Category: USPAP

September 2, 2015

Another Win for Appraisers – California

Cooperation between appraisers and multiple appraiser organizations wins the day in California! When is the last time you heard of a State bill that was already passed by both State Houses (Assembly & Senate) in any state, being quashed short of a Governor’s veto? Especially a “consent calendar” item that legislators automatically vote to approve for each other as a legislative courtesy. In less than two months? Let me share a quote from Rey Cano’s regular appraiser newsletter (www.Malibuappraisal.com). Rey, along with George St Johns, was an original co-founder of the California Coalition of Appraisal Professionals (CaCAP), where with full...

AGA / AI / American Society of Appraisers / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News

August 31, 2015

Skewed “Customary” Fee Perceptions

I no longer care about “customary”. “Customary” in Dodd-Frank’s customary and reasonable is a negatively biased fee before state studies begin! We all know that the “C” part of C & R is supposed to represent the normal fee charged by most appraisers for similar work and conditions. Some AMC appraisers even know the “R” part is supposed to be an amount that is reasonable based upon ALL factors necessary for completion of the assignment in a USPAP compliant and professional manner. Unfortunately HVCC and the AMC havoc it wreaked has existed far too long for there to be a...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

August 27, 2015

The Realities of Regression

The use of Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU) tool by lenders has created some “hot topics” for appraisers. Durbin is encouraged by the use of CU and thinks it will be a good thing for the appraisal profession. One of these topics is the discussion around how to clearly show the methodology the appraiser used to arrive at the adjustment values. In this presentation Durbin proposes the use of “Regression Analysis” (RA) as a solution to this problem.
Durbin lamented there is a perception that appraisers make subjective, anecdotal, arbitrary, and unscientific adjustments. Now that CU will be looking at adjustments…

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Software

August 19, 2015

AMC’s “My Way or the Highway” Attitude

Apparent appraiser abuse by AMC’s… As Chairman of the American Guild of Appraisers (AGA) National Appraiser Peer Review Committee, I have had the opportunity to see and hear directly about many cases involving alleged, as well as apparent appraiser abuse by AMC’s. These cases ranged geographically from California, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, New Jersey, Virginia, New York, Maryland, and District of Columbia. As a QC consultant to a smaller appraiser owned AMC, I have also seen low fee spreadsheets from a variety of lenders that had 90% listed at the SAME APPRAISER fees: $495.00 (which INCLUDED the AMC...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

FHA vs USPAP - FHA vs USPAP - FHA requirements – Appraisers Caught in Catch 22

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August 10, 2015

FHA Requirements vs USPAP

FHA Requirements vs USPAP – Appraisers Caught in Catch 22 Excerpt The new FHA Handbook will become effective on September 14, 2015. There has been much discussion of the implications of changing “should” to “must” in thousands of examples in the Handbook. As a Board member of the Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers as well as being on the FHA Roster, I have taken a good hard look at these requirements and then, it hit me as I was teaching the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) which is the basis of appraisal standards for every appraiser in...

AAREA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal Organizations / Arizona Association of Real Estate Appraisers

August 7, 2015

Report an Opinion of Value as a RANGE – Yes or No?

Can appraisers report an opinion of value as a range? Can that be done? The answer is both YES and NO, or as some like to say, “It Depends!” Here’s an interesting example of YES, involving two commercial properties in Miami Beach (yeah, I know, resi’s, but hang with me here!): Appraisals: Town-owned lots in West Palm Beach worth millions You will notice in the article that the value reported in the appraisals is stated as a RANGE by the appraisers. That is entirely acceptable when appraisals are done under the guidance of USPAP Standard 2. It makes sense to do it...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

Another Win for Appraisers - House Bill 651 Appraisal Bd. Recordkeeping & Bkgrd. Checks.

August 3, 2015

House Bill 651 Another Win for Appraisers!

House Bill 651: Appraisal Board Recordkeeping and Background Checks Raleigh, NC – Today Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford) passed House Bill HB 651 – Appraisal Board Recordkeeping and Background Checks – which provides regulatory relief for the real estate appraisal industry. House Bill 651 eliminates the discovery rule for civil action related to real estate appraisals and establishes a five year statute of limitations, which puts North Carolina in line with the United States Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. This will reduce insurance and compliance costs for real estate appraisers, many of which are small businesses and independent contractors. The bill...

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

June 26, 2015

Is Your Facebook Brag Violating USPAP?

Appraising celebrity homes and naming the names of said celebrities When is it acceptable to tell others about your assignments? Is it okay to tell someone that you just appraised a famous movie star’s home? It is human nature to share the weird, unique and exceptional with others. Recently there was a debate on a social media site about appraising celebrity homes and naming the names of said celebrities. We have all done something similar, sometimes in an open forum, sometimes between close colleagues. We are all human and it is within our nature to share the oddities and unusual stuff we have the opportunity...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

Appraiser-Client Relationship - Imagecredit Flickr - Dennis Hill

June 17, 2015

Don’t You Value our Relationship?

Relationships, we all have them. And despite the efforts of Dodd Frank to destroy them, we have somehow managed to keep them. A big bank that I had a great relationship dropped me because their portal system decided there were too many appraisers last year and left me hanging. No orders for a year. Now they’re busy and want me to do appraisals. Great! But between the portal fees, underwriting charges, title surpluses, software charges, destination charges, taxes, etc. the fee works out to be substantially lower than most work I have. They asked me “don’t you value our relationship?”. I replied where...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

June 5, 2015

The Appraisal Foundation Chocking The Appraisal Industry

The Appraisal Foundation Resisting Change The Appraisal Foundation sent out a correspondence stating the Appraisal Institute is undermining their authority. This was very one sided and off the mark. Everything changes. The appraisal business is changing. AI is staying on the fore front of this change. The Appraisal Foundation is resisting change. The Appraisal Foundation policies are chocking the appraisal industry. It is next to impossible to bring on new people. As a result the number of appraisers across the country in 2007 were 120,000 +/-. Today its about 70,000. The industry is changing and so must the policies. AI does not want to go back...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News