Appraisal News and Appraisal Tips For Real Estate Appraisers - Your source for appraisal industry news, appraisers' opinions, and discussions of appraisal issues
Learn how to use Restricted Appraisal Reports as an alternative to evaluations. Restricted Appraisal Reports: Are a USPAP-compliant alternative to evaluations Permit state licensed and certified appraisers to comply with state laws Allow clients to receive abbreviated reports Maggie Hambleton, Chair of the ASB and John Brenan, Director of Appraisal Issues, discuss the use of Restricted Appraisal Reports (Residential and Non-Residential). Click here to download the PDF presentation.
Big Corporations like CoreLogic are like sharks… This morning, as I do every morning, I made some coffee and began work on one of the two appraisal reports that were soon to be due. The first was for an AMC known as Speedy Title and Appraisal Review Services. This appraisal management company is owned by CoreLogic. From their website “CoreLogic is an Irvine, CA based corporation providing financial, property and consumer information, analytics and business intelligence. The company analyzes information assets and data to provide clients with analytics and customized data services. The company also develops proprietary research, and tracks...
No paid lobbyist, just appraisers talking with the Senators and Delegates about the abuses of some AMCs… Governor McAuliffe signed SB1573 into law requiring appraisal management companies to pay within 30 days of the initial delivery. This becomes law July 1, 2017. Here is how it happened…. Two appraisers, both small business owners, sat down and had a conversation with Senator Frank Wagner about some of the issues appraisers are facing. By the end of the conversation, the three were on the phone with a representative of Legislative Services drafting the verbiage of the bills needed to help protect the...
Proposal To Increase The Appraisal Threshold On Commercial Real Estate Loans The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s Joint Report to Congress said the federal banking agencies are developing a proposal to increase the threshold for requiring an appraisal on commercial real estate loans from $250,000 to $400,000. The report did not propose changes to the current residential real estate threshold of $250,000. In addition, the agencies recognize that appraisals can provide protection to consumers by helping to assure the residential purchaser that the value of the property supports the mortgage amount assumed. Overall, the agencies believe that the interests of...
Are busy appraisers doing Hybrid Appraisal products? Appraisers, The article titled First American launches new appraisal solutions technology popped in my system Tuesday early morning as I was getting ready to park my slippers. This article touts another ‘major’ company’s effort to design and implement a new version of what’s become to be known as a Hybrid Appraisal product. These products are designed to have a real estate sales person do the on-site property observation and photos, which are then provided to an appraiser, who completes a USPAP compliant ‘desktop’ appraisal. The whole point of these Hybrid appraisal products is...
Excessive markups are common but consumers usually “know nothing about it”… The Chicago Tribune has published an article written by Ken Harney concerning appraisal fees. The article is very telling of what appraisers already know. Now the consumers are aware. Please read and share the article with your colleagues, agents, local MLS Board, Realtor Board, Appraisal Board and your Legislators. The more the abuses of some AMCs are exposed, the more opportunity we have to protect the consumer. Are you paying unseen add-on fees for your appraisal? By Kenneth R. Harney Are you getting fleeced on appraisal charges when you...
Mortgagee letter on choosing FHA appraiser, AMC &/or 3rd party fees… Does HUD have a Better Understanding of the Role of AMCs? Recently an old HUD/ FHA mortgagee letter has resurfaced. The mortgagee letter, 2009-28 has to do with choosing a FHA approved Roster Appraiser and Appraisal Management Company and / or Third Party Organization Fees. This mortgagee letter specifically states “the fee for the actual completion of an FHA appraisal may not include a fee for management of the appraisal process any activity other than the performance of the appraisal.” This mortgagee letter was written prior to the Final Rules and...
FREE Cost Approach calculation worksheet… Appraisers, Many use Building-Cost.net as a source for completing residential Cost Approach details in appraisal reports. Craftsman Book Company is the owner of this service, and the web site offers a FREE Cost Approach calculation worksheet, which can be printed to PDF and included in reports, and also a printed hardcopy for the workfile if desired. I began using and promoting this web site years ago. Not long ago, the web site above was updated, to provide more specific reporting items, which in turn enables a more accurate and professional looking Cost Approach to be...
Amendments to Sales Contract & Updates to the Appraisal… Fannie Mae recently issued the following: Currently, we require the lender to provide the appraiser with all amendments made to a sales contract, including amendments that are made after completion of the appraisal. With this update, we have clarified when the appraiser must be provided with updates to the sales contract and circumstances that warrant updates to the appraisal. For example, if the contract is amended in a way that affects the description of the real property used by the appraiser, then the lender must provide the updated contract to the...
Very often the public records are dead wrong… Appraisers, We all know Fannie Mae (FNMA) has their Collateral Underwriting (CU) report scoring system after the .xml file of the report is submitted through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) portal used by both GSE’s. This system of theirs is used to ‘score’ an appraisal for a loan quality rating, and it’s also used to provide a lender with a guarantee of relief from a FNMA loan buy-back demand, if the report ‘scores’ a number of 2.5 or lower. We’ve previously discussed how that can be manipulated by a lender or an...
