Appraisal News and Appraisal Tips For Real Estate Appraisers - Your source for appraisal industry news, appraisers' opinions, and discussions of appraisal issues
Question: “Care to reveal the minimum fee for a ‘typical’ 1004 + MC in your area?” Had an interesting email come in yesterday. It came from a friend of mine in the appraisal industry and began with this question, “Care to reveal the minimum fee for a ‘typical’ 1004 + MC in your area?” The message went on to express some concern over some of the shenanigans that was going on in his own area concerning AMCs, low fees, and appraiser’s willingness to sell themselves short. Unfortunately, the same is likely going on in every community (yours included). Though the...
common sense needs to take the place of algorithms and automated valuation models… I dealt with an old question recently that I felt was pertinent and worthy of repeating. The question arose in Brooklyn, NY when an underwriter demanded that the appraiser include the basement area as part of the gross building area when comparing the subject to the comparable sales. After all they reasoned, Fannie Mae guidelines, i.e. Property and Appraisal Guidelines, XI 405.07 state, “Gross building area, which is the total finished area (including any interior common areas, such as stairways and hallways) of the improvements based on...
I’ve written about this before but it’s well worth repeating. Please keep in mind, this is and has been the position of the Illinois board. If you appraise a property for Client A, and two years later, Client B wants you defend your report, you’re not required to answer their queries about the report created for Client A. What if Client B threatens to blacklist you for not cooperating in the review? When does the client relationship end with Client A? USPAP states: An appraiser must protect the confidential nature of the appraiser-client relationship. That seems clear enough. So, who...
Petition Opposing Coercive and Abusive Behavior of Chase Bank and Other Lenders Against Appraisers Please consider signing the online petition launched by John Dingeman opposing the coercive and abusive behavior of Chase Bank and other lenders against appraisers. Stop Intimidating, Threatening, and Bullying Appraisers Chase Mortgage Banking, like other financial institutions have come into possession of appraisals where a loan has been assigned or sold to them. If Chase had any issues with these appraisals during the underwriting process when the loans were written, they would have asked the appraiser’s “Client” for clarification, explanations, and/or corrections. With every foreclosure, Chase...
Memorandum to Kentucky Registered AMCs Regarding Appraiser Independence, Objectivity, and Impartiality From: Larry Disney, To: Kentucky Registered Appraisal Management Companies and Credentialed Appraisers, Date: March 29, 2012 Subject: Appraiser Independence, Objectivity, and Impartiality The Kentucky Real Estate Appraisers Board staff has received calls from Kentucky credentialed appraisers in the past two weeks concerning the following issue that is being propagated by Appraisal Management Companies: When appraising one unit residential properties and reporting the results of the appraisal development using a 1004 Fannie Mae form, the appraisers are told that if the cost approach is developed and reported, regardless of reasoning,...
Banks aren’t playing by the rules PHOENIX (CBS5) – Mortgage lenders and big banks share much of the blame for this country’s housing crash. So you would thing that they have learned their lesson after cheating the system with bad loans and shady business practices. But Jason Barry has uncovered a whole new way banks aren’t playing by the rules. Clay Gregory is a Valley home appraiser who is spending a lot of time at home these day, but it’s not by choice. “I was put in a position where they pretty much demanded information from me or they were threatening...
Fannie Mae released an updated version of Appendix D of the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD). Updates include: Date 2/18/2011, Version 1.1, Minor formatting changes Date 8/11/2011, Version 1.2 Updates: Added additional clarity in Introduction and Purpose and Overview Sections Added notation in multiple sections that additional Information can be provided elsewhere in the appraisal report Added clarification to Overall Condition rating Provided clarity on View and Location factors on how to report multiple factors Provided additional notation on Basement & Finished Rooms Below Grade Provided additional notation on Price of Prior Sale/Transfer Date 4/10/2012, Version 1.3, Clarifications relating to the selection of...
TAF Response to Columbia Institute eVIP Appraisal News April 6, 2012, Mr. George Harrison, The Columbia Institute Dear Mr. Harrison: This is regarding an item that appeared in the “Ask George” column in the April 2 edition of eVIP Appraisal News. The question and answer relates to Appraisal Sponsors of The Appraisal Foundation apparently being under some type of constraint regarding freedom of expression. You have made a similar claim in a previous column and we thought that it was time to correct the record. You state that “The Appraisal Foundation has a restriction clause – gag rule – in its...
Can we stop crime by making it against the law? If you want to stop crime, make it against the law! It is this type of thinking that has made it increasing difficult for honest appraisers, while providing a buffer for the true criminal that seeks to manipulate the system. Is it really as simple as the best appraiser is the one who is always on time, always fills out the form according to UAD, and never strays from a Fannie Mae guideline? The report reads clean, passes review and never makes the slightest ripple when place in the loan...
“There oughtta be a law!” This is the typical rant from well-meaning Americans who feel they have been wronged in some way. In some cases, they may be right. There is a place for government and there are a reasons for regulations. The problems is, we have too dang many of them! Appraisers of any walk are usually the first ones to complain against excess government overreach. Yet surprisingly, they can also be the first ones to call for more when it appears to be in their favor. Take a recent thread I was reading on a popular appraiser web...
