Senseless Acts Harmful to the Profession… This past Tuesday, (June 19, 2018), I was a keynote speaker at the Ohio Coalition of Appraisal Professionals (OCAP). I’ve always seen this organization as one of the stronger state coalitions in the context of getting things done at the legislative level. I had been looking forward to attending the Columbus conference for several months. After I made my presentation, I listened to the next speaker from the Appraisal Institute. I was startled because the speaker said there were about 5 states that currently allow certified appraisers to turn off their USPAP compliance and...
A Rebuttal to Real Estate Agent Slamming the Appraisal Industry… Forbes recently published an opinion article that attacked the appraisal industry and placed all the blame on appraisers for real estate transactions falling through due to a “low” opinion of value. The article was written by a real estate agent out of Arizona. While he raises some good points, he is conflating a lot of issues together. 1) He does point out that there are bad appraisals. We all know that. There are bad appraisers just like there are bad agents who have clients list a property far above any...
Appraisers get frustrated with the constant changes and revisions every two years… Folks, attached is the 1st Exposure Draft of changes to the NEXT “bible” of our industry. Read this over and then send in your comments per the instructions. With this draft, the ASB is desiring to simplify much of the document to make it easier to read and understand. There are numerous proposed edits you’ll see when you read it. They explain their rationale for the changes. This is appreciated. I’m also glad to see they have added to the Definitions the words “State” and “Summarize” which have...
Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law and due process… Does this directly impacts the FTC vs Louisiana Real Estate Appraisal Board? Hensarling Applauds Supreme Court Ruling on SEC Administrative Law Judges WASHINGTON – House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued the following statement today applauding a Supreme Court ruling which found that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) use of in-house administrative law judges (ALJs) unconstitutional. “Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law and due process. Chairman Clayton had already started to move the SEC away from the previous Administration’s overreliance...
Appraisers, it’s not paranoia when ‘the bastards’ really are out to get you (end us as a profession). …Find each octopus and how they relate to our jobs. Look at MISMO Directors list… An Open Letter to Appraisers: Residential & Commercial This started as a response to a blog post by a respected appraiser concerning the influence of AMCs. During drafting it was clear that trying to explain AMCs was only part of the bigger struggles we face today. Picture a violent “all in” three-way gang fight among Octopi. Say a dozen on each side. That’s 36 Octopi x 8 tentacles...
…we continue to ask for very quick turn times to outperform the competition… Appraisers, I received a message today from an appraiser who provided the email from an AMC (below). I have redacted the lender’s name (primarily to avoid getting my skin scorched), but it’s a big one in the US that you see in TV commercials, on radio, in print, and social media outlets. The email demonstrates the prevailing and long-running attitude among just about everyone connected to mortgage lending, whether they be AMC’s or direct placement lenders. It originates at the very top of these organizations. It’s a very...
The gift that just keeps on giving and giving. BREA is the Energizer Bunny of Appraiser abuse. Anyone following AppraisersBlogs knows I’m no fan of BREA. I helped Zach Schorr humiliate them in court on a daily basis, for five days in a row in mid-2017. That result was that the Administrative Law Judge found myself and codefendant (respondent) to have “credibly testified.” The states witness to have “embarrassed” herself in testimony and original actions giving rise to the case; and very politely simply concluded that “BREA had not met the burden of proof” for one single charge or allegation....
As many of you know Fannie Mae (along with Freddie Mac) has launched an initiative which they label “modernizing appraisals”. This initiative consists of two distinct facets: 1) “modernizing”, or redesigning the forms which are utilized and 2) “modernizing” the processes involved in producing a valuation including the inspection process, data collection, etc., up to the delivery of the completed report. In the pursuit of this goal Fannie Mae has pledged to leverage stakeholder input, and of course appraiser input is both valuable and critical in this regard. In gathering stakeholder input Fannie Mae reached out to VaCAP, and invited...
The buyer never actually pays what something is worth… Nobody can deny that there are a lot of issues plaguing the appraisal industry at the moment. I want to talk about one issue that I sometimes see: the incorrect usage of extremely important terms. Many real estate professionals use certain terms interchangeably, even when they have significantly different definitions. Appraisers, unfortunately, are not immune in this crime against clarity. Today, I want to get back to basics and look at the actual definitions of three absolutely crucial terms in our industry: price, cost and value. I think you’ll agree these...
Freddie getting aggressive in waiving appraisals & promoting appraisal free mortgages… Appraisers, Yes, I have a ‘dog in the fight’ with this article, as I have been an Appraisal Institute member since 2003 (along with other association memberships since). But this article provides explanations about changes to the appraisal process I have not seen elsewhere. Excerpt from “Dodd-Frank rollback weakens appraisal standards“ They started to evaluate whether they wanted to raise that appraisal threshold level from $250,000 to some figure… They left it untouched at $250,000 for residential, but they have increased the commercial real estate appraisal threshold level just in the...
