Category: Appraisal Organizations

February 28, 2014

Non-Lender Valuation: Consumers Should Tread Carefully

Competition, in a free market, is a fierce catalyst: one that can effectively sort out the bad apples from the bunch. Capitalism works, it is simple when left unfettered and when all parties are ethical in their approach to business. It works until politicians, however well meaning they try to be, step in with a”solution”. Through the Dodd-Frank reform and the Andrew Cuomo created Home Valuation Code of Conduct that predates Dodd-Frank, congress effectively went anti-small business again. I liken this profession’s recent undermining by congress to how they saw to sort out the small-family farmers by paving the way...

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

February 25, 2014

DPOR AMC Public Hearing CALL to ACTION

CALL to ACTION: DPOR Public Hearing for Initial Appraisal Management Company Regulations Thursday, February 27, 2014, DPOR is holding a public hearing on the proposed Initial Appraisal Management Company Regulations. The hearing will begin at 9:00AM in the DPOR meeting room at 9960 Maryland Dr, Richmond. The new regulation establishes definitions, qualifications, fees, and standards of practice and conduct for appraisal management companies. The new regulation is required to implement Chapter 405 of the Acts of the 2012 General Assembly, which resulted from HB 210. The goal of the regulation is to establish qualifications, fees, and standards of practice and...

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

February 13, 2014

FHFA: Fannie, Freddie Fail to Analyze Appraisal Data

Increasing FHFA oversight of UCDP use… Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to fully analyze data from the Uniform Collateral Data Portal and continue to take unnecessary risks when purchasing and guaranteeing single-family residential mortgages, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of the Inspector General, Mortgage Daily reported Feb. 6. The report indicated that the two government-sponsored enterprises are not taking full advantage of appraisal data collected through the UCDP that the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed the GSEs to use in 2010 in an effort to improve loan quality and risk management. Mortgage Daily...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Quality Monitoring

February 11, 2014

Welcome to Life as an Appraiser in 2014

I want to meet the lucky appraiser these days who is getting all of the easy appraisals. Welcome to life as an appraiser in 2014. It seems every appraisal has time constraints, distance constraints and knowledge constraints. I want to meet the lucky appraiser these days who is getting all of the easy appraisals. Surely it can’t be lenders just getting an AVM. If lenders are using AVMs, the lack of quality comparables out there would lead to lenders just fooling themselves and relying on loss ratios again. You would think someone would say: been there, done that and got hammered....

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM

February 7, 2014

NJ Governor Vetoes BPO Legislation…Again

Legislation that would have significantly expanded the ability of New Jersey real estate brokers and salespersons to offer broker price opinion services did not become law because of a Jan. 21 “pocket veto” by Gov. Chris Christie. This is the second time Christie has vetoed BPO legislation. The legislation (S. 3058) was passed by both houses of the New Jersey legislature Jan. 6, and was presented to Christie for his consideration. However, because the bill was passed by the legislature during the last 10 days of the 2012-13 legislative session (which ended Jan. 14), the governor only had seven days...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

February 4, 2014

New Appraisal Requirements for REOs

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will require new appraisals on some real estate-owned properties financed by the Federal Housing Administration, Mortgage Daily reported Dec. 10. Historically, when buyers of REO properties utilized FHA financing they had been able to use the appraisal originally ordered by HUD. However, the updated requirements will require new appraisals in situations where a direct endorsement underwriter decides there is a material deficiency in the original HUD REO appraisal. HUD also will require new appraisals in the instance of an “as-repaired” appraisal being used when a borrower is applying for a 203(l) loan....

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

January 28, 2014

Sales Ratio & Adjustments

Three sales, if you chose wisely, bracketed your subject neatly. There was a time when appraisers popped three sales onto a grid, made adjustments, concluded an opinion of value then moved on to the next assignment. Today, appraisers routinely include five or six closed sales, plus a couple of listings or more. There was something to be said for the old Goldilocks approach. Three sales, if you chose wisely, bracketed your subject neatly. Even if you had six closed sales, you could still bracket pretty cleanly. But listings. What to do with them? Some appraisers will actually toss them on...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / IDFPR / Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation

January 24, 2014

A New Year, a New Fannie Mae Letter

New Fannie Mae Lender Letter I get it, appraising, especially residential-mortgage-use appraising, can be a thankless job. If you understand all that goes into properly developed reporting, it is hard to compete with the appraisers that perform poor due diligence and in turn, charge much less than the rest of us. They are great at checking boxes and making minimal commentary. They are rewarded for cutting corners, and appraisers that do the quality work are left at the margins. The new Fannie Mae Lender Letter may be a step in changing this. Our costs to keep our licenses with the continuing education, the...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Quality Monitoring

January 23, 2014

Appraisal Advisor Ceases Operations

It’s with deep sadness that I’m informing you that Appraisal Advisor (www.AppraisalAdvisor.com) is ceasing operations on February 1st. We began with a simple goal of providing transparency to the industry regarding client quality, and tools for appraisers to collect from non-paying clients. The transparency benefited all parties: appraisers, good AMC clients, lenders, and regulators. Unfortunately, the lifeblood of Appraisal Advisor – appraisers submitting client reviews – fell prey to the age-old “80/20” rule. Over 79% of our many thousands of ASC-verified appraiser members submitted zero reviews, while only 3% submitted more than 5 reviews. That was far below what we...

a la mode / AMC / AMC Ratings / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News

January 17, 2014

John Dingeman Reinstated from Chase “Black List”

American Guild of Appraisers Member John Dingeman Reinstated from Chase “Black List” NEW YORK, Jan. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — After a fight that lasted more than fifteen months, involving Chase Manhattan Bank, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), American Guild of Appraisers (AGA) member John Dingeman was vindicated when Chase agreed to reinstate him to be eligible for appraisal assignments. AGA is an affiliate of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO. Dingeman was placed on Chase’s “Black List” in May 2012 after he refused to release information...

AGA / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / CFPB