“There oughtta be a law!” This is the typical rant from well-meaning Americans who feel they have been wronged in some way. In some cases, they may be right. There is a place for government and there are a reasons for regulations. The problems is, we have too dang many of them! Appraisers of any walk are usually the first ones to complain against excess government overreach. Yet surprisingly, they can also be the first ones to call for more when it appears to be in their favor. Take a recent thread I was reading on a popular appraiser web...
“Why don’t you write about the complaint process from start to finish?” Howard Richter, MAI of IACREA made a great suggestion for an article. “Why don’t you write about the complaint process from start to finish?” Okay, Howard. Let’s do it! Whether complaints come from homeowners, lenders, AMCs, other government entities, they all find their way to my desk via Complaint Intake. The two-page complaint form is on-line and was designed to make it easy for the complainant and for the Department to get to the heart of the problem. Complaints come in all shapes and sizes. Some are vague...
Where To Direct Questions and Comments Regarding Customary and Reasonable Fees The appropriate agency to receive your concern about a creditor’s compliance with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), including the requirement for the creditor or the creditor’s agent (including an AMC) to pay an appraiser a customary and reasonable fee, is the agency that enforces TILA with respect to the creditor. With respect to insured depository institutions of more than $10 billion and their affiliates, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is the appropriate agency. For other non-depository institutions, the appropriate agency to receive the complaint is the CFPB...
I have described below the 8 biggest appraiser liability cases with which I am familiar that are currently pending in the U.S. These are cases that specifically name appraisers, appraisal firms or appraisal management companies as defendants. That’s an important distinction because the appraisal industry has been fortunate that only a small fraction of litigation about financial losses blamed on appraisal deficiencies actually names any appraisal defendants. Yet, the stakes below are very significant for the appraisal industry because the realistic measure of damages at issue in just these 8 cases — not the plaintiffs’ puffed-up alleged damages — is...
An outline exposing the unintended consequences created by HVCC and the Interim Rule February 23, 2012, Hon. Richard Cordray, Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Re: Appraiser Independence Regulations Dear Director Cordray: Thank you for taking the time to meet with NAIHP on January 26, 2012. We always appreciate the opportunity to meet with the CFPB and discuss issues of concern that affect consumers and small business housing professionals. Although, our meeting covered a broad range of issues, my comments today are limited to the ongoing problems associated with “Appraiser Independence.” Today’s interim Rule on Appraiser Independence, was built on the...
Appraisers & their frustration with cash flow… I recently attended the Association of Texas Appraisers (ATA) Mid-Year Meeting in New Braunfels, TX. I met many wonderful ATA members and the meeting was well organized. Much of the meeting consisted of discussions on Texas Appraiser Licensing Certification Board (TALCB) commission activities, technology tools for appraisers, and USPAP. Since the topic of cash management rarely is presented in any appraisal meeting or event (but it should), I took the time during the networking sessions to learn more about the financial successes, struggles, and conditions of appraisers and their businesses. Some appraisers shared they are...
Pay for an assignment? “Never. It’ll never happen!” It happens all of the time. While most appraisers would never dream of violating the Management portion of the Ethics Rule by paying for work…many do it every day without giving it any thought. Management: An appraiser must disclose that he or she paid a fee or commission, or gave a thing of value in connection with the procurement of an assignment. Comment: The disclosure must appear in the certification and in any transmittal letter in which conclusions are stated; however, disclosure of the amount paid is not required. In groups or...
We first warned appraisers about this problem almost a year ago, but many appraisers are still falling prey to the marketing for some “no frills” E&O insurance policies and their lack of coverage. Advertisements for this product appear in some respectable newsletters and publications. Fortunately, others have taken steps to protect their members and readers by providing information, e.g., the Appraisers Coalition of Washington published a warning for its members in April last year on the ACOW website and Ann O’Rourke also published a warning last year in her popular Appraisal Today newsletter. The central problem is what might be...
Excluding additions which may require permit issued by an agency of government… OK, it isn’t Shakespeare, but, it is something of interest — and concern — to licensed appraisers in Illinois. The concern begins with an appraiser accepting an unusual assignment condition. An AMC, acting on behalf of a lender is demanding that appraisers exclude from the Gross Living Area areas of the subject residence, additions to the original construction unless it is proven that the additions were legally permitted. We must understand that what is asked of the appraiser is not couched in terms of a guideline; this is...
American Guild of Appraisers Petitions Fed and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Overturn Regulation that Threatens Viability of Professional Appraisal Practice WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Guild of Appraisers (AGA), a national organization of real estate appraisers that is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO’s Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), has petitioned the Federal Reserve Board (“Fed”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to overturn a regulation adopted by the Fed that is contrary to the Dodd Frank Financial Reform law, threatens the viability of professional appraisal practice and undermines the legitimacy of real estate appraisals...
