Category: Appraisal

House measurement square footage 6

How Big is My House?

As a house gets older the wood begins to shrink… Do you ever get those questions? “Well ABC appraised my house last year and my house was 3,726 square feet. Why do you say it only contains 3,698 square feet?”. I have always wanted to say, well as your house gets older, the wood begins to shrink… Everyone knows of course that houses come in different sizes, shapes and that walls can be built at angles other than 90, 60 or 45 degrees, thus accurate measuring can be a challenge. When you factor in roof pitch for upstairs rooms, or...

American Measurement Standard / American National Standards Institute / AMS / ANSI / Appraisal / Appraisal News

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Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) Survey

The Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) has distributed an online survey to licensed and certified real estate appraisal professionals as part of a practice analysis. The deadline to complete the survey is March 26, 2014 The purpose of the practice analysis is to identify tasks and competencies reflective of the real estate appraiser job role in order to update the examination content outlines for the AQB National Uniform Licensure and Certification examinations. The link to the survey is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AQBSURVEY Participation is essential to the success of the practice analysis. This is a fantastic way for licensed and certified appraisers to give back to...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / AQB / The Appraisal Foundation

Big Banks Blacklisting Appraisers 4

Big Banks Blacklisting Appraiser

Both Fannie and Freddie will now have their own blacklists and if you think getting off a bank’s blacklist is tough, you have no idea what you will have to do to get off one of their lists.

As one industry expert observed, “if you get on the do not use list for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you’d better find another job because your days of being an appraiser just ended.”

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Quality Monitoring / Appraisers News

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Competency

I have had numerous appraisers, both residential and general certified, ask me about various elements of competency. Some are questions regarding levels of certification and property types. On other occasions, the questions have to do more with geographic coverage. Finally, the concept of competency as it relates to various special use property types is the most complex topic I typically discuss with fellow appraisers. Subject Matter First, I will start with residential versus general certification and the common and ongoing concern appraisers have in Missouri. USPAP itself does not dictate what is residential and what is commercial. It simply requires...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Missouri Real Estate Appraisers Commission / MREAC

Appraisal Quality Determined by AVMs 7

Appraisal Quality Determined by AVMs?

…So, now we can check to see if appraisals are accurate by checking them against Automated Valuation Services? Wow! That’s frightening on so many levels. Remember the “garbage in, garbage out” articles about using AVM’s? Many AVM’s are close to useless. “Relevant data,” really, like an AVM? Gimme a break! Hard to get passed this on and it’s flat out crazy. If computers could price real estate accurately, the appraisal industry would have died out years ago…

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Quality Monitoring / Appraisers News

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Non-Lender Valuation: Consumers Should Tread Carefully

Competition, in a free market, is a fierce catalyst: one that can effectively sort out the bad apples from the bunch. Capitalism works, it is simple when left unfettered and when all parties are ethical in their approach to business. It works until politicians, however well meaning they try to be, step in with a”solution”. Through the Dodd-Frank reform and the Andrew Cuomo created Home Valuation Code of Conduct that predates Dodd-Frank, congress effectively went anti-small business again. I liken this profession’s recent undermining by congress to how they saw to sort out the small-family farmers by paving the way...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

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Blacklisted? How to Get Reinstated

There is a high cost of being blacklisted. When a lending institution loses confidence in an appraiser’s work, the bank or AMC will put them on a “do not use” list, also known as a blacklist. In some cases, this means an appraiser has made a costly mistake. However, some banks are taking blacklisting to an extreme by treating appraisers as guilty until proven innocent without cause or reason why. If unchallenged, this practice can be devastating because being blacklisted even once can have permanent detrimental effects on an appraiser’s career, income, and reputation. By engaging in blacklisting lenders are...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O

Call to action DPOR AMC hearing 1

DPOR AMC Public Hearing CALL to ACTION

CALL to ACTION: DPOR Public Hearing for Initial Appraisal Management Company Regulations Thursday, February 27, 2014, DPOR is holding a public hearing on the proposed Initial Appraisal Management Company Regulations. The hearing will begin at 9:00AM in the DPOR  meeting room at 9960 Maryland Dr, Richmond. The new regulation establishes definitions, qualifications, fees, and standards of practice and conduct for appraisal management companies. The new regulation is required to implement Chapter 405 of the Acts of the 2012 General Assembly, which resulted from HB 210. The goal of the regulation is to establish qualifications, fees, and standards of practice and...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Questions Regarding Customary and Reasonable Fees? 9

Usual & Customary? According to Who?

Try this method of “price fixing” in any other business and see what happens! The “marketplace” usually sets what is considered “customary and reasonable”. Imagine asking attorneys to base their fees on what some government official (who knows nothing about their business) decides is “customary and reasonable”. It would NEVER EVER work, and should not be part of the appraisal (or any other) industry. It’s absolutely price-fixing which I always thought was illegal. The HVCC started all this focus on the appraisal industry and everybody is so busy trying to remake the appraisal industry, the banking industry quietly slips away,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees / Dodd-Frank Act / C&R Fees

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URAR 1004s Are for Sissies

1004s are for sissies I remember the first time I ever saw a real appraisal report.  No, I am not talking about a 1004, 2055, or even a 1025.  I am not referring to a Fannie or Freddie form at all. I mean a real, living, breathing, monster of a report; the narrative!!! (insert collective gasp here) Early in my career, one of my insightful instructors brought one of his narrative reports to class.  As I perused that 76 page beast full of words (not boxes), descriptions (not canned comments), graphs (not pre-filled MC Addendums), and pictures (oh, how there were...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

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