And just like that, real estate appraisers from across the country have now added a new line item to their résumés, websites and marketing material: RESTORATION VALUE MAGICIAN. Oh wait, haven’t some AMCs and others already claimed to be such magicians when it comes to this topic? The pandering and save face attitudes of some of these organizations is concerning. Instead of looking at the big picture of infrastructures, the neighborhoods, the cities and more, to determine what sort of things can help areas identified as “Black neighborhoods”, they want to blame the appraisers. Here is a thought. How about...
Claims of tainted appraisal unmask something else… the renewed “churning” of mortgages by nonbank lenders. Convinced racism torpedoed valuations in their home refinancings, the owners of three properties in the San Francisco Bay Area told their stories to Julian Glover, a reporter who covers the race, culture and social justice beat for ABC’s San Francisco affiliate. Similar claims of tainted appraisals have surfaced in Philadelphia, Chicago and, more recently, Maryland. A civil lawsuit was filed in one of the cases in a federal district court. A claim was dismissed Wednesday based on a flaw unrelated to the case’s core allegation...
When reading over the Baltimore document, it appears painfully clear (to me) that there is a competency issue exposed. Folks, below is the Baltimore court paperwork for the latest appraiser bias suit that recently ‘hit the fan.’ This document is fairly specific, in that it reveals quite a lot about the two appraisals performed, including the home locations for the ‘comps’ used. The attorneys representing the plaintiffs are from the same Washington, D.C. firm that The Appraisal Foundation hired to examine USPAP. That firm was the one which has provided new ‘discrimination avoidance’ verbiage being considered in the USPAP Third...
This time around, the racial targeting is masked as a virtue under the heading “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” or “DEI.” Valuation Jiu-Jitsu Will Lead to Future Addie Polks Addie Polk was a 91-year-old African-American widow who shot herself in the chest in 2008 during a Fannie Mae-initiated eviction in Akron, Ohio. It marked the low point in Fannie’s embrace of toxic mortgages. Fannie, now in federal conservatorship, bought or guaranteed subprime loans made to vulnerable borrowers in the years leading up to the 2007-2008 financial crisis. There are now signs of new abuses. Under the banner “equity and inclusion,” some...
Can someone explain how we should voluntarily follow ANSI standard on desktop appraisals? Appraisers, Fannie Mae has released a new FAQ document to help you understand how to implement and adhere to their ANSI measuring and reporting requirement. See the PDF document below or here. Normally these documents are informative and provide good information. But in reading this one, I’m particularly puzzled by Q13, and I’m not sure if that’s a bad omen or not! Q13 discusses DESKTOP appraisals, for which NO adherence to ANSI is required. It says so, right there, in Q13. And most of us now know...
I’m on about lawn mowing lately. It’s my new full time passion. The appraisal industry should be as straight forward as lawn mowing, but due to the special interests pressures within the value industry, it has become convoluted and dysfunctional. Can you imagine if they ran the lawn mower industry like they try to run the appraisal industry? Like, we don’t care if that lawn is on slope or not, you can only use this mower and you’re not allowed to be versatile and use anything else. And you can’t request the lawn mowing servicer you want to use, you...
Appraisers, back in April, I was notified by someone “close to the action” of appraisal report submittals to the GSE’s, that many Desktops are being submitted back to lenders TOTALLY WRONG by the assigned appraisers! These reports are being captured and evaluated in the current Desktop observation and testing phase of the UCDP evaluations. Lenders use the UCDP as an initial report Quality Control check so that any problems can be identified, and sent back to the appraiser for correction, before the last submittal is used for the loan. The UCDP ‘sees’ every report for a particular property address, and keeps track...
What makes equity so invidious as a governing tenet is that it involves not just helping people of one racial or cultural group but it has the effect of knocking struggling members of disfavored groups out of the game. One type of parlor game relies on players’ ability to maintain their memory, logic and articulation – all while getting blotto. These alcohol-fueled “think and drink” games are highly challenging. Even Britain’s royal family engages in such diversions if Netflix’s “The Crown” is to be believed. The games have names like “Bizz Buzz,” “Ibble Dibble,” “Never Have I Ever” and “Roman...
Fannie makes its subsidies for blacks explicit, but they don’t appear to extend to other racial groups such as Hispanics and Asians. Low-income white borrowers are also excluded. Last week, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac announced actions that aim to make it easier to buy a home and close the racial homeownership gap. Their Equitable Housing Finance Plan for 2022-2024 outlines a range of pilot programs that remove barriers blacks face when buying or renting, and keeping homeowners and renters at home: Valuation Modernization aims to support an equitable appraisal process for Black households and communities of color Expand Appraiser...
These Property Data Reports have a higher level or different reporting requirements than ordinary traditional appraisals. Appraisers, on Tuesday 5/24/22, an AMC sent a message to their appraiser panel appraisers asking them if they’d like to ‘help their lender clients’ by doing Property Data Reports (PDR). Let’s decipher what this is all about. Freddie Mac has decided, that as of Sunday, July 17, 2022, they must have a PDR (Property Data Report) completed “by someone” in order for the loan applicant to qualify for an appraisal waiver in conjunction with a mortgage loan. In other words, actual qualified eyeballs must...
