Category: AVM

New URAR Redesign Spec Released 72

New URAR Redesign Spec Released

The Appraisal Forms & UAD Redesign Spec has been released and the current forms are being retired. This means that appraisers will no longer be using individual forms for each property type, but instead will have to use a single dataset with output varying based on property characteristics. If you want to get an idea of what this looks like, take a look at Appendix D-1 of the spec document. The new URAR form is going to be used for all types of properties as well as hybrid & traditional appraisals. It is important to note that this redesign requires...

1004MC / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Software / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models

How U.S. Home Valuations Are Being Subverted 21

How U.S. Home Valuations Are Being Subverted

At the crossroads of it all is a campaign to weaken or eliminate valuations… The nonprofit is now exploring ways it can set standards for automated valuations… Expect greater distortions from Freddie and Fannie’s plodding and committee-driven foray into automated valuations.  Sometimes when the hair on the back of your neck stands up, there’s a reason for it. The nation’s $11 trillion mortgage market has been nationalized. This coup occurred in broad daylight and gradually. With Freddie and Fannie now in their second decade in federal conservatorship, the prospect that they will ever again be subjected to the watchful eye...

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

Garbage Data In Means Garbage Results Out Every Time! 24

AVMs… Garbage In, Garbage Out

Garbage data in means garbage results out every time!  It’s no secret that AVMs have been a thorn in the side of real estate appraisers since they first came out. Despite all their bells and whistles, these automated valuation models still rely on inaccurate public records and often come up with wildly inaccurate home values. Unfortunately, some consumers don’t realize this until it’s too late – when reality comes crashing down from a local real estate professional after they’ve already gotten their hopes up about their home value thanks to an AVM. Yesterday, a Virginia assessor emailed us with an...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

The Real Cause of the Home Value Gap Is the Income Gap 77

The Real Cause of the Home Value Gap Is the Income Gap

Blaming appraisers for the income gap will never solve the real underlying problem… Blaming appraisers for the income gap is as ridiculous as blaming appraisers for gun violence and gas prices. I watched the January 24, 2023 ASC Appraisal Bias hearing. Comments were requested after the hearing. This letter is my comment. I’ve been a real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California for 40 years. I’ve been a licensed California Certified Residential Appraiser since licenses were first offered in 1993/1994. I’m a Latino woman who speaks English and Spanish. I appraise property in the diverse county of Los Angeles and...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee

Bringing More People Into a Dying Profession! 84

Bringing More People Into a Dying Profession!

Some people want to bring more people (primarily of color, which is great) into a dying profession. But the profession is being killed off by (mostly white!) people who think technology is the golden spoon to accurate valuations.  Appraisers, I’ve been studying, and writing about since 2006, all kind of issues surrounding our profession, and frankly some currently does not make sense. As many know, ‘we’ have been accused of not having “enough black people” in appraiser ranks. The claim is that blacks only represent 3% or so of the total population of appraisers. The people engaged in blaming appraisers...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM

Why Are Fannie, Freddie Peddling Exotic Junk-Rated Risk Swaps? 5

Why Are Fannie, Freddie Peddling Exotic Junk-Rated Risk Swaps?

Meanwhile, cratering home prices are eroding demand for the junk-rated credit transfers.  As mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie bend the knee to their political overlords, they securitize ever riskier loans. It’s a sign of the times. But while no one was looking, the twins – who wield the full faith and credit of the U.S. government – began quietly offloading this surplus risk in the form of so-called “credit-risk transfers.” The U.S. taxpayer should be worried. As the public learned in 2008 with AIG’s credit-default swaps, hidden risk injected into the financial system doesn’t stay hidden for long. The twins,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

AVMs The Not So Accurate Magic Bullet 21

AVMs… The Not So Accurate Magic Bullet

That article mentioned three on-line services which claim to provide accurate property values. In alphabetical order, those services were REDFIN, ReMax, and Zillow.  Folks, in all the diatribes against appraisers by people who believe “we” have built-in systemic bias, the topic of AVMs has come up. Some of the diatribers apparently think that using an AVM will magically produce an accurate property valuation, while eliminating bias, and appraisers. Well, not so fast. A while ago I saw a ‘consumer facing’ article telling people how they could get the value on their home. That article mentioned three on-line services which claim...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Trending

Appraisers Are Historians...Tracking the Motivations of the Moment 19

Appraisers Are Historians

It is gratifying when appraisers are correct, and the AVMs burn; unless you invested in their stocks.  I mean no disrespect to the modelers of the Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) or to Zillow for relying on their AVMs. As an appraiser since the 80s, I have yet to find a computer that can tell me if I want vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Does the buyer want more acres, or less grass to cut? I will admit that a raised ranch, a two story farm house, a colonial, a split level, and a Dutch colonial can all sell for the...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

The Government Screwing Over an Entire Industry 16

The Government Screwing Over an Entire Industry

The government wants to move to a fully automated appraisal format, and the more that they can dirty the narrative in their favor, the quicker they get to their objective… This just in: In a recent memo, the CFPB wants you to know that if you are buying a home, that you can contest your appraisal. By the way, anyone at any time can contest an appraisal for any reason. This isn’t new. Not at all. In fact the CFPB doesn’t really give two craps about your opinion of value or the Appraiser’s opinion of value. This has nothing to...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models

Wells Fargo Workers Went on Appraisal-Fraud Bender 14

Wells Fargo Workers Went on Appraisal-Fraud Bender

Loan officers at Wells Fargo altered values in the bank’s database, so loans would qualify for so-called appraisal waivers… It feels like Ground Hog Day all over again. Who can forget the Wells Fargo banker who, stressed from opening fraudulent accounts in the name of hapless depositors, had begun guzzling hand sanitizer? That was in 2016. New revelations from the nation’s second-largest mortgage lender will make the U.S. taxpayer want to take a good long pull on the nearest bottle of hand wash. Dozens of loan officers at Wells Fargo altered values in the bank’s database, so loans would qualify...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

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