The US Department of Agriculture - Appraisers Blogs

The Town With No Bank: How Rural America Lost Its Mortgage Lifeline

Dallas T. Kiedrowski, MNAA — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:30:24 +0000

For decades, we’ve been told that the problem is demand. That people don’t want to live in rural America anymore. That lending dried up because the buyers disappeared. That it’s just the market working as it should. But what if we’ve been telling the wrong story? Because when you look closely, when you actually follow the data, the decisions, and the people left behind, it turns out rural America didn’t walk away from mortgage credit. Mortgage credit walked away from rural America. The Collapse of Local Lending Up until the 1980s, a family in a small farming town could walk...

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Speed Regardless of Accuracy Under the Banner of Modernization

Dave Towne — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 13:30:54 +0000

Appraisers, something – comparing and contrasting – dawned on me last week, after reading another news release titled “Dean Kelker: Appraisal Modernization is Starting to Gain Momentum“, which is basically pushing an “Enterprise” singular ‘agenda’ of valuation speed regardless of accuracy. Under the banner of “modernization.” VA does not demand appraisers complete assigned appraisal assignments extraordinarily quickly. They give appraisers 7 – 10 days (depending on location) to submit the report after assignment. VA expects good quality and accurate information. FHA/USDA/ONAP also expects appraisal accuracy using an inspection protocol that many appraisers object to, and some choose not to do...

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VA Unofficially Says NOPE to ANSI

Dave Towne — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 12:30:20 +0000

The other agencies, Freddie Mac, HUD/FHA, USDA, ONAP, VA have NOT (yet) adopted this ANSI measuring protocol. Appraisers, an appraiser I know sent an email to the VA asking if VA was going to require appraisers to adhere to the ANSI Z765-2021 Measuring Standard as of April 1, 2022. The appraiser received an ‘unofficial’ response back from a person within the VA connected to processing appraisals, which said: “The short answer is, no.” I say this is ‘unofficial’ because to-date, I have seen nothing “official” from VA about this topic. Only officials from within VA know whether or not they...

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Appraisers Not Signing Up with These AMCs

VaCAP Board — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 13:30:54 +0000

Over the past few weeks VaCAP has been hearing from our members on some of the concerns they have with how appraisal management companies are conducting themselves. It started when appraisers on the USDA panel received notifications that USDA was no longer ordering appraisals directly and that task has been outsourced. Verdi Consulting and Jones Lang LaSalle have received the contracts from USDA for appraisal origination. Neither of these companies are licensed as an appraisal management company in Virginia and they are using two appraisal management companies as subcontractors; Valligent and Clarocity. Most appraisers we heard from were highly concerned...

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Appraisers Alarmed by USDA’s Poor Decision

Guest Author — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 12:30:40 +0000

Verdi Consulting has no business being involved with appraisals… they have fraud examiners that should have done some due diligence on Clarocity… Nope, not going to happen… I received an email from what appeared to be from USDA. As a long time USDA appraiser, I opened the email: Verdi Consulting, Inc. has been engaged by the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development Office as one of two vendors under a Blanket Purchase Agreement (“BPA”) for Nationwide Single-Family Housing Origination Appraisals. The USDA has provided your information as a preferred incumbent Vendor Appraiser. We would like to invite you to...

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Street Scene Photos of the Subject Property

Dave Towne — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 13:30:23 +0000

Appraisers, the discussion of subject photos occurred recently on a forum I read. How many of you know the street scene “view” policy of FHA and FNMA? How many of you were trained to just take ONE photo from the very front of the subject, looking down the street in one direction or the other (without having the subject in the photo)? Is that ‘good enough’ for a lender to know the context of where the subject is on the street? If a ‘street view policy’ between agencies is more strict for one, would it be appropriate to adopt that policy for...

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Done Deal

Dave Towne — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 13:30:05 +0000

AMC Consolidaton – Class Valuation (formerly Class Appraisal) of Troy, MI is acquiring Landmark Network, of Van Nuys, CA. This document does not say ‘when’ it will occur, or if the transaction has concluded, but the way it is written, the implication is that it’s a “dun deel.” Anybody have any scuttlebutt on which of the hundreds of the remaining AMC’s might be next to be consolidated with another one? Landmark Network’s email: Hello! Eleven years ago, I set out to create a different kind of appraisal management company. One that truly valued our appraiser partners while embracing the efforts...

