Hi folks and Happy Thanksgiving! If you’ve been considering replacing multiple individual computer monitors with ONE large screen monitor, you may want to have software which allows individual ‘monitors’ showing different screens to be displayed on the one monitor. As most of us know, multiple monitors allows us to be more efficient during report production, reducing or eliminating the need to switch back and forth between various web sites we need to use. I first learned about this technology from Brandon, at SPARK, i.e., www.choicevaluation.com, who moved from 4 individual monitors to one large screen high def TV used as...
Only the lender’s Underwriter should be able to request changes to the report and the lender should be the one that pays the appraiser… An appraiser associate was having a discussion with one of the head review appraisers at HUD and the reviewer noticed that the Plat Map in the report did not correspond with the site size reported in the URAR form 1004. The appraiser stated that the public record and the Plat map did not agree with each other and that he chose the figure shown in public records. The reviewer questioned why he would choose the public...
For appraisers and lenders, a key sticking point is the ‘appraisal fee’ has been hard-fixed, quoted up front, and difficult to change, at the time the assignment is given to the appraiser… Appraisers / Lenders, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) has opened a comment period soliciting written comments on the current TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) process applying to consumer mortgage loans. Comments can be submitted to the following addresses, until Jan. 21, 2020. You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CFPB-2019-0055, by any of the following methods: Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments....
See the announcement by the Veterans Administration basically telling lenders and appraisal management companies we are going to protect our Veterans with sound appraisal practice. …the person providing property information to the appraiser must have entered into an agreement with the appraiser to do so. …the person who provides to the VA fee panel appraiser information must sign the appraisal report in the “Appraiser” section of the left side of the appraisal report. Assisted Appraisal Processing Program (AAPP) This section authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Secretary to issue guidance explaining the conditions under which VA permits VA fee...
Over the past few weeks VaCAP has been hearing from our members on some of the concerns they have with how appraisal management companies are conducting themselves. It started when appraisers on the USDA panel received notifications that USDA was no longer ordering appraisals directly and that task has been outsourced. Verdi Consulting and Jones Lang LaSalle have received the contracts from USDA for appraisal origination. Neither of these companies are licensed as an appraisal management company in Virginia and they are using two appraisal management companies as subcontractors; Valligent and Clarocity. Most appraisers we heard from were highly concerned...
The genesis for this essay began when I heard from another appraiser that a VA report reviewer rejected the comparables “DOC Number” on the Verification Source(s) line. The reviewer said the “DOC Number” was not acceptable as a Verification Source. In fact, VA has said in a newsletter to appraisers that “… Assessor’s File Number may never be used as a Verification Source.” I disagree with that position, and this essay explains why. It also explains what appraisers should do to provide credible Data and Verification Source(s) in reports. Caveat: I don’t do VA assignments. I decided that a deeper dive...
By no means are we promoting bifurcated appraisal products… “Credible valuations of real property are critical to the health of the overall real estate industry; therefore the practice of bifurcated/hybrid appraisals must be regulated” There has been lots of talk over the past few weeks about bifurcated appraisal products. First came the announcement form Working RE Magazine they were conducting a survey on bifurcated appraisal products. VaCAP recommends every appraiser complete the survey if you have not done so already. Next came rumors that Mark Calabria, Director of FHFA stopped all pilot programs which included bifurcated appraisals and appraisal waivers. Working RE Magazine published an...
Do we really need a “Rocket Mortgage“? “Rocket Approvals” are nice but certainly not “Rocket Closings”. The home buying process is not a race. It’s not Road Runner and Wile E Coyote racing to the closing table. It takes time! The Need for Speed How quickly do your buyers and sellers want to close on the home they just bought? Two weeks? Four, six, eight weeks? When you wrote the contract, and filled in the “drop dead dates” how much time did you allow for the Title deadlines, the Owners’ Association deadlines, the Seller’s Property Disclosure deadlines, the Loan and Credit deadlines,...
Some of you appraiser in California may not realize there is a new law, AB-5, which goes into effect on 1/1/2020, less than 60 days from now that will have a significant effect on the working relationship between appraisers and AMCs. Most appraisers work as Independent Contractors when working with AMCs. However, this will most likely change under this new law, AB-5, as of the first of the year. Most engagement letters or other instructions from AMCs to appraisers are in conflict with this new law as it pertains to the use of Independent Contractors. Under most of these agreements...
Here we are over 3 and a half years after the article titled “I Do Not Quit, Not Ever!“. No one has quit yet. AGA™ is now a tax-exempt 501(c)(6). We have successfully renegotiated our affiliation agreement with OPEIU and AFL-CIO. The articles of incorporation revised our previous articles of association. In the past two years Jan Bellas and the National Appraiser Peer Review Committee have helped in excess of 185 appraisers get off blacklists; be reinstated with lenders and assisted those wrongfully accused in defending themselves before state regulatory agencies. Anyone that’s dealt with Jan Bellas KNOWS she doesn’t...
