Scofflaw U.S. Agency Taps States For Its Backchannel Budget VENTURA, Calif. (February 4, 2022) – History is replete with cautionary tales about federal government enterprises with unchecked funding sources – that is, those outside the annual congressional appropriations process. One alternately funded enterprise was nicknamed “The Little Green House on ‘K’ Street.” Harry Daugherty, President Harding’s attorney general, set up the organization to accomplish ad hoc goals. It became a den of corruption that led to the Teapot Dome scandal. A half-century later, H. R. “Bob” Haldeman, President Nixon’s chief of staff, set up a similar off-the-books enterprise called the...
Fannie Mae has decided to make at least 2 significant changes… The New Year is here and along with that comes change. The appraisal industry and the appraisal profession is no exception to this. Change is something we should embrace provided that the change is for the betterment of those effected by the change. Before we make a change we need to identify what we are trying to accomplish and will the purposed changes achieve the desired results and is this the best way to accomplish our objective. I am not sure that we have identified the problem that we...
Fannie Mae’s sweeping new national condominium regulations… Appraisers, Fannie Mae has changed inspection and reporting requirements for Condominiums, effective January 1, 2022. The article titled “How can appraisers evaluate aging condos without docs?” from Loop North News has info: From the article: 24-Jan-22 – Fannie Mae’s sweeping new national condominium and co-op apartment lending regulations were created to protect residents, but the tough rules do not cover all the problems, appraisal experts say. High-rises with “aging infrastructure and significant deferred maintenance is a growing concern across the nation,” noted the Fannie Mae memorandum, issued as a result of the tragic...
The Appraisal Subcommittee, because they were directed to do so, has produced a report, which frankly and explicitly lays the blame for low market values of homes in ‘communities of color’ directly at the feet of independent appraisers involved with mortgage lending. You will start seeing accusatory slanted media reports about this report. ABC news already has distributed it. A TV station in San Francisco has aired a story already. Yes, the report casually mentions actual facts that GOVERNMENT policies and procedures promulgated segregated and extraordinarily unfair housing issues in the US, from the 1930’s into the early 1960’s. The...
Folks, 16 local Assessors across the US have requested to FHFA that the GSE’s UAD property rating data be provided to Assessors, with the belief that UAD will help them be more accurate in their local tax assessments. This info has been circulating the past few days, in the link below: Kaegi, other tax officials want access to Uniform Appraisal Database to help make property taxes fairer | Crain’s Chicago Business From the article: Kaegi (Cook County, Illinois) has suggested that the Uniform Appraisal Database maintained by the federally chartered mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might help plug...
Since beginning using this Standard, I have had ZERO ROV requests. Appraisers, the latest ‘buzzword’ around appraising is Standard. We’ve got to have a Standard for measuring a subject dwelling, even though the comparable GLA reported figure may have been measured far differently from the new soon-to-be mandated Standard. Appraisers have no way of controlling the apples to oranges dissimilarities. But I digress… According to the Dodd-Frank law, and the HVCC before it, clients are allowed to challenge the appraiser’s value opinion by submitting what is termed in the law “appropriate” sales to be further reviewed, with the expectation that...
On December 15, 2021, Fannie Mae announced that it will be adopting ANSI Measuring Standard in 2022. Appraisers will be required to use the Square Footage-Method for Calculating: ANSI® Z765-2021 (American National Standards Institute®) Measuring Standard for measuring, calculating, and reporting gross living area (GLA) and non-GLA areas of subject properties for appraisals requiring interior and exterior inspections with effective dates of April 1, 2022 or later for loans sold to Fannie Mae. For more information, watch this video and check out this fact sheet. Here are some items for appraisers to consider when using the ANSI standard Measurements...
“[The builder] filed a grievance against me… and threatened to file a grievance every time I or others appraised below purchase price.” California and Nebraska couldn’t be more different, but both clearly want their states to be more like the fictional town of Lake Wobegon – a place where all the men are good-looking, all the children are above average and all properties appraise at or above their sale price. Parts of California Assembly Bill 948, which was signed into law in September, read like something from the satirical news site The Onion. The statute requires the state’s appraiser enforcement...
…white America (government) keeps trying to ‘fix’ Black People who are not broken in the first place! We’ve all heard of redlining. No one doubts it existed and MAY still exist, among private lenders. It’s hard to accept major national banking corps would risk it but it IS possible. Having said that, there is ZERO percentage or benefit for any appraiser to engage in it. None. Another appraiser in Los Angeles, who is a great researcher, posted addresses of the properties involved in half a dozen complaints alleging racism by appraisers and so-called ‘white washing’ of the houses producing subsequent...
My critical analysis of Freddie Mac’s “appraisal gap” white paper Appraisers, this is not an easy essay to write. It is my critical analysis of an academic study put out by a GSE, which I have read. In September 2021, Freddie Mac’s Modeling, Econometrics, Data Science & Analytics; Single Family Risk Management; and Economic & Housing Research groups released a white paper (Economic & Housing Research Note) named “Racial and Ethnic Valuation Gaps in Home Purchase Appraisals.” The paper uses the term ‘appraisal gaps.’ The paper’s definition of the ‘gap’ is: the percentage difference between minority and White groups in...
