Author: Dave Towne

Major Threat to Real Estate Agents on Horizon - Appraisers Blogs 6

Major Threat to Real Estate Agents

Appraisers, in case you are not aware, NINE law firms have begun the process to sue real estate agents and brokers across the US about how the commission process works to compensate the SELLING broker. It is believed that three of the best known internet based property purchasing and selling web sites are behind this effort. It’s being done so that they can build their own businesses, while jeopardizing the livelihood of real estate agents and brokers. The suits allege that there is collusion and racketeering among the real estate participants to ‘bake in’ a set commission for the selling agent...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / NAR / National Association of Realtors

NCUA Board Decision Could Potentially Hurt Commercial Appraisers 8

NCUA Quadruples the Appraisal Threshold

Like so many things in life, the NCUA Board decision was predicated primarily on greed… This is a lot like the liar loans that infiltrated residential lending not that long ago. Appraisers, especially Commercial appraisers, I picked this info up from a message sent out by the Appraisal Institute on July 18, 2019: “The NCUA Board of Directors today quadrupled – from $250,000 to $1 million – the appraisal threshold for nonresidential real estate loans. NCUA is the National Credit Union Administration. The appraisal threshold is the loan amount below which appraisals are not required. Increasing the threshold would drastically...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Property Selection for analysis & Statistics in Appraisals - Appraisers Blogs 11

Property Selection for Analysis & Statistics

The importance of proper property selection and ‘statistics’ in appraisals… Appraisers, I would like to direct you to info written by Mr. George Dell in his latest blog post circulated on July 3, 2019. This is one of the best explanations I’ve seen him write on this topic, of how to select and analyze properties when doing appraisals, and why correct ‘statistics’ presented in reports is important. I first became aware of the importance of proper property selection and ‘statistics’ when I attended an appraiser’s training class in 2008 in Las Vegas. The primary speakers were Mr. David Braun and Mr. Patrick...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

North Dakota Appraisal Waiver Granted 8

North Dakota Appraisal Waiver Granted

News ‘hit the fan’ a few days ago that the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) granted the requested waiver to North Dakota, but only for ONE YEAR, not the FIVE that was requested. What does this mean? A. It does not apply to ‘all’ appraisals. B. It applies to portfolio (in-house) loans granted by lenders, NOT to loans which eventually will be re-sold to the GSE’s or other agencies – which will require a fully compliant appraisal signed by a licensed appraiser. C. The ND ‘waiver’ appraisals still must comply with USPAP, but the appraisal does not need to be signed by...

AI / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News

Coester Risen from Ashes? - Homeowners to Provide Data for Evaluation 26

Coester Risen from Ashes?

Has Coester risen from the ashes? Apparently, per a message on Twitter on July 9, 2019, Mr. Brian Coester is now in the real estate sales biz. The photo image used on the big T is the same one he used to use on his defunct AMC website. More information here for re-posts of articles not written by him. Meanwhile, there appears to be a new twist in Evaluation appraisals. This is the first I’ve seen about an AMC or any other company using ‘the homeowner’ to supply interior photos which will be used in a bank evaluation. See this...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

Didja Know... Zillow is Better than Eyes! - Discern Quality Using Photos 33

Didja Know… Zillow is Better than Eyes!

How in the heck is Zillow supposed to discern QUALITY of these homes, and then magically produce a presumed value, when there is no actual data upon which to base a decision? Maybe it’s done with smoke and mirrors, rather than eyes? Appraisers, I was busy churning out reports, and didn’t have time to send out this bit of news about Zillow earlier: Zillow is watching: New algorithm uses photos of your home to check quality and curb appeal. Zillow is now claiming “it” can discern QUALITY of a home, just by looking at various photos they obtain from various sources! They...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

Game Over Coester! Mark Skapinetz Wins & Coester Loses in Court! 13

Coester Loses in Court!

Gosh… I’m really sad to bring you this news (sarcasm). Brian Coester Loses in Court! About 2 years ago, Georgia appraiser Mark Skapinetz, sued CoesterVMS.com, Inc. and Brian Coester for hacking his email account. The Judge ordered a summary judgement in favor of Mark Skapinetz on all counts. Excerpts from the HousingWire article: Coester will likely be forced to cough up damages as a judge ruled against him Monday in a lawsuit brought on by Mark Skapinetz, a subcontracted appraiser who worked for CoesterVMS. …a two-year legal battle between Coester and Skapinetz, who sued alleging violations of the Stored Communications...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Coester VMS

MLS System under Cyber-Attack 3

MLS System Under Cyber-Attack

Appraisers, I belong to several appraiser forums, with active participation among appraisers. On Wednesday June 12, 2019, per a forum posting, the MetroList MLS (which uses Rapattoni data) was hit from an outside cyber-attack. This MLS provides service in central California around the Sacramento region. The cyber-attack caused property data to become unavailable via web sites – to appraisers and real estate agents. The MLS posted this message: The MetroList computer network that supports Prospector MLS is down as a result of a cyber-attack. The MetroList team is working at a very fast pace to resolve and restore services as...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

What Makes a Next Generation Home? - Appraisers Blogs 5

What is a Next Generation Home?

What makes a Next Generation home? Appraisers, both FNMA and FrMAC, in concert with manufactured housing builders and the Appraisal Institute, are promoting a new type of MANUFACTURED home, and CE classes to teach appraisers about them (and typical MFH). If your appraisal service area has manufactured homes, and you appraise them, you may want to peruse this essay. The name generically applied to these new manufactured homes is Next Generation (NG). Each GSE has a different name for their LENDING program, see below. Why is this happening? Up until relatively recently, the two GSE’s didn’t purchase manufactured home loans from...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Administration / FHA

Will the Cost Approach be Required in the Redesigned UAD Forms? 50

Returning to Requiring the Cost Approach

…the Cost Approach is the most INACCURATE of the three current ‘Approaches’ we use… Appraisers, for the past few weeks, emails have been sent by a third party asking appraisers to complete a survey about the appraisal process and the current forms. I did so; you should also. But I wanted to expand on one aspect of the survey. Two separate questions, on different survey pages, related to the Cost Approach (CA). These questions wanted appraisers to state their opinion about 1) if the forms provide adequate detail to develop a CA, and 2) if it is or is not...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending / UAD / Uniform Appraisal Dataset

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