acceptance from both amcs and lenders. The results were a 9 day difference with amc’s taking 18 days and lenders only 9 days to assign the appraisal. We have just asked our sister coalitions to complete this survey as well. for a larger data pool and are asking every appraiser to once again participate to help our industry. This information will be used to counter the narrative the appraisal is taking too long. Below...
Lately there has been a push for bifurcated (hybrid) appraisal products. Those promoting these questionable products claim it will reduce the amount of time to obtain an appraisal. Most appraisers are screaming foul play, and for good reason. It is because of bad players doing questionable things that licensing became mandatory in Virginia. Mandatory. Licensing of appraisers protects the public trust. We all know splitting the process will not save time, but rather create delays. The only reason for this questionable product is the profit of the amc, nothing more. And then there is the quality of the information being...
