Category: VA

Thank you Wall Street 3

Thank You Wall Street for Killing off my Hallmark Moments

Thank you Wall Street, your mothers must be very proud of you! I’m not sure when it happened, but sometime in my lifetime the family home stopped being where you chose to live to raise your family and put down roots and became an investment asset. It seems this transformation began when investment bankers on Wall Street first realized residential mortgage lending represented a potential source of huge profits. Prior to the Great Depression, a typical mortgage loan was for 50% of the cost of a home, was interest only, was for 5 years with a balloon payment due at...

Fannie Mae Claims the CU Process Will Improve Appraisals 5

CU Process Will Improve Appraisals? A Pipedream or Reality?

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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Major Change to Fannie Mae Selling Guide

Major Change in Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide Appraisers and report reviewers, Fannie Mae issued an update to their Selling Guide on 12/16/14. It contains this pretty major change to their guidelines: Adjustments to Comparable Sales As a result of an analysis of Uniform Appraisal Dataset data specific to comparable adjustments, Fannie Mae has eliminated the 15% net and 25% gross adjustment guidelines and has provided clarification with respect to Fannie Mae’s expectations for the appraiser to analyze the market for competitive properties and provide appropriate market based adjustments without regard to limits on the size of the adjustments. Updated Selling Guide...

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What’s Going on With Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter?

The recent announcement that Fannie Mae will expose its sellers to the Collateral Underwriter™ (CU™) appraisal review tool has appraisers wondering if the process will affect their current and future appraisals and even present problems for past appraisals. Well, from the appraiser perspective, the short answer is you probably won’t notice much difference when this change takes place in January 2015. Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter appraisal review process is not a new concept. This is the same tool that Fannie Mae has been using internally to review appraisals submitted to the Uniform Collateral Data Portal® (UCDP®). Receiving the appraisals as...

XML MISMO UAD appraisal 0

VA Appraisals Must be in MISMO XML

VA Announces Electronic Appraisal Requirements: Appraisals must be in MISMO XML Effective June 1, 2014, all Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) appraisals will be processed in WebLGY under the VA Appraisal Management System (AMS). Therefore, beginning June 1, 2014, all VA appraisals must be uploaded in WebLGY in Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) compliant XML 2.6 GSE file format as VA will no longer accept appraisals uploaded in WebLGY in PDF format. Prior to June 1, 2014, VA appraisals must continue to be uploaded in WebLGY in PDF file format. Historically, VA appraisal form/formats conformed to appraisal industry form/format...

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Appraisal Guidelines

In the August edition of the AppraisalPort Newsletter, I reported on some of the general information covered at the National AI Connect Conference in Indianapolis, July 23-25, 2013. This was a great conference, covering a wide range of topics. This month, I want to pass on some information covered in one of the breakout sessions for residential appraisers. The session was titled, “Residential Chief Policy Roundtable” and included presentations from Fannie Mae’s Robert Murphy, the Appraisal Institute’s Bill Garber, HUD’s Ada Bohorfoush, and the VA’s Gerald Kifer. At Fannie Mae, Murphy handles many of the issues regarding appraisers and the...

How should you handle an angry borrower at a re-inspection 0

How to Handle an Angry Borrower at a Re-inspection

Angry borrower… please don’t shoot! We’ve all been there. We do an appraisal inspection and find health and safety issues that must be mentioned in the appraisal. A few weeks later, we receive an engagement letter requesting a re-inspection. The appointment is set and the borrowers confirm that all repairs have been made to a satisfactory level. The appointed time arrives and you drive to the property in question. Before you even get out of your vehicle, you can tell that the health and safety issues have been minimally addressed but certainly not to the level that would allow for...

The Veteran’s Administration - A Model for All AMCs 3

The Veterans Administration – A Model for All AMCs

AMC should learn from the way the Veterans Administration treats their appraisers Let us begin with the obvious – the Veterans Administration (VA) is not an Appraisal Management Company (AMC).  They are a non-profit, government entity that works under different rules, so making a direct comparison between the two is not entirely fair.  However, there are some things I think every AMC should learn from the way the Veterans Adminstration treats their appraisers. Personally, I have been trying to get on the VA’s appraisal panel for over 6 years.  They are a tough nut to crack.  After much persistence, however,...

VaCap Letter to VA Regarding UAD 1

VaCap Letter to VA Regarding UAD

Concerns regarding the decision of the VA to adopt UAD William Stewart Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) October 21, 2011 Dear Sandy, As president of the Virginia Coalition of Appraiser Professionals I wish to express to you our members’ deep concern regarding the decision of the VA to adopt the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD). Our association has been active in our state regarding this issue and we feel this idea will only harm the quality of appraisals that our Veterans will receive in the future. It is for certain that the homeowner or new purchaser will not understand the appraisal...

UAD Reader alamode 0

UAD Reader to Manage XML Appraisal Files

Free UAD Reader to Manage XML Appraisal Files UAD (Uniform Appraisal Dataset) is the appraisal format designed and required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and adopted by FHA and VA. All GSE-destined appraisals as of September 1st, 2011 must be in strict UAD format. FHA and VA have announced they will both require UAD after January 1st, 2012. How do you open and read an appraisal file in the newly required “UAD” MISMO 2.6 XML format? a la mode UAD Reader is a free tool that lets anyone work with any appraisal in the new UAD MISMO 2.6 XML...

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