Category: Appraisers News

April 19, 2016

VA Appraiser Shortage

VA recruiting appraisers in the Western US Appraisers in the Western US, A person I know on the ‘inside’ of VA asked that I distribute this message. They are looking for appraisers in the following states and counties. DO NOT CONTACT ME! READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. If anyone wants to apply for the VA panel, they can send a request to 39/va262@va.gov and ask for the application package. For more information regarding the recruiting process and to download the application, visit Fee or Roster Personnel Designation Application. A credit bureau report will be pulled on all applicants. The credit bureaus used are...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / The US Department of Veterans Affairs / VA

April 18, 2016

Appraisal Fees Do Not Tell The Whole Story

Is it possible that the company with the lowest bid will also do the worst job? If you are on social media platforms where appraisers hang out for any length of time, you are bound to see a version of the following, on a regular basis: “I was just offered $275 to do a full appraisal in my hometown. Before I had time to email the AMC and tell them how ridiculous a fee like that is here, some other appraiser accepted it! Can you believe that? What kind of low-life appraiser does a full 1004 for $275?” This kind...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Home Valuation Code of Conduct

April 15, 2016

BPOs, Drones, Oil War & Appraising

Appraisers doing $300,000 a year in BPOs There has been a lot of chatter about BPOs again. Maybe we should consider changing the law in Virginia from being a mandatory USPAP state to a state like Tennessee. Appraisers can do BPOs in Tennessee and they do not have to worry about USPAP. Now, mortgage work still falls under USPAP. But I hear of appraisers doing $300,000 a year in BPOs. Food for thought. It won’t affect your business in a negative sense. Because those who want BPOs are getting them already. Just ask any agent. It will just let us...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

April 14, 2016

Real Estate ‘Driven by Psychology’

What’s that? Real estate/home prices are driven by psychology? In an article in the National Mortgage Professional Magazine e-newsletter posted March 30, 2016, professor Robert Shiller, the co-founder of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, tells us what we appraisers have known for years and years and even decades… or longer! Excerpt: The co-founder of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index has studied the latest round of home price increases and has concluded the upward activity is being fueled by emotional impulses rather than economic reality. “These markets, I think, are substantially driven by psychology,” said Robert Shiller, a Yale economics professor,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

AMC staff appraiser positions and the lack of public protection and trust

April 12, 2016

Virginia Appraisers in the Spotlight Again

AMC staff appraisers are not independent If you have not already done so, please listen to the Voice of Appraisal with Phil Crawford. Once again, Phil has brought Virginia into the spot light. This is the third show Phil has talked about AMC staff appraiser positions and the lack of public protection and trust. Thank You Phil and Kevin! Listen to the show at the bottom of this article. Please attend and speak against AMCs hiring staff appraisers to complete the appraisal reports. By definition, an AMC and an appraiser have two very different functions. Even the National Association of...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / VaCAP

April 11, 2016

The 1004D for Disaster Inspections – Advice

When Disaster Happens… Appraisers, The phrase “disasters happen” is, unfortunately, all too common. Fires, floods, vehicle accidents, wind storms, hurricanes, tornadoes are all factors that can affect real property. When a local disaster happens, and is officially declared, lenders often ask appraisers to observe the current condition of their mortgaged properties. The assignment date may be days, weeks or months after the declared disaster. The hiccups, hang-ups and head scratching occurs when the lender or AMC asks for a ‘Disaster Inspection Condition Report’ to be done on the wonderful 1004D form. Something it is not designed to do. And this...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice

Non-USPAP states - appraisers liability limited to appraisal fee

April 8, 2016

Is this the END of USPAP?

Non-USPAP States – Is this the END of USPAP? I recently got an email from an appraiser I have high regards for. He asked me a simple question that got me thinking. It was: “Why don’t a group of appraisers get together and form an AMC?” I found that an interesting concept. It has been done. Coester was an appraiser and now he is just an AMC. Allen Hummel, an Appraisal Institute icon, has an AMC. Why not? We know it better than anyone. But the devil is in the details. Appraiser’s liability for mistakes or omissions in this appraisal...

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

April 7, 2016

Real, Real Estate Reform Needed

What a crazy system we have grown into since Dodd-Frank. All this talk about “Big Data” and “Standardization” makes me want to scream! Enough is enough. Before we get to the appraisal process discussion, let’s talk about how real estate is priced all across this country. Realtors® price homes, period. No Big Data, no thoughts of mortgage risk, accuracy, consistency, transparency, and no one is looking over their shoulders asking “why” on every choice they make. No regression analysis, no quality or condition ratings, not too much of anything that resembles an appraisal these days. Yet, they are quick to...

American Measurement Standard / American National Standards Institute / AMS / ANSI / Appraisal / Appraisal News

April 5, 2016

An AMC Takeover is Coming!

AMCs completing appraisal reports in direct competition with the independent appraiser As an appraiser, you have probably seen or heard that AMCs are hiring staff appraisers to complete appraisal assignments in local markets. What does this mean for independent fee appraisers? Here is some background information to consider. 54.1-2020 of the Code of Virginia states: An Appraisal Management Company is “a person or entity that (i) administers a network of independent contract appraisers, receives requests for appraisals from clients, and receives a fee paid by the client for the appraisals and (ii) enters into an agreement with one or more...

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

April 4, 2016

College Degree Requirement Misguided

The college degree requirement seems more like a forced attempt at elevating the status of the profession by closing the club, and that strikes me as elitist. I know about half of you disagree but the college degree requirement for Certification was a wrong turn for the industry. To its credit the Appraisal Foundation (TAF) is on the right track in trying to find a way out of the corner it has painted the profession into but it doesn’t look like it intends to go far enough in fixing the problem. As we all know by now, veteran appraisers as...

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