Category: Appraisers News

When Residential Appraisers Fail to Bracket 5

There Go My Brackets

When appraisers fail to bracket… Forget college hoops and all of the upsets. This is about the upsets that occur when residential appraisers fail to bracket. Say that your subject property has a contract for $102,900. Ideally your three sales should surround the contract price like a cozy, warm blanket. Comp #1 might end up, after adjustments, at $100,000. Comp #2 might reach $102,500 and Comp #3 might conclude at $104,000. Yay! All you need is a pretty bow and you can deliver a lovely report to your client. But…it really doesn’t work that way on most days. Does it?...

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

Low AMC Fees? FDIC Wants to Hear from Appraisers 24

Low AMC Appraisal Fees? FDIC Wants to Hear from Appraisers

AMCs paying low fees, Appraisers and Regulation Z of TILA VaCAP recently learned of some encouraging news. The FDIC wants Regulation Z to be followed and will enforce it for appraisers. Here is what VaCAP received from an appraiser who reached out to the FDIC: I just had a call from an extremely pleasant lady named Susan Welch from the FDIC Consumer Response Center (1-800-378-9581). I had sent a note over regarding an AMC attempting to get me to sign a “Base Fee Letter” agreeing to a drop of my base fee for full appraisals to $325 from $400-500. She...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees / Dodd-Frank Act / C&R Fees

Earthworm AMCs and Free Appraisals 11

Earthworm AMCs and Free Appraisals

Quit working for the earthworm AMCs I love reading Jonathan Miller’s Housing Notes blog each week. Here is one of his entries from last week. Below this I’ll add my own $0.02. Actually, it’s worth a nickel! Let’s explore the concept of free appraisals. The idea that “you get what you pay for” doesn’t seem to apply to real estate. Appraisers have been under siege for the past decade and the industry is decimated. There are only a few good appraisers left in each market as lenders and the Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) they use have pressed hard to convert...

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

Appraiser Safety - Stalked by Homeowner 29

Appraiser Safety, Stalked by Homeowner

Personal safety of appraisers I have several issues that focus on PERSONAL SAFETY of appraisers especially female appraisers that I need to address. I had a recent event where a homeowner was not happy with the appraised value of his home. Four weeks after I had turned in the appraisal, the lender, Freedom Mortgage, proceeded to send five sales that were 16 to 29 months old, for my review. I responded via StreetLinks AMC communication log stating these were not within FNMA guidelines. A few weeks later StreetLinks sent me the following: Good afternoon, the lender has ordered a second...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee

FHA assignments survey 30

Survey about FHA Assignments

Tell them what it will take to get you to re-start FHA assignments. FHA Appraisers, A new ‘attitude’ survey about doing FHA assignments has been prepared by the Illinois Coalition of Appraiser Professionals (ICAP). ICAP has a planned meeting with FHA, and will use survey results in their discussion. ICAP has asked that I distribute this, and by association, anyone who gets this may re-distribute via any other outlet, email list, etc. Link to the survey. It will take 4 minutes +/- to do this survey, depending on if you add additional comments at the end. One item the survey...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Federal Housing Administration / FHA

Legal hotline advice concerning FHA inspections 18

Legal Hotline Advice Concerning FHA Inspections

Advice from the Virginia Association of Realtors Legal Hotline Mack Strickland, a dedicated founding member of VaCAP, recently contacted the Virginia Association of Realtors Legal Hotline concerning FHA inspections. He shared with VaCAP his findings. “I called VAR legal hotline, a service to all REALTORS (appraisers are REALTORS too if paying dues). I inquired about the liability of the FHA inspection protocol of operating appliances. The lawyers confirmed my belief that to reduce the appraiser’s liability as to operation of appliances and equipment is to have a responsible person present to operate the appliances for the appraiser. I have adopted...

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

AMC email solicitation asking appraisers to perform "Interior Properties Inspections" for $25-$30 6

Why Would You Jeopardize Everything?

AMC email solicitation asking appraisers to perform “Interior Properties Inspections” for $25-$30 Let me admit to one very important fact… I am old. At least I assume I am since I am over 60. In any event, much of what I know about the cyclical nature of real estate is not based on any scholarly papers I have researched and presented, but rather it is due to the fact that in my professional career I have seen four different downturns in real estate and from that I have gained what is known as real world experience. In other words, I...

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

Paid Late AMC Violations 20

The Appraiser is the Only One Policing the Industry

Paid Late, Non C&R fees, Operating Without License AMC Violations VaCAP has learned North Carolina has disciplined Appraisal Nation and Independent Settlement Services for non-payment within 30 days in accordance with North Carolina Law. See the details below. How does this help appraisers in Virginia? The answer is simple, precedence! When the VREAB receives a complaint and determines a violation has occurred, there is guidance in disciplinary actions. On the topic of AMC’s not complying, VaCAP has learned of several AMC’s operating in Virginia without proper licensure. And yes, all of them have been reported to DPOR! We can not...

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

AMC Exposed inflate values 37

AMC Exposed… Getting the Value Needed

Are AMC appraisers pressured to inflate property values? We stumbled upon this article yesterday from WSB Atlanta and thought it was worth sharing. Jim Stickland, a Channel 2 Consumer Investigator with Atlanta TV News, covers the story of a lender colluding with an AMC to inflate property values. Stickland reports that John Laymac, a new homeowner was denied a mortgage on his $390,000 home when the appraisal came at $365,000. Consequently, the builder, SR Homes, had Laymac apply with its preferred lender, Brand Mortgage, claiming that they will get the value needed to close the deal. In an email to...

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

Transparency… Where is it? 38

Transparency… Where is it?

Is transparency with the lender? Did the lender explain to the borrower the fee they (the borrower) are paying to the AMC and the benefit they are receiving? Oh wait, what benefit is the AMC to the borrower? Was this fee disclosed verbally, in writing or anywhere? Did the lender disclose any relationship they have with the AMC? Is transparency with the AMC? Did the AMC disclose their fee to the borrower? Did the AMC disclose how much the appraiser is being paid? Did the AMC explain any benefit of their service to the borrower? Did the AMC explain how...

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

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