Category: Appraisers News

Appraiser Judy Dowdy Needs Our Help! - Appraisers Blogs 4

Appraiser Judy Dowdy Needs Our Help!

Our friend & retired appraiser Judy Dowdy was nearly killed by a distracted driver in mid-October while riding her bike in Oregon. Sustained very serious injuries and spent time in a trauma hospital in Oregon. Now she and partner Ben are temporarily living in his late mother’s home in CA while she recovers. Joe Lynch posted the message below from Judy Dowdy: “After the follow up doctors appointment in two more days of driving we made it to the central valley of California in the town of Hanford. I was able to very carefully get in and out of our...

Bill Prohibiting Discrimination in Appraisals, BPOs & CMAs 15

Bill Prohibiting Discrimination in Appraisals…

A bill to amend Illinois’ appraiser and real estate licensing acts to address discrimination. With increased public attention on the issue, complaints alleging unlawful discrimination are emerging in the courts and before regulators in relation to appraisals. In Illinois, a bill (HB 5862) has been introduced to amend the Illinois Real Estate Appraiser Licensing Act and the Real Estate License Act to expressly prohibit discrimination in appraisals, broker price opinions (BPOs) and comparative market analyses (CMAs) for residential real estate. The bill would amend each licensing act to state that an appraiser or real estate licensee engages in prohibited discrimination...

How Does the Presence of Sex Offenders Affect Appraised Value? 11

Sex Offenders & Appraised Value

“You know there is a half-way house for sex offenders in the neighborhood, don’t you? It’s about two blocks away from the subject”.. OK. You’re well and truly involved with your research on a job that’s already late. You think you’ve got all your due diligence-bases covered. But you call the broker to confirm on last detail and she asks you, “You know there is a half-way house for sex offenders in the neighborhood, don’t you? It’s about two blocks away from the subject”. Needless to say, you are taken aback! No, you had no clue there was such a facility two blocks away from...

Biden Calls Out Racial Bias Among Appraisers 56

Biden Calls Out Racial Bias Among Appraisers

To counteract low appraisals in minority neighborhoods, Biden says he’ll push for training to address racial bias among appraisers… Appraisers, you might want to “take a gander” at this article in the link below, because it indicates possible/probable changes coming. I especially like the ‘extra training for appraisers’ to avoid discrimination/racial bias. Not. In other words, appraisers are at fault for lower values in certain neighborhoods which are not as highly valued as others, and so we must be indoctrinated to be more sensitive. Buckle up folks, as it’s going to be an interesting ride. Excerpt from Biden Admin and...

Are Appraisers Being Sued for Errors Relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic? 2

Appraisers Being Sued for COVID-19 Errors?

The alleged errors in appraisals that parties are suing appraisers over during the pandemic are the same types of errors that appraisers usually get sued over… Wow. I did not go into the basement on my last visit. I’ll explain why an appraiser wrote that in a moment. Are appraisers being sued for errors relating to the COVID-19 pandemic? My short answer is “no” – there’s no pattern of that happening. One of the services that I provide to my legal clients is tracking lawsuits and legislation that relate to valuation services. I locate and follow cases of all types...

Radian Ending & Replacing Traditional Appraisals with Artificial Intelligence 14

Radian Ending Traditional Appraisals

In the news release, Radian, an AMC licensed in most US States says they will help their clients ‘transition’ away from traditional appraisals… This news release was circulated yesterday, October 29, 2020, by the Radian Group Inc. Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) will wind down its traditional appraisal business, which offers residential real estate appraisal services through a panel of independent contractor appraisers, to focus on core mortgage and real estate businesses driven by digital products and services. This news is so fresh that their very attractively designed web site and associated pages still glowingly highlight how wonderful their ‘traditional appraisals’ are… at least...

Why is Only One Side of the Racism Claim Appraisal Story Being Told? 261

Why is Only One Side of This Story Being Told?

There are always two sides to every story; however, understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth in the middle. Recently there has been a wave of news stories about racism in the appraisal profession brought on by a couple in Jacksonville, Florida. That couple, Abena Horton, a black woman, and her husband Alex Horton, a white male, made claims that an appraiser who first appraised their home came in low on the appraisal due to her race. You can read one of the numerous stories here. Before anyone here accuses me of being racist etc.,...

Update on FTC’s Price-Fixing Enforcement Action Against LREAB 6

New Appellate Decision – LREAB v FTC

FTC’s price-fixing enforcement action against LREAB… A federal appellate court – the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit – has issued a decision in the long-standing fight between the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board (LREAB) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission about “customary and reasonable” appraisal fees. I’m venturing here to provide a short, understandable, unbiased summary of the litigation and what this latest court decision means. What did the Court of Appeals decide? Here’s the very short summary: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is pursuing an administrative complaint it filed in 2017 against LREAB, contending that LREAB’s “customary and reasonable”...

Was Fast & Cheap AMC Appraiser Racist? Biggest Snowball of Your Life 14

The Biggest Snow Job of Your Life

Remember the saying “Pick two: fast, cheap or good. You can only have two of them?” Well you see, amcs got impatient and stopped reading after fast and cheap… The concept is simple enough, a fire wall between the loan production staff and the appraiser to avoid any possible pressure, coercion or influence. It sounded like a good idea to many; hence the HVCC legislation passed and was enacted. This was a period of trial and error for so many and before anyone found their way, along came Mr. Dodd and Mr. Frank to give their official stamp of approval...

Consolidated Analytics AMC Fined for Appraisal Order Blast Violation 18

AMC Fined for Appraisal Order Blast Violation

Consolidated Analytics, an AMC based in Anaheim California, was fined $3,000 for violating the Utah AMC Administrative Rules R162-2e-306 “Offering An Appraisal Assignment and Communicating with Two or More Appraisers About a Potential Assignment. The specific part of this rule that pertains to broadcasting has been relatively effective in reducing broadcasting of assignments. Clear Capital recently was fined $5,000 for failing to comply and there are additional complaints working their way through the system. CONSOLIDATED ANALYTICS, INC., BRIAN GEHL, Owner/Manager, Appraisal Management Company, Anaheim, California. In a stipulated order dated June 24, 2020, Consolidated Analytics, Inc. admitted that it broadcast...

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