AI Asks HUD to Withdraw Section 8 Provision Eliminating Appraisals

AI Asks HUD to Withdraw Section 8 Provision Eliminating AppraisalsThe 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 to withdraw the provision that would eliminate the requirement for a real estate appraisal, and criticized the agency for claiming that there aren’t enough state-certified appraisers without citing any research to support that claim.

The letter stated that “contrary to the proposed rule, there is a sufficient supply of state-certified appraisers fully capable of offering cost-effective services in support of the Section 8 program … as of Dec. 31, 2011, the number of active real estate appraisers in the U.S. stood at 86,800. Of this number, approximately 30 percent, or 26,000, are classified as Certified General Real Property Appraisers.”

Similarly, the letter noted that HUD has not provided any research to support its contention that an alleged shortage of appraisers has led to increased costs or project delays related to appraisals. AI and ASFMRA challenged this assertion in their letter, stating “our research indicates that turnaround times for appraisals have remained relatively constant in recent years. Turnaround times are a function of the scope of work of the appraisal.

AppraisersBlogs
AppraisersBlogs

AppraisersBlogs

Have questions or need help? Please contact us with any comments, questions or concerns.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

We welcome critical posts & opposing points of view. We value robust & civil discourse. You may openly disagree, but state your case in an atmosphere of mutual respect, in which everyone has a right to a particular view about the topic of conversation. Please keep remarks about the topic at hand, & PLEASE avoid personal attacks. If the poster gets you upset, it is the Internet, you can walk away from it.

Personal attacks harm the collegial atmosphere we encourage on AppraisersBlogs.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

xml sitemap

AI Asks HUD to Withdraw Section 8 Provision Eliminating Appraisals

by AppraisersBlogs time to read: 1 min
blank
blank
0
blank