Pushing Back Against Appraisal Waivers
AI & 37 Appraisal Organizations pushing back against Appraisal Waivers…
Clarification on Treasure Valley Factors:
Last week we shared with you information about Treasure Valley Factors no longer accepting invoices from Managed Appraisal Services. Many interpreted this to mean Treasure Valley Factors was no longer accepting appraisal management companies’ invoices. This is not correct.
Managed Appraisal Service, Inc. is an Appraisal Management Company located in Horsham, PA. It is this company’s invoices Treasure Valley Factors is no longer accepting. Treasure Valley Factors is still accepting invoices from other Appraisal Management Companies. Treasure Valley Factors reviews each company individually and makes decisions based on their own risk assessment criteria.
We apologize if the wording of our post was unclear.
The Appraisal Institute Speaks Out Against PIW and ACE Appraisal Waivers
On Friday September 8th, The Scotsman Guide published an interview with AI President Jim Amorin concerning why the Appraisal Industry is pushing back against appraisal waiver programs. The interview covers several topics, including the appraisal shortage. It appears AI has reversed their commentary on appraiser shortages. Their position is more in line with what the boots on the ground appraisers have been saying and a step towards a more unified industry. Well worth a look. Click here to see the article.
37 Appraisal Organizations Unite as one large voice!
VaCAP along with 36 other appraisal industry groups signed joint letter against the PIW and ACE appraisal waiver programs. See the article written by ICAP and the letter on AppraisersBlogs here.
Our fellow Appraisers need our help!
Harvey and Irma have made a mess. Our friends and colleagues in Texas and Florida have been impacted by these storms. A GoFundMe page has been established by a group of appraisers to help our fellow appraisers impacted by Harvey. Click here to donate what you can to help.
Heads up! Lenders will be asking for property damage reports on properties we have appraised and are going to appraise over the next few weeks. Try to stay positive when we get these requests. Hurricane Irma has a 450 mile radius and in all fairness to the lenders, they simple want to verify the property is free from damage. Try to remain positive with these requests and understand the underwriter, AMC, and processors are simply doing their jobs.
- The New Con: Hybrids, Waivers & AMCs Threaten Public Trust - December 16, 2024
- VaCAP Supports Shane Lanham’s Legal Fight - September 10, 2024
- It’s Just Responsible Journalism! - February 21, 2024
An interesting linked article read from sctsmanguide, thank you. It’s called apprenticeship for a specific and very valid reason, and should not be substituted with anything else. 35% waivers!?!? If feds bounce rates unexpectedly for one reason or another, or even sudden external condition changes, avm fails. The coincidental time frame of these floods will likely provide examples. Let’s put this to the test immediately, in FL and TX. No hypothesis is proven until the scientific method is applied. Test, observe results, reform the test, have no preconceived conclusions. FNMA putting conclusions before the test? Someone is clearly set on the result before the test has even occurred. Even proclaiming it’s all good ahead of time.
The PIW’s is a topic that is not getting the much needed discussion. The one key factor that I have not heard in any discussion on the PIW’s… Highest and Best Use! Appraisers know their markets. They know when neighborhoods are transitioning to other uses. Appraisers know when zoning changes are happening.  Do the computers over at Fannie and Freddie know about pending zoning changes? What about a proposed high speed rail service that will be going through the area?  Do the computers know about chemical spills in the area? Pipelines or Electrical transmission lines being installed? Then there is the condition of the property. What about an encroachment from a neighboring property? Or the weekend handy man that built a structure on the property with questionable techniques? Just because CU has data on a property, does not mean the condition of the property is the same. Some homeowners just do not have the ability or knowledge  to safely maintain their property.
All the letters and unity within the industry are a start, we need to go further and specifically spell out scenarios that we as appraisers encounter each day.
Good points Mike, but I ‘m thinking they don’t even care the same way we do.
Yeah, awesome points. Remember those af threads on how whole locations and states are sometimes attentive to zoning coding structure issues, others are not and it’s an outbuilding free for all? A good example of changing use area in Denver would be the proposed i-70 tunnel. Pictures are amazing, but community feedback, not so hot. Now if you’re dealing with 2 conflicting data considerations, public input, and proposed government plans, which one do you think would make it’s way into the avm modeling data base if projecting future value? Think living next to a highway is bad, imagine it running 12 lanes wide under ground level, a grass park over, and your home gets wafting pollution from a vent or opening literally right at the sidewalk. CU, real time zoning and highway proposal data nationally? Unlikely.
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/160187/i-70-expansion-explained
Nice to see AI & all the coalitions come together opposing Freddie & Fannie. Let’s hope that these letters get the attention of some politicians
Its great to see so many appraisers on the same page at last…even if single issue. It’s a tremendous start. Well done to all.
VaCAP suggestion is unclear to me re property inspection reports. Are they suggesting appraisers do re inspections at no additional charge? If so, then they are seriously misguided.
If you want to help a hurricane victim, and you voluntarily CHOOSE to do an appraisal or a certain percentage for free, then God Bless you. On the other hand if the lender is still making their normal profit from a pending loan requires updated property condition information why should the appraiser now work for free?
Re inspections are a separate service. If you are going to offer opinions about the suitability of a property to serve as collateral or whether a value is still supported, it is a new appraisal.
If you are being asked whether there appears to be ‘any significant damage’ from the street front without offering suitability comments then it is simply a new assignment. Either way it was not in your original scope of work and anyone doing them for free would be a damn fool.
When ALL other aid providers; ALL government employees, and ALL private sector service employees are working for free, then appraisers may reasonably be asked to consider similar volunteer work.
Mike, That’s a pretty good leap you are taking stating VaCAP is suggesting appraisers re inspect properties for free. No where did we state that or even suggest that!
Appraisers will get requests for statements concerning damage in areas that were not seriously impacted by the storms. We get these requests on the east coast every time a storm comes through. This is typical for lenders across the country as they simply do not know where damage has occurred. Remember Irma had a width of 450 miles. That is a very broad area.
What we are reminding appraisers of is to remember the underwriter, AMC, or processor is simply doing their jobs. Charging  for a service or not is a business decision.
VaCAP, How far is that leap?
“Lenders will be asking for property damage reports on properties we have appraised and are going to appraise over the next few weeks. Try to stay positive when we get these requests.”
WHY would an admonition to ‘stay positive’ be necessary at all if something negative were not being anticipated? I merely asked a question.
Is VaCAP now cautioning appraisers to ‘be positive’ simply at the prospect of more potential income?
All it required was a clarification. Snarkiness was optional at your discretion.
Mike,
I agree that VaCAP was not as clear as they could have been in their statement on these property damage reports and your thought was the same as what I had thought. The same went with the Treasure Valley Factors statement about not accepting invoices. It took several reads of what they were saying before I understood what VaCAP was saying that TVF were not accepting invoices from that one company.
Only the questions not asked are the dumb questions or something like that.
Thank you Koma. No big deal tough. I am guilty of the same kinds of writing. I think what I am saying is perfectly clear, because it may be so to me, and when I read what I write my ‘mind’s eye’ sees what I wanted to write more than what I actually wrote. I’m grateful for all the informative data that VaCAP puts out there.
Quote: “What we are reminding appraisers of is to remember the underwriter, AMC, or processor is simply doing their jobs.” Each time this “unlicensed group” does their job it seems that appraisers are saddled with additional work without additional pay. We call it scope creep. It reminds me of Pavlovian conditioning where we the appraisers have become Pavlov’s dogs! I have grown very tired of that a long time ago. I agree that Mike was correct in asking the question. Thanks Mike! (Thanks to VaCAP also!)