The appraisal industry was blindsided once again only this time by the AG’s office when they determined that the Real Estate Appraiser Board cannot regulate BPO’s. The New Mexico Appraiser’s Coalition and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Appraisal Institute sent a joint letter to the Appraisal Board prior to a hearing that was held in January to discuss the BPO language in the Appraiser Act. Although we feel we provided enough information to guide the Board, the Attorney General Representative at the meeting made the determination that the Appraisal Board had no jurisdiction over the BPO product. Even though...
Many appraisers still seem confused as to what the form means by density. In the project section of Fannie Mae form 1073 the first line addresses topography, size, density and view. Many appraisers still seem confused as to what the form means by density. Appraisers enter and AMCs approve phrases like: average or typical or even a calculation such as 50 units / 12,975 square feet. Appendix D regarding UAD reporting offers no guidance. What are they asking for and what does it mean? Fannie is looking to see if the existing density can be rebuilt following a catastrophic loss....
What is Gross Living Area and What Does it Include? Appraisers, There are certain properties where aspects of Gross Living Area (GLA) might not be obvious. It’s more confusing when the selling real estate agents lump all “living space” together, because that’s what they are selling, or when the county assessor includes basements with upper level areas. These include homes with a detached ADU, additional rec room or sleeping space above a garage, additional living space with roof attached to the primary dwelling via covered breezeway, basement living spaces with separate entry, etc. Fannie Mae has a giant book called...
Freddie Mac Proprietary Messages in the UCDP Not wanting to be left home from the party, Freddie Mac has announced that on June 30, 2015 it will begin providing new feedback on appraisals submitted to it via the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP). Like Fannie Mae’s system, the messages will be delivered to those lenders seeking to sell residential loans to Freddie Mac. Most of the feedback will be in the form of warnings which essentially alert a lender there are some inconsistencies between the submitted appraisal report and data that Freddie Mac already possesses (like public records). For example,...
Functional obsolescence is the reason many appraisers are going out of business. On a daily basis, appraisers moan: “It’s because of the HVCC that my business is down” or “that AMC or X or Y or Z caused my income to decline.” Really? Are you sure? So, why is my company buried in business and you’re not? We’ve all heard about blacksmiths being out of work; Seems the use of horses has declined. And the need for typewriter repairmen, the demand just isn’t what it was 20 years ago. The people in these jobs failed to adapt; Maybe appraiser are having the same problem....
Skinning appraisers alive and blaming them for everything except the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa and now pushing for looser restrictions! With the overall economy improving and with unemployment dropping back to more manageable levels, it was only a matter of time before the residential real estate industry (builders, bankers, mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Wall Street) and its lobbying groups and trade associations popped up and asked for Congress and federal regulators to reduce or end many of the restrictions placed on the industry after it gorged itself on the U.S. economy and left the table with only...
Unpermitted Additions This is a “zombie” assignment condition that seems to never die. Let’s agree that unpermitted means something was constructed without a required written permit. There are plenty of jurisdictions that don’t issue permits because the permit process doesn’t exist. The assignment condition goes something like this: The appraiser is not to include any GLA from any unpermitted additions unless they use comparables that have similar unpermitted additions. Here’s what Fannie Mae stated in their September 2014 FAQs: If the subject property features an unpermitted addition, can the square footage of the unpermitted addition be included in the total gross living area reported on the appraisal report? If the appraiser has identified an addition(s) that does...
In a million dollar mortgage fraud scheme Appraisers, An appraiser in NY state has been convicted of a FELONY for incorrectly reporting the last sale date of a subject property in an appraisal report, which was used to defraud a lender in a million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. You can read the full story here. Per the info in the story: “Essig is the owner and operator of Essig Appraisals, an appraisal company that specialized in residential appraisals. According to statements made in Court today during Essig’s plea, Essig admitted that he made a false entry in an appraisal that...
GLA in your appraisal reports being questioned Appraisers, today (4/30/15), Freddie Mac released a document showing Warning and Fatal codes that will trigger if certain items are found in your reports sent to Freddie Mac through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP), as of June 30, 2015. In 25 pages of codes, only 4 are ‘fatal’ and those are for items you should not be overlooking. See the PDF below and take a moment to look over the document. The very first ‘warning’ code is this one, which has two variations: FRE1001 The gross living area for the subject property ([GLA] sf)...
It is merely a SALE… Appraisers, Something’s been gnawing at my craw ever since January when FNMA’s wonderful Collateral Underwriter (CU) was unleashed to the world. And before that, when FNMA’s Appraiser Quality Monitoring (AQM) process was introduced to judge the work of appraisers. No one else has written about this. No one has even mentioned it. So I will: It has to do with the word “Comp” which is used liberally by Fannie Mae (FNMA). What exactly is a “Comp?” In FNMA’s world, it’s any property that they obtain, either by their vast AVM process which examines millions of...
