Category: Appraisers News

HUD ROV Process to Address Appraisal Bias 37

HUD ROV Process to Address ‘Appraisal Bias’

At a recent event at the Brookings Institute, HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge announced that HUD is creating a ROV process for people seeking FHA financing to request a review of their appraisal if they believe the results may have been skewed by racial bias. For example, a homeowner who is in the process of refinancing their home with an FHA-insured mortgage can take steps to ensure that their appraisal is fair. HUD 20.23-011 “HUD is committed to making the appraisal process fair nationwide. We must eliminate bias in home valuations so that everyone can equally reap the benefit of...

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

Why Are Fannie, Freddie Peddling Exotic Junk-Rated Risk Swaps? 5

Why Are Fannie, Freddie Peddling Exotic Junk-Rated Risk Swaps?

Meanwhile, cratering home prices are eroding demand for the junk-rated credit transfers.  As mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie bend the knee to their political overlords, they securitize ever riskier loans. It’s a sign of the times. But while no one was looking, the twins – who wield the full faith and credit of the U.S. government – began quietly offloading this surplus risk in the form of so-called “credit-risk transfers.” The U.S. taxpayer should be worried. As the public learned in 2008 with AIG’s credit-default swaps, hidden risk injected into the financial system doesn’t stay hidden for long. The twins,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

AMCs Constant Bid Request... It's Theft of Services! 30

It’s Theft of Services!

It’s theft of services to constantly think it’s okay to drain appraisers time and resources as if we’re advocates of the AMC; all our time and energy constantly available to AMCs so they can shop us to infinity on a per diem assignment pattern forever to increase their own profits. They condition appraisers to become advocates of the AMC or you don’t get anything. That’s not how an ethical appraiser should operate. If they returned cost savings to consumers instead of using that as a financial incentive to select the lowest priced appraiser, it would be different. But as we...

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

Appraisers the Convenient Scapegoats 19

Appraisers the Convenient Scapegoats

The appraisers are the convenient scapegoats every time.  Anytime the real estate market takes a hit, 99% of the time it is because of banking and lending practices. The appraisers are the convenient scapegoats every time. During the 1980s it was the commercial side, yet residential appraisers received both barrels of double-odd buck. Then in 2008 again: stated income, 40 year loans, predatory lending (REFINANCING), NO money down (no skin in the game); people used their homes as a slot machine that paid out every time; that is as long as the market values continued to rise. Predatory lenders had...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

Bias & Discrimination in Reports 11

Bias and Discrimination in Reports, Yes or No?

Appraisers, should we include discussion of B&D in our reports? Wait, What?? Bondage and Discipline? No, not that. Bias and Discrimination. Yes, it must be addressed very clearly. Now, before you blow a cork or throw your mouse at the computer screen, let’s examine what’s really been impacting ‘us’ for the past 4 plus years. One of our peers, who’s become somewhat famous for the way articles are written about appraisal and other topics, had a recent article ‘rebroadcasted’ in AppraisersBlogs, FTX Bought Government’s Silence; Did Fintechs Buy Attacks on Appraisers? A statement in that article exposes some of what has...

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

Average AMC Appraisal Fee 2021 vs 2022 134

Average AMC Appraisal Fee to the Appraiser

Average AMC appraisal fee to the appraiser: AMCs are taking far more of the borrower-paid fee this year than they did last year.  Appraisers, I recently sent out a message asking appraisers to send me three data points comparing borrower-paid appraisal cost, and average AMC paid assignment fees in October, November 2021 and the same months in 2022 – for SFR assignments. My intent was to provide actual useful AMC-paid fee data compared to what the borrower pays for ‘the appraisal’, without revealing specific fees in any particular location. Replies to that message were much less than I expected, and only...

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

FTX Bought Government’s Silence; Did Fintechs Buy Attacks on Appraisers? 11

FTX Bought Government’s Silence; Did Fintechs Buy Attacks on Appraisers?

The nation’s 80,000 licensed real property appraisers should pay close attention to the manipulation of Washington by FTX, which turned out to have the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme.  Fallen crypto whiz kid Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates are a living testament to the power of political donations in American politics. It’s unclear precisely what the more than $70 million in political donations bought FTX during an 18-month period leading up to the midterms, but one can speculate the money silenced what was once a brisk debate on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Treasury on the regulation of crypto-currency....

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Administration / FHA

The VA Required to Encourage Hybrids - Senate Passes HR 7735 18

The VA Required to Encourage Hybrids – Senate Passes HR 7735

The VA will now be required to encourage hybrid appraisals.  If you are a VA Appraiser, here’s a bit of news you need to keep tabs on. Senate Passes VA Appraisal Modernization Measure – theMReport.com The U.S. Senate has announced the passage of HR 7735, the Improving Access to the VA Home Loan Benefit Act of 2022. Under the terms of HR 7735, sponsored by Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Mike Bost, the VA will be required to: Issue certification requirements for appraisers; Execute minimum property requirements; Review the process for selecting and reviewing comparable sales; Implement quality control processes; Establish...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Political Action / The US Department of Veterans Affairs / Trending

Smartphone Measuring Technology 15

Smartphone Measuring Technology

This new measuring technology claims the software to be ANSI compliant.  Appraisers, over the past couple of years, there have been lively discussions on forums, Facebook groups, at conferences, etc., about a ‘new’ technology which allows a ‘phone holder’ to measure a structure, with that technology providing a “Sketch” or “Floor Plan” of that structure. Some of you may have heard about one of the originating companies, Matterport, which some real estate agents/brokers use to generate virtual 3D interior diagrams and videos used in property marketing. Smartphone measuring technology evolved from that. Until recently, I and others did not understand...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

Preference Falsification - Why Licensees Parrot Notions They Know Are Untrue 20

‘Preference Falsification’ – Why Licensees Parrot Notions They Know Are Untrue

Preference falsification has resulted in some appraisers parroting talking points they know to be untrue.  People who live under authoritarian regimes rarely reveal their true feelings. They get used to lying. Parroting the party line becomes second nature in oppressive societies. It’s not a reflection of one’s moral compass but a survival mechanism. In his book “Private Truths, Public Lies,” Timur Kuran, an economist and political scientist at Duke University, writes about this disconnect, known as “preference falsification.” Preference falsification is dangerous because it lends an air of permanence to structures that are brittle and susceptible to sudden collapse. Kuran...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / HUD / The US Department of Housing and Urban Development / Trending

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