Whether you believe Fannie Mae’s comprehensive rollout of Collateral Underwriter will finally weed out the lazy form-fillers or it will end up euthanizing the aging residential leg of the profession once and for all, is not the subject of this article. There are plenty of blogs, articles, and seminars that are wrestling with the efficacy of CU and its long-term impact. To be sure, the profession has entered the new age of big data. Residential appraisers will need to navigate regression analysis, heat maps, trend lines, oblique aerial images, and especially how to tie it all together into something meaningful. From...
2016 – 17 USPAP Updates & Revisions Appraisers, On Feb 6, the Appraisal Standards Board finalized the upcoming changes to the next issue of USPAP. See the PDF for the actual document. The highlights are: Revisions adopted for 2016 – 17 USPAP The following changes were adopted by the Board in a public meeting on February 6, 2015, and will be incorporated in the 2016 – 17 edition of USPAP and associated guidance material with an effective date of January 1, 2016: Revisions to the RECORD KEEPING RULE Revisions to STANDARD 3 Revisions to the Definition of Assignment Results and Confidential Information and...
FNMA’s CU is causing a big industry ruckus. ICAP member Keith Wolf, SRA, AI-RRS, created a survey in January because opinions being posted across multiple message boards and blogs are fragmented. The results of this survey are out and show that a vast majority of appraisers believe Fannie Mae CU should be transparent. Nearly 70 percent of appraisers said that they will increase fees to cover the extra work CU may cause and 80 percent believe that CU risk scores will cause lenders and AMC clients to request appraisers to fit comps to the CU model. Also 73 percent believe that...
Call to Action in Support of Virginia Senate Bill Requiring AMCs to Pay Appraisers C&R Fees Appraiser Colleagues, Finally, you have an opportunity to get what you have been screaming for: customary and reasonable fees for your work. On January 23, 2015, Senator Martin offered Senate Bill NO. 1445, requiring appraisal management companies to pay appraisers customary and reasonable fees. The bill mirrors the language in Dodd-Frank. A copy of SB 1445 as introduced is attached. Please contact your legislative representatives in support of this important legislation. VAR’s support will be important to the success of this bill. Please include VAR...
FNMA’s CU is causing a BIG industry ruckus. Opinions are fragmented, being posted across multiple message boards and blogs. Please complete the attached survey created by ICAP member Keith Wolf, SRA, AI-RRS so we can tabulate the responses and distribute to all. We are reaching out across the country, so please feel free to forward the survey. The survey will remain open until January 31, 2015. The Appraisal Industry as a consolidated group thanks everyone for their participation in completing the survey. This survey has expired surveymonkey.com/s/S6DDVJN
Network of State Appraisal Orgainzation’s letter to FHFA Director Watt Regarding Fannie Mae Collateral Underwriter (CU) Program For over the past couple of months, VaCAP has participated with 18 other State Appraiser Coalitions in drafting an unified response to Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter Program. Their letter to FHFA Director Watt briefly outlines their concerns, offers recommended solutions, as well as asking for a meeting to discuss the issue for the benefit of all vested parties. Please take a few minutes to peruse the letter below: Dear Director Watt: On behalf of the independent state professional appraiser organizations signing below, I...
The Appraiser Qualifications Board of The Appraisal Foundation on Dec. 2 released a new exposure draft of proposed revisions to the 2015 Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria. Among the revisions is a requirement that all applicants for real property appraiser credentials have a background that does not call into question public trust. To meet that requirement, applicants must provide state appraiser regulatory agencies with all information and documentation necessary for a jurisdiction to determine an applicant’s fitness for licensure. An applicant will not be eligible for an appraiser credential if they have been convicted of or pleaded guilty or nolo...
A federal judge said he will not unseal files related to an alleged appraisal rigging scheme that Washington Mutual launched in an effort to favor mortgage lenders just before the 2008 market crash, Courthouse News Service reported Dec. 3. The case involves a federal class action suit launched in 2008 in San Jose, California, by Felton Spears Jr. and Sidney Sholl who claimed that Washington Mutual, Lender’s Service Inc. and appraisal management firm First American eAppraiseIT colluded in 2006 to create inflated mortgage-loan appraisals that allowed the bank to sell aggregated security interests in the properties at inflated prices. At...
Anyone who appraises real property long enough stands a decent chance of being swept up in a divorce. Someone else’s. There you are, minding your own business…opening the snail mail in hopes that your clients have finally sent those checks when… A subpoena pops out accompanied by a check for some chump-change amount. What you discover is a subpoena originating from a law firm you never heard of…about a couple getting divorced whose name is unfamiliar…but the property address looks vaguely familiar. Of course! You appraised this house in 2012…for a refi. But now some strange lawyer wants you to bring this dusty refi report to court with you…next Tuesday! Upon receiving a subpoena the natural first reaction for many...
Do Associates Need to Be Licensed to Take Photos for a Property Inspection? I received a great question in my email the other day: I am writing on behalf of one of our appraisal managers who is a certified in Illinois. He wants to send one of his associates only to take the photos for a property inspection, but the associate is unlicensed. Is he authorized to do so, or would the associate need a temporary license of some kind? In some states this is considered clerical work, and some states are considered volunteer states, so a license is not required as long as the certified appraiser clarifies in the report who took the...
