Such a move has worked to insulate appraisers from a great many issues, to date. That window of relief is quickly closing. When gse policies drive changes, those changes are adopted into regulatory framework thereafter. VA appraisers no longer safe, next comes non lending work. And there won’t even be a lender or third party company to provide some insulation, it will be the allegedly biased appraiser against the borrower and their heavily funded 501c activist group, with your own political representatives on their speed dial. 501c groups have morphed into pet project funds which easily bypass legislative intent and authority. They’ve taken over school systems, lending systems, media outlets, etc. At this point effective arguments are moot and pointless, we’ll need to advocate for abolishment of non profit structures in general to stop this sweeping wave of radicalism which remove protections granted by a republic structure. These groups are not just to stop religious institutions from being taxed to death, not anymore. There is no more truth in debate, nor is there accountability based on honest principals of blind justice, only whom has stronger representation for their side advocacy. ‘The truth’ no matter how factual or apparent, is no longer deemed worthy of mainstream coverage, if it’s even acknowledged in the first place.

Avoiding HUD does work. Try it, you may like it.

Two words; Legal Prescient. Avoiding HUD will not insulate appraisers from these radical activities. You’ll be in the CE classes too, TAF is already promoting them. The accusation will automatically extend to all practices related to real property valuation and will become a defact fact. Manufactured doubt has no limitations. Look no further than the 501c non profits whom are profiting from this activity. It’s not about logic, accusations, or accountability. It’s about money. leveraging other peoples money. Taxation without representation is the new normal.

Scott, yup that’s that way it basically works. It has been for decades. The AMC business model has just taken the appraisal process toto the level. I started my appraisal career, like many, doing lender work. But I decided to terminate my lender work 20+ years ago for the very reason you just described.

Your state board will tell you that you are guilty until you prove your innocence.

Your lender will do a field review on your work, and that review is SO bad you wouldn’t line your bird cage with it. But your appraisal is defective, and you are guilty until you prove your innocence.

Now there is appraisal bias and discrimination to deal with, and how the hell can you prove your innocence? You’ll just be plain guilty…..

LOL………I have no responsibility, since I haven’t done lender work for 20+ years and I have never done HUD work. BTW, whatever happen to innocent till proven guilty.

According to HUD, there are new tools to combat the problem. Image attached.

Apparently you are personally responsible for the entire history of this country and every lender and policy change from municipal to federal over several centuries which resulted in generational wealth gaps. It’s your fault.

And bias is the easiest route because it cannot be disproven. Having to show market data to disprove my reports would be quite difficult.

And what happens if the inspector for a hybrid is biased. AFAIK they don’t even sign their name to the report so they don’t even have pressure to not be biased like appraisers have, if anything appraisers are pressured to hi ball. I have never been pressured to lo ball someone. If an appraiser is seriously trying to lo ball people s/he will lose their clients and the problem corrects itself.

https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/documents/circulars/26-23-05.pdf

3. Action.
a. As of December 19, 2022, VA enhanced its oversight procedures to detect potential discriminatory bias in appraisal reports. Under the enhanced procedures, VA reviews every report submitted to VA in the home loan guaranty program. If the initial review indicates to VA a potential discriminatory bias, VA flags the file for an escalated review. If VA’s escalated review confirms a discriminatory bias, the appraiser will be subject to removal as a VA-approved appraiser; and VA will refer the case to the proper enforcement agencies for further investigation.

And there it is….

Well, yes and no Mr Wilson. It’s the lender and amc if involved whom will either guide customers to go down one avenue of relief or the other. Appraisers working with woke companies will be at the greatest risk. These issues come down to the people and their personal ethic. As we’ve learned time and time again, the woke crowd is unpredictable and at times may have no boundaries, no respect for other peoples views or objections. These radical activists seek to reframe the real estate appraiser as something akin to a social worker for home values, placing equitable responsibility for all of societies problems on the shoulders of data analysts. We’ve found success so far in simply avoiding people and companies whom virtue signal, as they are attractants to other unstable people, untenable ideologies in the long term. Our family motto is we’ve had enough change to last a lifetime and don’t want any more. We live it too, our list of companies and places we boycott is indeed ever longer. We had to pull the kids out of public school, you won’t even believe the policies there.

These issues in the real estate sector are but symptoms and reflections of a larger societal problem. This will be much easier to navigate in appraisal though, if you have bad news for people just deliver it up front right then and there, be kind, compassionate, this will cut off a lot of potential service and result based complaints. Defend yourself with data. You see because the lender is not worried about negative results, they’ll just push it back. A wise appraiser understands the situation behind needing the engagement, before moving to numerical opinion development and property review. Everyone just needs to be kind and rewind. Pick your clients carefully. I’m like, I only want to provide services for companies I’d actually choose as a consumer myself. The wagon, is right out, no way no how. Check out this loan solicitation from a non qm, what could go wrong? Basically if you stay away from amc’s you can stay away from the most dangerous lenders, as they’re the ones whom always use amc’s. Big shot volume appraisers are going to deal with this a lot more than small shop guys.

The whole notion that we should have protected classes we treat with equity instead of treating everyone with equality is sickening to me. Equality is a bad word now for our current federal government regime.

I think it will start with ethical appraisers avoiding complex assignments if there is any hint that the borrower is a protected class because of the liability. This will hurt those that these politicians claim to be helping. You can have the most credible well supported report and go through years of litigation with the federal government leaning in without even the information being presented.

Day 1 or close to it Joe Biden started a task force (PAVE) and in its opening statement it claimed that when appraisers compare a house to others in the same neighborhood it advanced segregation and redlining. We are there to appraise the property, not correct all wrongs past and present, that is the politicians job and they are pushing it on us when it is not our job and would be unethical to do so.

The purpose of an appraisal is not to help a buyer obtain a loan but alternatively the purpose is to protect the lender from making bad loans. That is: loaning more money than the lender could sell the collateral asset for on the market after foreclosure, as well as providing an incentive to the borrower to continue making payments in order to protect their equity in the property.

The person seeking a loan use to be the party obtaining the services of appraisers which led to borrowers shopping for the appraiser that provided the highest value. This dynamic provided incentives for appraisers to inflate values and set up lenders for bad loans where borrowers had an incentive to walk away and leave lenders with properties worth less than the loan balance. The current process of lenders hiring appraisers is much better for all parties because it promotes a more stable lending environment.

I agree that AMCs are an unnecessary costly added layer.

What makes you think it’s just FHA? I have a friend who works closely with the AGA and racial bias accusations run the gamut of lenders…not just FHA guaranteed loans.

If an unhappy FHA borrower can hassle me with a ROV and ruin my career, why should I choose to remain on the FHA Roster? Maybe its time to reconsider whether FHA business is worth the risk.

I am tired of the growing bias against appraisers!! Lots of allegations and no proof.