So, here’s the situation; you are appraising a unique property in a limited area with few sales. You inspect the subject on Wednesday and finally get to the write up on Friday morning. As you are searching the neighborhood for sales, you notice a fairly comparable home that sold on the same street. It happens to be the very best comparable you have. The problem? It sold on Thursday…the day after the inspection date. Bummer! But, can you still use it? In order to answer this intriguing question, let’s step back for just a minute and look at the bigger picture....
Appraisers, Many know by now that the GSE’s, primarily Fannie Mae, have instituted a new ‘appraisal scoring’ procedure based on an electronic read of your reports, specifically on a SFR 1004 or the Condo 1073. Those are the only forms currently being analyzed by the CU process. On Nov. 18, 2014, FNMA released a document named “UCDP Fannie Mae Appraisal Messaging Change Notification” which you can find here. I encourage all appraisers to actually read this document … all 11 pages. When you do read this document, you will learn that your reports are being compared to your peer’s reports, and...
Online Petition to Allow appraiser Access to Data They Provided Through the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) Fellow appraiser, I am asking that you to take a moment to participate in this important industry effort. Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU) will be available in the first half of 2015. The CU performs automated risk assessment of appraisals submitted to the Uniform Collateral Data Portal based on information that you provided through the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD). The CU provides a risk score, flags, and messages to the lender. The GSE’s have mandated that all appraisals be submitted in the UAD format; however, currently...
FNMA New Collateral Underwriter to Check Appraisals Using Fannie’s Big Data FNMA Collateral Underwriter Flyer showing info about the FNMA Collateral Underwriter process they will make available to lenders (NOT APPRAISERS) in January 2015. You should review it. It has to do with their Enhancement of Risk Controls. This is what we know as Appraisal Quality Monitoring (AQM), which was announced almost 2 years ago. FNMA has already been using the ‘scope’ on your reports, but will soon allow the lenders to have access to the software so that they can do pre-submittal exams prior to uploading the loan file,...
OK, I admit it. I am old school. I still think you need to understand how to do something manually before you throw caution to the wind and buy into new technology to replace a good, old-fashioned, hands-on process that has worked fine for years. I honestly believe the use of technology without a complete understanding of how to do the basic process manually just lets us make more frequent and more complicated mistakes faster. In other words, if you can’t drive a Chevy Nova very well, don’t buy a Maserati Ghibli and expect it to fix your driving problems....
Regulations state that appraisal adjustments cannot be based upon an appraiser’s opinion. According to federal and state law, adjustments must be based on support and evidence- proof if you will, and an appraiser’s opinion is not considered to be “support.” Many appraisers have failed to support their adjustments and as a result have had their licenses revoked, penalties assessed and lawsuits lost, all because the they failed to understand a single but important requirement. Think about your appraisals. Are the adjustments based on your opinion or do you have proof of the adjustment in your workfile? Then one day I...
Impact of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct on Appraisal and Mortgage Outcomes During the housing crisis, it came to be recognized that inflated home mortgage appraisals were widespread during the subprime boom. The New York State Attorney General’s office investigated this issue with respect to one particular lender and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The investigation resulted in an agreement between the Attorney General’s office, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (the GSEs’ federal regulator) in 2008, in which the GSEs agreed to adopt the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). Using unique data sets...
Fannie Mae’s Murphy stated that over the past year, the GSE had been focusing on “quality” and “condition” ratings of comps used in multiple appraisals by the same appraiser and found many cases where the appraiser has changed the quality and/or condition ratings on the same comparable from appraisal to appraisal. Now, based on the examination of the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) data, Fannie Mae’s focus for the next 12 months will be on adjustments. The data indicates that many appraisers are not using…
AMC Staff: “HELLO! Bill. Could I please speak to Villiam?” At least one appraisal management company (AMC) put a new accent on appraising by having the point of contact be in another country—specifically, a call-center in India. According appraiser Bill Streep, this is how the conversation went: Bill Streep: “Hi, this is Bill.” AMC Staff: “HELLO! Bill. Could I please speak to Villiam?” Bill Streep: “This is Bill.” AMC Staff: “Yes, Bill. I need to speak to Villiam.” Bill Streep: “My name is Bill, it’s short for William.” AMC Staff: “Yes… (insert long pause) Could I please speak to Villiam?”...
Freddie Mac will host a webinar June 26 that will highlight upcoming changes to its multifamily appraisal requirements. Freddie’s new requirements, which take effect July 1, will address tying together an appraiser’s multifamily data with their conclusions. Examples include: Tighter guidelines around the use of property condition assessments and environmental report drafts; Discussions around local market data in the capitalization rate analysis; Elimination of net income multipliers or adjustments to net operating income in the Sales Comparison Approach; Supplemental discussion of the risk of reassessment of property taxes including a quantifiable chance of a reassessment; and Documentation of the number...
