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Dreaded Fannie Mae Certified Letter Regarding Condition Ratings - Imagecredit Flickr - Mehta12 32

Dreaded FNMA Letter RE Condition Ratings

Certified Letter From Fannie Mae Regarding Condition Ratings And then it happens, the moment we all know is coming – the dreaded certified letter from Fannie Mae. My door bell rings and the mailman is standing on my porch with pen in hand.  Now don’t get me wrong, we have all been warned. They have the super computer comparing all of us and if you are the outlier you’re getting notified!  If a majority of Appraisers give a specific house a certain rating and you disagree, you must be wrong – BOOM – letter.  I assume this is the case as I...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Quality Monitoring / Appraisers News / AQM / Collateral Underwriter

It takes a “special” type of appraiser to work with AMCs 40

“Special” Type of Appraiser

It takes a “special” type of appraiser to work with AMCs. While inspecting a property I received a cell phone call from a lender wanting to add me to their panel. I was unable to discuss the matter at that time and requested that she send the information to my email. I received nine pages of application. The invitation starts out telling me how their AMC is a LEADER in the field (I never heard of them). They strive to assist all appraisers who are looking to maximize their time and quality. Their website allows them to monitor appraiser’s efficiency...

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

The Realities of Regression - Imagecredit Flickr - Walfer X 6

The Realities of Regression

The use of Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU) tool by lenders has created some “hot topics” for appraisers. Durbin is encouraged by the use of CU and thinks it will be a good thing for the appraisal profession. One of these topics is the discussion around how to clearly show the methodology the appraiser used to arrive at the adjustment values. In this presentation Durbin proposes the use of “Regression Analysis” (RA) as a solution to this problem.
Durbin lamented there is a perception that appraisers make subjective, anecdotal, arbitrary, and unscientific adjustments. Now that CU will be looking at adjustments…

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Software

FHA vs USPAP - FHA vs USPAP - FHA requirements – Appraisers Caught in Catch 22 111

FHA Requirements vs USPAP

FHA Requirements vs USPAP – Appraisers Caught in Catch 22 Excerpt The new FHA Handbook will become effective on September 14, 2015. There has been much discussion of the implications of changing “should” to “must” in thousands of examples in the Handbook. As a Board member of the Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers as well as being on the FHA Roster, I have taken a good hard look at these requirements and then, it hit me as I was teaching the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) which is the basis of appraisal standards for every appraiser in...

AAREA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal Organizations / Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers

Proposed Amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines in Mortgage Fraud Cases 1

Convicted for Committing Fraud Unknowingly?

Appraisers need to have intent in order to be convicted of fraud… I have recently read several different posts and articles on the Internet stating that some appraisers have committed fraud unknowingly. Some describe instances of stating condition to be average when the property needed work, or “tweaking” the numbers to make the deal work. First of all it is important to note, the FBI defines mortgage fraud as “any material misstatement, misrepresentation or omission relied upon by an underwriter or lender to fund, purchase or insure a loan”. By that definition, such fraud can clearly be committed by both...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

Celebrity, Public Trust & Confidentiality - Is Your Facebook Brag Violating USPAP? 8

Is Your Facebook Brag Violating USPAP?

Appraising celebrity homes and naming the names of said celebrities When is it acceptable to tell others about your assignments? Is it okay to tell someone that you just appraised a famous movie star’s home? It is human nature to share the weird, unique and exceptional with others. Recently there was a debate on a social media site about appraising celebrity homes and naming the names of said celebrities. We have all done something similar, sometimes in an open forum, sometimes between close colleagues.  We are all human and it is within our nature to share the oddities and unusual stuff we have the opportunity...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

FHA Appraisers Increased Liability & Responsibilty with New FHA Requirements 27

FHA Appraisers Increased Liability with New Requirements

FHA Appraisers Increased Liability & Responsibility with New FHA Requirements Excerpt New FHA Requirements Put More Responsibility and More Liability on FHA Appraisers After reviewing the new HUD handbook, my overall conclusion is that there were not many changes to the overall requirements other than the word MUST. The prior handbook was a list of items that should be completed and verified whereas the updated HUD handbook clearly states that the properties MUST meet these items and the appraiser MUST verify the items in question. The following is a list of FHA requirements that MUST be completed and verified by the appraiser....

AAREA / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers

Unintended Consequences & Regulatory Issues Facing the Real Estate Appraisal Profession 4

Unintended Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Law and Potential Remedies

For well over a year, the Columbia Society of Real Estate Appraisers and five other nonprofit appraiser groups have been working on an industry paper entitled Regulatory Issues Affecting the Real Estate Appraisal Profession (subtitled: Unintended Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Law and Potential Remedies). The paper is aimed at informing lawmakers of some of the unintended consequences of the Dodd-Frank law as it relates to appraisers and consumers.  We hope that lawmakers will address and correct some of the issues brought to light in this paper. The Letter Over the past year, a select group of professional appraisal organizations have...

American Society of Appraisers / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / ASA

Oh My God, Don’t Talk to Me!!! Appraisal communication 5

Oh My God, Don’t Talk to Me!!!

Are realtors, loan officers allowed to talk to appraisers? I was amused at a phone message that was on my voice mail recently. A realtor spent 3 minutes apologizing for the phone call, explaining that she understood she was not allowed to speak to appraisers anymore for fear she might sway the appraisal process. The funniest part was that while she did tell me which file the message was regarding, she failed to leave her phone number. Are realtors, loan officers allowed to talk to appraisers? Can the appraisal be discussed? Okay. I am sorry, but has this world lost...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

Dear AMC, Goodbye - Why I'm leaving Residential Appraisal 22

Dear AMC, Goodbye…

Why I’m Leaving Residential Appraisal – Dear AMC, Goodbye! The Law of Unintended Consequences is a law, like Murphy’s Law, which is always lurking in the background to foil the attempts we humans make to control the world around us. It is particularly true of government attempts to reduce crime. A couple of examples follow: I used to love air travel. I was a flight test engineer at Boeing and for many years I flew all over the world for both work and recreation. Then came the shoe bomber. Now I wait in long “security” lines while thousands of security...

AI / AMC / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal Management Companies / E&O / Errors & Omissions

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