VaCAP has learned that another AMC might be having financial difficulties. There are conversations currently taking place in two appraiser groups on Facebook. The discussions revolve around bounced checks from an appraisal management company. The comments are varied and some are stating they are having no issues with this particular appraisal management company when it comes to payment. Others are stating invoices are past due from April and late payments have been the norm with this amc recently. One commenter stated their bank has issued a hold on checks from this amc. Then there is the original post from an...
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...
Appraisal management companies do not understand the nuances of the appraisal profession, nor do they understand the challenges many rural properties bring. The Virginia Coalition of Appraiser Professionals has submitted an official comment to the ASC opposing the State wide appraisal waiver request in North Dakota. VaCAP has submitted a public comment expressing concerns over the much larger consequences in allowing such a request. A blanket waiver of appraisals up to $500,000 for a 5 year period will have a devastating impact on housing, not only in North Dakota, but across the country. We envision a snowball effect with other...
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...
What is it going to take for every appraiser to comment on Town Hall concerning the proposed Guidance Document on hybrid appraisals? Even if you have no intentions of ever completing a hybrid appraisal, it is important for you to place a comment on Town Hall concerning the document and these questionable products. If appraisers are not willing to step up and take a stand against actions that are contributing to the next housing crash, who will? If you have seen any of the samples floating around on the blogs and forums, you realize very quickly, these products are not credible...
Clear Capital admission: This is an admission that inspector were previously offering appraisal opinions re Q&C. There remain many other areas in hybrids that also are appraisal opinion being provided by non appraisers. I have written many blog posts here, mainly for the consumer to read and understand what is actually happening in the world of Real Estate Valuations. My blogs range from being overcharged for appraisals so the middle man (the appraisal management company or AMC) can make money, lenders still pressuring appraisers to hit a value, and now having untrained and unlicensed people perform inspections (see my last...
VaCAP and 27 other State Appraisal Organizations reached out to the House Finance Services Committee concerning the upcoming Subcommittee meeting entitled “What’s Your Home Worth? A Review of the Appraisal Industry” on June 20th. The Network stresses the most qualified to testify on the appraisal profession is an appraiser. The letter also outlines some of the flaws, inconsistencies and realities of the effects of appraisal management companies and how the GSE’s current “appraisal modernization plan” is actually harmful to consumers, investors, lenders, the housing market and the economy as a whole. Fannie Mae’s own publications are being used as documentation. Hopefully the committee members ask the...
Until FNMA released their version of a test format for hybrids (1004P) there was not one hybrid form appraisal process and online form reporting system found that was not egregiously misleading in the entire country. Not one. Not Clarocity’s, nor Clear Capital’s or Mueller Inc. A “typical hybrid” sample follows. https://appraisersblogs.com/clearval-value-hybrid-appraisal Not those crafted in Hyderabad, Pakistan for $8 Billion for just one year’s Wall Street Investments (as published by Cezary Podkul Wall Street Journal) where the preparers claimed to be able to produce 360+ per day by illegally using broker login credentials from state-licensed brokers in America. The entire...
Before the ink was dry on FIRREA 1989, special interests were snipping away at it. Originally proposed field review requirements in FIRREA drafts for 1 in 10 appraisals would have made the Great Recession (TARP) impossible. Now those same interests are stripping away at the last vestiges of consumer and taxpayer property value protection. The formal appraisal. The MINIMUM level of protection that should be insisted upon. Dear Ms Kahng: My name is Mike Ford. I am Vice President – Special Projects; & Chairman of the American Guild of Appraisers National Appraiser Peer Review Committee; AGA#44, OPEIU, AFL-CIO. I am...
US House Financial Services Committee Hearing on Appraisals – The subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance is holding a hearing entitled “What’s Your Home Worth? A Review of the Appraisal Industry” on June 20, 2019 at 2:00 PM. The hearing is open to the public and can be lived streamed. To find out more about this hearing, go to the US House Financial Services Committee website. Contact the Representatives on this subcommittee. Make sure consumer protection is at the forefront at this hearing and not the profits of the GSE’s. Are the representatives aware the GSE’s are sending unlicensed,...
