The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a statement supporting the independence of appraisers and the appraisal process on their website while expressing their concerns about interference in the appraisal process. The NAR Appraisal Committee will meet this Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 8:00 A.M at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, DC. One item sure to be a topic of discussion is the recently released Statement on Appraiser Independence. NAR Statement on Appraiser Independence “The role of the appraiser is to provide an independent and impartial analysis of real property. This analysis is a critical component of...
Serious concern over misapplication and misinterpretation of Uniform Appraisal Dataset requirements April 29, 2011 Alfred M. Pollard General Counsel Federal Housing Finance Agency… Re: Uniform Appraisal Dataset Dear Mr. Pollard: Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you and representatives from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac on February 17, 2011 and March 10, 2011 to discuss the Uniform Mortgage Data Processing (UMDP) initiative and the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD). We applaud your efforts to bring about more consistent appraisal reporting. However, in light of our discussions and further examination of the publicly available documents...
TAVMA strongly disputes the substance of the on-line petition Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Re: Interim Final Rule – Customary and Reasonable Fee Stipulation Dear Ms. Johnson: The Title Appraisal Vendor Management Association (“TAVMA”) wishes to express its views about the misinformation being disseminated by appraisal organizations and publications about the Federal Reserve’s Interim Final Rule and Appraisal Management Companies (“AMC’s”). TAVMA is a national trade association of real estate settlement services providers including many leading appraisal management companies. Some appraisers continue to attack AMC’s by asserting that the DOD Frank Act, TILA...
Proposed legislation in Illinois, Maryland, Missouri and Nevada seeking to prohibit use of foreclosures and short sales as comparables in developing opinions of residential real estate value appears to have failed. Two bills missed procedural deadlines, one has been amended and the other was withdrawn by its sponsor. Appraisal Institute chapters in all four states played key roles in defeating the bills, which would have resulted in each state’s legislative body dictating the real estate valuation process. The Nevada bill missed a procedural deadline for passage and is dead for this session. In testimony prepared for an April 1 hearing...
LandSafe Appraisal Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America, recently released its latest “Appraisal Services Agreement” to its panel appraisers. The agreement includes, among others, indemnifications of LandSafe against any liability, and loss of intellectual rights. If this goes through and appraisers agree to sign this new agreement, other AMCs will follow LandSafe’s lead and produce their own version of Appraisal Services Agreements. LIA Insurance has reviewed the new LandSafe Appraisal Services Agreement. The review is available to LIA’s insured appraisers and READI members but others can also view it by registering with code 201700. The whole idea of appraisers as...
DaVinci for Android is here and you can dowload it now for free in the Android Market. Anyone with a Smartphone or tablet with Android 2.1 or later can download it. Click here to go to the DaVinci download page in the Android Market. Click here to download the WinTOTAL update from the labs page. This will allow for file syncing between WinTOTAL and your device. With DaVinci for Android you can: Fill out an entire 1004 from the field by simply tapping on the screen, or use Android’s “talk-to-type” feature to fill out the report using your voice Create QuickLists within DaVinci...
…excluded from Reasonable and Customary fee surveys… The American Guild of Appraisers (AGA) / Guild 44 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, AFL-CIO met with Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) on April 14 to discuss the Guild’s concerns with the Federal Reserve Board’s Interim Final Rule (Rule) regarding Appraiser Independence. With the implementation of the Rule issued April 1, 2011, the Federal Reserve has introduced faulty regulation that implicitly fails to capture Congressional intent to reform the appraisal process and Appraiser Independence and the necessity to promote the use of market driven, Reasonable & Customary (R&C) fees for various...
Lenders May Still Profit Most from Appraisal Fees, writes Kenneth Harney WASHINGTON — When you pay $450 to $550 at settlement for an appraisal on a home purchase or refinancing, do you assume that all or most of the money is going to the appraiser who comes to the house and performs the valuation? That’s logical, but probably not correct. Despite new Federal Reserve regulations that took effect April 1 requiring lenders to pay appraisers fair fees, growing numbers of them say they are still being offered $200 to $250 — even as low as $134 — for work that...
Where To Direct Questions and Comments Regarding Customary and Reasonable Fees There has been a lot of confusions about where appraisers can direct questions and comments regarding customary and reasonable fees. The Appraisal Subcommittee has recently posted the following information: The appropriate agency to receive your concern about a creditor’s compliance with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), including the creditor or the creditor’s agent paying an appraiser a customary and responsible fee, is the agency that enforces TILA for the creditor. If the agent or appraisal management company (AMC) is affiliated with a federally-regulated creditor, the appropriate agency to receive...
Appraisers online petition opposing use of AMC fees as Customary & Reasonable Please consider signing the online petition launched by appraisers and written by George Hatch, opposing the use of AMC fees as Customary & Reasonable: Federal Reserve Board to Clarify Customary and Reasonable Appraisal Fees On October 18, 2010, the Federal Reserve Board announced an interim final rule to Regulation Z of Title 12, also known as the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). One of the elements to Regulation Z is a binding requirement upon creditors and appraisal management companies to ensure that appraisers who are not employees of...
