Category: AMC

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FDIC Sues 29 Appraisers Over Loans By Downey Savings

In the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Day, the FDIC sued 29 more individual residential appraisers. All of the appraisers sued in this round reside in California. The FDIC’s complaints against them uniformly allege that the appraisers were professionally negligent by overappraising the value of properties securing loans by failed Downey Savings in 2004-2007. The average claim against each appraiser is for approximately $350,000. The complaints concern both origination and review appraisals. One of the recently sued appraisers has now been sued twice by the FDIC. This is the third appraiser to be sued twice by the FDIC. Another...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O

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AI Calls for Transparency

Appraisal Institute Calls for Transparency on Home Buyers’ Forms saying that consumers deserve to know what they’re paying for, the Appraisal Institute asked the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Nov. 16 to require more transparency on home buyers’ forms. In a joint letter with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, AI asked the CFPB to separate appraisal fees from administration and processing fees on the settlement forms that consumers receive when purchasing a home. Created by Congress, the CFPB oversees consumer disclosure laws and is authorized to develop new forms to inform consumers and charges assessed...

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

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‘Middleman’ Appraisers Spur Concerns

If you’ve paid for a home appraisal within the last five years, a chunk of that charge likely went to a middleman you never knew existed. And because a third party was used, it might have driven up your closing costs and affected the quality of the valuation. Lenders often use appraisal management companies to block collusion between mortgage brokers and appraisers — and to comply with anti-fraud rules the industry adopted in May 2009. The hotly debated reforms have boded well for the appraisal managers, whose presence in the U.S. has jumped from a handful in the 1990s to...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Wanted: Angry Appraisers 12

Wanted: Angry Appraisers – BankRape

Wanted: Angry Appraisers Experienced residential appraisers have spent the past 30 months wishing for change and wondering if it would ever come.  Most were fooled into believing that justice could be found by writing to politicians, signing petitions, and waiting for their state agencies and appraisal organizations to fix the problem. Nearly two years passed and the remaining appraisers continue to tread water while scanning the horizon for signs of a rescue. Appraisers awakened on April 1, 2011 (Appraiser Fool’s Day) with renewed hope, only to find that the tiny clause within Dodd Frank, “customary AND reasonable fees” had been altered at...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees

Computerized Appraisals Win in HARP 2.0 0

Computerized Appraisals Win in HARP 2.0

Sanctioned use of computerized appraisals using algorithms and computerized databases of property data to determine a property’s value. The federal government, with the reluctant support of the two leading professional appraisal organizations, has sanctioned the use of computerized, appraisals using algorithms and computerized databases of property data to determine a property’s value. Can more widespread use of computer-driven valuations by programs called Automatic Valuation Models or AVMs, in mortgage origination be far behind? Millions of homeowners use AVMs to check the value of their homes on a half dozen web sites. Even though more sophisticated versions have been developed for...

AMC / American Society of Appraisers / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

Valuation Support Services (VSS) Appraiser Panel Agreement 2

Valuation Support Services (VSS) Appraiser Panel Agreement

Appraiser will indemnify and hold harmless VSS… Frank Gregoire, with Appraiser Active Blog, added a post yesterday about AMC Appraiser Indemnification. Valuation Support Services (VSS) Standards & Approval Documentation Requirements and their Appraiser Panel Agreement can be accessed in Frank’s post here. Here’s a snippet below: Page 4: Conviction of Crimes: VSS is unable to enter into associations with individuals, who have been convicted of or plead guilty to any crime involving dishonesty or breach of trust, or have been convicted of or plead guilty to any felony or misdemeanor. Appraiser warrants he/she has truthfully and accurately answered the “Additional...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Indemnification Clauses

Interior photos picture this 0

Picture This…Or Not

Maybe you should ask the homeowner if it would be alright to take the picture at all. When a consumer calls the department in a rage and wants to know “what law says that an appraiser can take pictures inside of my house?”, Houston, we have a problem. Actually, not Houston…and not the department. You, the appraiser and the client who ordered it have the problem because we will make it your problem. Law? There is no law for interior photos. There are guidelines and stipulations cloaked as requirements. That’s it. But, we do have privacy laws, don’t we? Clients,...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Could New Surety Bond Laws Really Curb Problems with AMCs? 4

Could New Surety Bond Laws Really Curb Problems with AMCs?

Could new surety bond laws really curb problems with Appraisal Management Companies? Unfortunately, a fair share of real estate professionals don’t know much about the surety bond process and how it helps regulate the industry they work in. However, with the recent implementation of new surety bond requirements for appraisal management companies, understanding how surety bonds work should be a growing interest for a number of real estate professionals. 1. Appraisal Management Company bonds function as legally binding contracts. When Appraisal Management Companies purchase a surety bond, they’re entering into a legal contract. Each surety bond that’s executed binds three...

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

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AMC Oversight Bill Signed into Law in Illinois

New AMC Law in Illinois August 31, 2011 – Illinois became the 29th state to enact a law that provides for comprehensive oversight of appraisal management companies. Gov. Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 1539 into law Aug. 26, and it took effect immediately. Under the new law, AMCs are required to register with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which would have significant authority to “ascertain the qualifications and fitness of applicants for registration and pass upon the qualifications of applicants for registration” and allow AMCs to be disciplined for “professional incompetence” and “gross malpractice.” In addition, the...

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

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Appraisal Management Companies Create More Problems Than They Solve

When the final chapter on this housing crisis is written, I hope that I am still around to see those who were responsible for its cause and the feeble attempts to fix it held responsible. One of the worst fixes is the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. Enacted in 2009, HVCC was spearheaded by then New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. His objective was to rein in appraisal abuses by the lenders sending loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. A noble goal, but by the time this so-called fix went into action many of the worst offenders were either...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees

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