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Death Grip on Trainees Loosening

Dave Towne — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:30:39 +0000

Allowing associated trainee appraisers to complete unsupervised inspections… Appraisers, and others, A ‘significantly large’ nationwide AMC has notified it’s vendor appraisers that certain lenders contracted with this AMC will now accept appraisal reports signed by properly trained (and presumed properly approved by the State) Trainees as the ‘Appraiser.’ This follows the Jan. 31, 2017 FNMA announcement that they will accept reports signed by Trainees. So far, I have not seen any similar announcement from FrMAC, FHA, VA, or USDA, or any other specific lender. The AMC’s message to their appraiser panel is below. NOTE: This memo says the Trainee is...

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USDA FHA Let’s Get it Right

Dave Towne — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 12:30:24 +0000

USDA has it right! FHA appraisers, Thanks to TJ McCarthy, a Chicago based appraiser and current web master for the Illinois state appraiser association ICAP, for providing this interesting bit of news. What this document says is that USDA expects the Home PURCHASER (the loan applicant) to obtain a “whole house inspection” in advance of submitting their loan application. This will be effective Oct. 1, 2015. Inspection can be paid by the seller. This ‘whole house inspection’ is NOT DONE BY AN APPRAISER. It is to be done by someone licensed or certified as a home inspector, who then provides a written report...

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What is Gross Living Area (GLA)?

Dave Towne — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 12:30:18 +0000

What is Gross Living Area and What Does it Include? Appraisers, There are certain properties where aspects of Gross Living Area (GLA) might not be obvious. It’s more confusing when the selling real estate agents lump all “living space” together, because that’s what they are selling, or when the county assessor includes basements with upper level areas. These include homes with a detached ADU, additional rec room or sleeping space above a garage, additional living space with roof attached to the primary dwelling via covered breezeway, basement living spaces with separate entry, etc. Fannie Mae has a giant book called...

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Cost Approach Required for USDA Condo Appraisals

Dave Towne — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 13:30:50 +0000

Appraisers, New written instructions published by USDA ‘require’ a COST APPROACH for the condo being appraised. Interestingly, the pre-printed 1073 Form has NO PLACE on it to complete a Cost Approach – for good reason! While not impossible, it would be extraordinarily difficult to calculate a CA for a typical condo in a multi-unit building, without supporting documentation and a gigantic pile of cost info for the various components. And in fact, appraiser’s certification #4 on the 1073 form says that neither a Cost Approach nor an Income Approach are included unless the appraiser considers them necessary to arrive at a...

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CU Process Will Improve Appraisals? A Pipedream or Reality?

Dave Towne — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:30:32 +0000

Fannie Mae Claims the CU Process Will “Improve Appraisals.” A Pipedream or Reality? Appraisers, A few days ago, I watched the FNMA eLearning webinar “Introduction to CU” video showing how their new Collateral Underwriter will be implemented, starting on Jan. 26, 2015, applying to 1004 and 1073 Reports (initially). You really should watch this also! CU applies to FANNIE MAE only; FreddieMac, VA, FHA, USDA are not involved at this time. Click this link, and you’ll find the link to the video ½ way down on the left. I captured a few screen shots of their presentation to help explain...

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No Appraisal Required on Obama Administration Plan

AppraisersBlogs — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:00:14 +0000

Last week the Obama Administration unveiled its plan to help homeowners refinance to take advantage of historically-low interest rates. We are going to focus on the valuation side of the plan. If you want the rest of the details you can go here. The program includes refinance options for GSE (government sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers. Both programs forgo the appraisal requirements in the refinance process. According to the White House Fact Sheet, “the GSEs would be directed to use mark-to-market accounting or other alternatives to manual appraisals for any loans for which...

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USDA Adopts Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD)

AppraisersBlogs — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:00:18 +0000

The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development announced that the Uniform Appraisal Dataset will apply to the Single Family Housing Section 502 Guaranteed and Direct Loan Programs effective January 1, 2012. The purpose of this Administrative Notice (AN) is to announce the USDA Rural Development Single Family Housing Section 502 Guaranteed and Direct Loan Programs will adopt the new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) effective September 1, 2011. To allow sufficient time to make any necessary data system changes, the requirements of this AN will be mandatory for all appraisals completed on or after January...

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