Category: USPAP

October 31, 2022

Diatribes Against Appraisers

What’s even more frustrating to me is none of the well-known appraiser organizations have offered any public rebuttal to any of these hit pieces, or explained how the appraisal process works as a way to defend appraisers… Census Tract data delineating RACE of the population is the only ammunition the people doing these hit pieces can use to attack appraisers. Appraisers, this is a long article but it’s important, as it reveals how you are being discredited in the work you do. Yet, ‘we’ must begin doing some introspection of what we are or have been doing, and make necessary...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee

October 20, 2022

The Appraisal Problem

Gone are the days of hiring a professional appraiser to solve the appraisal problem. For decades lenders have taken on the responsibility of shaping the appraisal process and dictating the solutions to the appraisal problem. Savvy appraisers push back in a positive fashion to try and enable the lender to receive a report that not only meets USPAP, FIRREA, Fannie Mae, or HUD/FHA/VA an UAD reporting guidelines, but also provides the client with a report that is clear, concise, accurate and not misleading. An appraisal report can be on time, have all the boxes checked, no inconsistencies, meet all the...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Administration / FHA

September 13, 2022

Grants to Help Train Appraisers

To establish grants directly to supervisor appraisers to help cover the training costs for each Trainee… Folks, this article appeared in American Banker on September 7, 2022. In my view, after reading it, the article appears to present a balanced perspective about what appraisers have been experiencing since the FIRREA law was mandated back in 1989. It also exposes problems with getting new people into the appraisal profession. If you have been paying attention to appraisal related activities over the years, you will recognize the names of people quoted in this American Banker article. One thing that has not been...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / The Appraisal Foundation

September 7, 2022

Restoration Value Magicians!

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...

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

August 29, 2022

Baltimore Racial Bias Lawsuit

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...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

August 16, 2022

No End Date for Future Editions of USPAP

Future editions of USPAP will have an effective start date but no end date. Folks, on Thursday August 11, 2022, the ASB/TAF announced the extension of the current USPAP to the end of 2023. Assuming that a ‘new’ USPAP is formally approved in time, the next issue of USPAP will become effective January 1, 2024. But here’s the interesting wrinkle about this, which I admit I missed in their 8/11/22 announcement: “How long is the current version of USPAP effective? With this announcement, the 2020-21 USPAP will now have an effective date through December 31, 2023. This is an additional...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee / Appraisers News / AQB

August 11, 2022

Justice for Texas Appraiser? You Bet. Price Tag: $99,000

The Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board is a hot mess, but one with a malicious and callous streak. That makes it dangerous to licensees. The Unclean Hands Doctrine is a legal defense. It helps prevent petitioners who are engaged in fraud, deceit or bad faith from recovering certain damages from others. If you’re a known cattle rustler yourself, the Unclean Hands defense may keep you from recovering damages if your own cattle go missing. It’s also sometimes called the “Clean Hands Doctrine” or the “Dirty Hands Doctrine.” Based on this doctrine, the feculent fingers of the Texas Appraiser Licensing...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / TALCB / Texas Appraiser Licensing & Certification Board

USPAP 3rd Exposure Draft & Nondiscrimination Section Proposed

August 4, 2022

USPAP Third Exposure Draft

…the Ethics Rule has been expanded with a new highly detailed Nondiscrimination section, which also affects the Competency Rule. Folks, the Appraisal Foundation’s Appraisal Standards Board released the THIRD Exposure Draft to USPAP on July 26, 2022. To be honest, I didn’t know there have been two previous Exposure Drafts. I would encourage you to download and print this Draft here. The PDF is also embedded below. It’s only 11 pages total. The key difference in this Draft is that the Ethics Rule has been expanded with a new highly detailed Nondiscrimination section, which also affects the Competency Rule. You...

Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / ASB / The Appraisal Foundation / The Appraisal Standards Board

June 21, 2022

Appraisers Should Bristle

Stealthy vice again masquerades as public virtue. The head of yet another government-subsidized nonprofit was found funneling cash to cronies while raking in obscene compensation. The nation’s long-suffering appraisers will recognize the pattern in a porcine publisher they are forced to frequently slop as frenzied Beltway porkers go whole-hog on the swill. Revelations surfaced recently about a New York City nonprofit receiving government subsidies to aid the homeless. The nonprofit then lavished a garden of earthly delights on its boss and his cronies. Jack Brown, the chief executive of CORE Services Group, a New York City provider of services...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee / Appraisers News / ASC

May 2, 2022

Census Tract Info Used Against Appraisers

“Census tract boundaries do not necessarily define the subject’s market…” Appraisers, of all the issues I’ve written about or questioned since 2006, this topic about your knowledge of, and concern about, Census Tracts has overwhelmingly been the largest response ever, several hundred within just a few hours of posting! To refresh, the questions were these: Do you know where the Census Tracts boundaries are in the areas you work? When you research and select comparables for your reports, do you pay any attention to Census Tracts? Do you know the racial composition of Census Tracts in the areas you work?...

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