Chairman Hensarling Announces Series of Committee Hearings Focused on Looming Financial Crisis at FHA Washington, Jan 30 – Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced today that the Financial Services Committee will hold a series of hearings throughout the year that focus on the financially troubled Federal Housing Administration, the FHA’s outsized role in the nation’s housing finance system, and the need to create a sustainable mortgage finance system. The FHA’s single-family insurance fund, which insures more than $1 trillion worth of home mortgages, has a negative economic value of $16.3 billion, according to an actuarial report released by the Department of Housing...
January 29, 2013 – Uniform Appraisal Dataset Update and Uniform Collateral Data Portal Release Notification As communicated in the September UAD Update, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) will convert several of the current Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) compliance warning edits to fatal UAD edits in the Uniform Collateral Data Portal® (UCDP®) during 2013. The first phase, targeted for implementation in June 2013, will include warning edits for the following data fields converting to fatal UAD edits: Appraisal effective date Subject contract price and comparable sale price Above grade Gross Living Area (GLA) (subject and comparables) Sale type (subject...
WASHINGTON (October 10, 2012) – The real estate market is recovering but still faces hurdles, notably from tight mortgage credit, but problems with a sizeable share of real estate appraisals also are holding back home sales, according to survey findings by the National Association of Realtors®. Most appraisers are competent and provide good valuations that are compliant with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. However, appraisals generally lag market conditions and some changes to the appraisal process have been causing problems in recent years, including the use of out-of-area valuators without local expertise or full access to local data,...
The New York Attorney General’s Office announced yesterday that it has reached a settlement with CoreLogic, as successor to eAppraiseIT, over the 2007 lawsuit filed against eAppraiseIT by then-Attorney General Cuomo. This was the case, of course, that led to the HVCC with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It also put the AMC liability train in motion, which has kept rolling since — resulting in significant lawsuits filed by both government agencies and private parties against a majority of the 10 largest AMCs. The NY AG noted that the lawsuit concerned approximately 10,000 appraisals in New York for WaMu in...
Appraisers, The GSE’s have issued a UAD newsletter on Sept. 18, 2012. Mostly it has ‘stuff’ in it that appraisers should be doing, i.e., checking for proper UAD compliance prior to report submittal by using your report software on-board reviewer. However, this little gem is the last item on page 2: Update on Financing Concessions for Comparables The GSEs expect appraisers to determine the financing concessions, if any, for all settled sales used as comparables in appraisal reports. Appraisers are expected to do what is necessary to determine concession amounts through the normal course of business and not automatically default...
“What is the big #$%^&*@! deal with non-permitted additions?” The last few weeks I have noted a common theme in my conversations with appraisers across the nation. This topic seems relatively simple and yet since I have encountered endless questions I thought this post may add something to overall community. The question boils down to “What is the big #$%^&*@! deal with non-permitted additions?”, for residential lending purposes. Of course this stems from the fact that many residential lenders are pushing back appraisals that have given value consideration to an addition which was non-permitted at the time of construction. This...
On August 10, the Arizona Board of Appraisal dismissed the USPAP violation complaint filed by Chase Bank against John Dingeman on initial file review. Why is this newsworthy? Because it represents a major victory for appraisers everywhere. Dingeman, has been fighting strong arm tactics employed by Chase Bank in an attempt to force him to violate Client confidentiality by discussing details about an appraisal on a no-defunct loan that Chase acquired. Dingman took his fight right to the street starting a petition on Change.org and other outlets to share his story with fellow appraisers. We are happy to also report...
How many times have you received a drive-by assignment only to come across a view from your car like the image below? This was my view back in the summer of 2004. I notified my client that they needed to upgrade to a full interior/exterior inspection appraisal. The loan officer had a fit. “The house is over 4,000 square feet. They just put $100,000 into a new addition and installed a massive new deck!” barked the loan officer. “Then I definitely need to get inside,” I said. She cancelled the order. When they took back the house in 2008, none of...
Over the span of the last several decades, many residential appraisers were brought into this profession to meet the demand for residential mortgage lending reports. The problem with this has become clear as many were trained with one mindset, residential lending appraisals. They became “self-proclaimed experts” at filing out forms and meeting client expectations. All in the name of doing a good job and making a living. I hold all residential appraisers responsible for this sad state of affairs. Had more of the professional appraisers taken on one or two trainees and mentored them into producing credible reports then perhaps...
Neighborhood is broad and general in nature… When examining appraisal reports, it is commonly noted that the Neighborhood section of the 1004 appraisal report contains data for sales of properties that are comparable and competing to the subject, rather than for sales of all homes of the same category (i.e., single family detached). Professional appraisal reference works, such as Appraising Residential Properties, 4th Edition (published by Appraisal Institute) address the differences between a “neighborhood” and a “market area.” Further, various Fannie Mae selling guides and announcements, and the HUD 4150.2 handbook contain guidance for appraisers regarding the analysis of neighborhood...
