WASHINGTON (October 10, 2012) – The real estate market is recovering but still faces hurdles, notably from tight mortgage credit, but problems with a sizeable share of real estate appraisals also are holding back home sales, according to survey findings by the National Association of Realtors®. Most appraisers are competent and provide good valuations that are compliant with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. However, appraisals generally lag market conditions and some changes to the appraisal process have been causing problems in recent years, including the use of out-of-area valuators without local expertise or full access to local data,...
Two Names You Know. Two Names You’ve Probably Never Heard. These are four of the parties who have been suing the most appraisers in 2011-12. I suspect most appraisers won’t recognize two of the names, unless the appraisers are defendants in one of their cases. The parties are in no particular order, but the last one does file the most lawsuits. LSF6 Mercury REO Investments This is an investment fund of a private equity company named Lone Star. LSF6 bought discounted mortgage debt from bankrupt CIT Group in 2008. In late 2011, LSF6 began suing appraisers in New York as...
An appraiser was required by an AMC to edit/crop the photos in an appraisal report because of a black cat. The AMC claimed that the black cat violated fair housing act. This was the response of the AMC in regard to the cat: “Please be advised that the following issues were found: a cat appears in the rear open patio photo and the landscaping photo. Please edit or crop this photo accordingly, as this is a fair lending issue for the client.” Fast forward the video below to 1 minute:
Announcing the Official Formation of the National Association of Appraisal Management Companies (NAAMC) Providence, RI (PRWEB) August 31, 2012 Filling a long missing void in the ever-changing Appraisal and Residential Home Mortgage sectors, a collection of Industry-leading Appraisal Management Companies joined forces to create a unique and extremely necessary organization exclusively committed to supporting all entities impacted in the Residential Appraisal and Valuation industries. Officially formed in late July 2012, several months’ pre-launch due diligence was completed by the sixteen Founding Members of the National Association of Appraisal Management Companies (NAAMC). This non-profit trade association is officially incorporated in Delaware and...
The New York Attorney General’s Office announced yesterday that it has reached a settlement with CoreLogic, as successor to eAppraiseIT, over the 2007 lawsuit filed against eAppraiseIT by then-Attorney General Cuomo. This was the case, of course, that led to the HVCC with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It also put the AMC liability train in motion, which has kept rolling since — resulting in significant lawsuits filed by both government agencies and private parties against a majority of the 10 largest AMCs. The NY AG noted that the lawsuit concerned approximately 10,000 appraisals in New York for WaMu in...
I do not think the grizzly bear had to change her britches after the encounter. It was a beautiful, early, fall afternoon. I had just completed my fifth inspection of the day and had just one more to do in the rural community of Island Park, Idaho, just outside of Yellowstone National Park. The cabin was setback in the trees and was surrounded on three sides by state lands. In other words, this 1004 UAD would have the ‘rural’ box checked on this one. I had just begun measuring the outside when I heard a loud and extremely close bellow/snort....
Appraisers, The GSE’s have issued a UAD newsletter on Sept. 18, 2012. Mostly it has ‘stuff’ in it that appraisers should be doing, i.e., checking for proper UAD compliance prior to report submittal by using your report software on-board reviewer. However, this little gem is the last item on page 2: Update on Financing Concessions for Comparables The GSEs expect appraisers to determine the financing concessions, if any, for all settled sales used as comparables in appraisal reports. Appraisers are expected to do what is necessary to determine concession amounts through the normal course of business and not automatically default...
Chasing unpaid invoices… Recently, I have been receiving numerous emails and phone calls from appraisers asking if they can factor appraisal orders from JVI Solutions with our company. Appraisers from Hawaii and California to Texas and New Jersey have grown tired of the runaround and are looking for ways to get paid on the work they have done. Unfortunately, because of non-payments and the unknown status of the Florida-based appraisal management company, whether a larger Fortune 500 company is acquiring it or going bankrupt, our company has currently placed a hold on factoring any JVI Solutions orders until we receive...
Why Isn’t that an Appraisal? APPRAISAL: (noun) the act or process of developing an opinion of value; an opinion of value. (adjective) of or pertaining to appraising and related functions such as appraisal practice or appraisal services. Comment: An appraisal must be numerically expressed as a specific amount, as a range of numbers, or as a relationship (e.g., not more than, not less than) to a previous value opinion or numerical benchmark (e.g., assessed value, collateral value). In general terms the USPAP definition is elegant in its simplicity. We all understand what it is that appraisers provide. You provide opinions...
What a licensed broker or appraiser must do in performing a BPO or a CMA… North Carolina Governor Beverly Purdue signed S.B. 521 into law July 12, and the legislation will significantly expand the ability of the state’s licensed real estate brokers to offer a broker price opinion or comparative market analysis. The legislation included two amendments provided by the state’s appraisal organizations. Prior to the new legislation, North Carolina real estate brokers were limited to providing a CMA only in the real estate sales context, and they had to have a reasonable expectation that a listing would result from...
