Appraisal News and Appraisal Tips For Real Estate Appraisers - Your source for appraisal industry news, appraisers' opinions, and discussions of appraisal issues
CFPB is moving forward with proposing to eliminate the Debt to Income requirement… Appraisers, prepare yourself for what we are about to share. The short sighted proposal is simply nonsensical from every angle. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to eliminate the Debt to Income requirement on Qualified Mortgages. You may recall this was proposed a while back and most of the profession objected strongly. Letters, emails and phone calls were made and this absurdity went away. Earlier today CFPB Director, Kathy Kraninger announced the CFPB is moving forward with proposing to eliminate the Debt to Income (DTI) requirement and...
For some time, appraisers have written or called me, asking about how to do report corrections, or respond to client requests – after an original report has been sent in. I decided to distribute these suggestions to encourage a uniform procedure across the appraiser universe. I don’t recall ever seeing anything published about this topic. Disclose, don’t bury – modifications, corrections or responses to the original report, or even subsequent changes. I have seen too many reports where the appraiser hides changes within the body of the report as if those were part of the original, when in fact they...
Folks, if you have not been hiding under a rock since 2009, you know that both FNMA and FrMAC have been under ‘conservatorship’, regulated by FHFA for over the past 10+ years. If you’ve been paying attention, you also know that over the past few years there has been increasing talk to end the conservatorship, and now, to add competitors to the GSE’s in the mortgage loan purchase arena. That prospect is outlined in the latest Report to Congress by Mark Calabria, Director of FHFA, summarized in this article posted Tues, June 16, 2020, in Mortgage News Daily: The Federal...
Professional OPINIONS have value that can never, repeat NEVER be replaced by automation… Earlier this week, George Dell‘s article titled “Why is Residential Appraisal in Trouble?” was published on AppraisersBlogs. Respectfully, George misses or misinterprets a few items. There has been zero evidence that an AVM produces credible approximations of MARKET VALUE consistently or with even an acceptable degree of variance. None. Like George indicates, an AVM is NOT an appraisal. By definition, it is not an appraisal. FIRREA required appraisal standards; NOT banking industry and TAF proposed alternatives. TAF is very far out of line giving AVMs any imprimatur...
Why is Residential Appraisal in trouble? Is Residential Appraisal Finished?… There will soon be no need for residential appraisers. I remember years ago, doing education for my merging AIREA/SREA chapter(s) in San Diego. AVMs were just coming to our attention. I invited a MAI who happened to also be a PhD in economics, Phil Mitchell. The room was full. Someone asked about those “automated algorithmic computer calculated appraisals.” Could a canned program do as well as an appraiser? Without hesitation, he answered: “Not only will these models be able to appraise – they will do it better!” That was 24 years ago. He was right, partially. I...
There is a new outfit sending emails designed to extract dollars from appraisers, with the message “you need us to market your appraisal service.” The name in their email is: Appraiser Directory. I decided to forensically check this outfit. Their registered “business address” for their web site is actually a UPS Shipping Center business on Sunset Blvd, in Los Angeles. But there is no person’s name tied to that registration. Is it a good deal to send this suspicious outfit $30 to theoretically advertise your business for a year? You’ll have to decide for yourself. But I’ll bet you know...
Fast Connections USA, Inc. & its President, Towhindul Hussain, were found guilty of hundreds of violations… Well it must be true what they say… Don’t mess with Texas! The Texas Appraisal Licensing and Certification Board (TALCB) has issued a monetary fine of $2,801,500 against an appraisal management company. Fast Connections USA, Inc. and its President, Towhindul Hussain, were found guilty of hundreds of violations of Texas law and regulations. TALCB found Fast Connections contracted 274 appraisals in Texas without proper registration. These violations have a mandatory fine of $10,000 each. TALCB also found Fast Connections USA failed to pay appraisers...
Back in early February on Appraisalville, I questioned a new definition that appeared in USPAP for the term “misleading.” Many others took to their platforms to criticize it, such as Phil Crawford of the Voice of Appraisal podcast and Dave Towne, a prolific writer of all things that keep appraisers sane. Dave writes today: Gad zooks… I (and lots of others) hope and wish the Appraisal Standards Board would QUIT making changes to USPAP every friggin’ two years! There is no way to satisfy everyone’s individual perspective as to how USPAP should be written. Here is the problematic definition from the current version of USPAP. While...
“It’s a dud” is the unofficial results on bifurcated appraisals from the OREP / WorkingRE Magazine Appraisal Bifurcation Survey in the print edition of Working RE Magazine that is hitting your mailbox now, an overwhelming majority of appraisers want nothing to do with these products. Less than 10% of the respondents stated they were open to bifurcation products as the appraiser and only slightly more, 13.64% were open to data collection assignments. Fees, liability and a detriment to the profession were the main reasons appraisers will not consider only the data collection assignments. The survey is still ongoing, but with...
It is not misleading to use a 1004 form for a desktop or a drive-by because, during these convoluted times… In talking with Tim Andersen, a USPAP instructor and long-experienced appraiser, I was reminded that, even in the time of C-19, USPAP applies, and appraisals must still be credible. Reports must still not mislead. USPAP has never required the appraiser to inspect the property. That is a lender construct. So long as your scope of work is clear relative the level of inspection you provided, and why that was your scope of work, you should not have a problem. Note...
