Appraisal News and Appraisal Tips For Real Estate Appraisers - Your source for appraisal industry news, appraisers' opinions, and discussions of appraisal issues
As most of you know, hybrid or bifurcated appraisals are a very controversial topic currently. Virginia statutes and regulations have language which gives many of us pause on the compliance of hybrid appraisals as they are being presented in the industry. The Board has published a proposed guidance document in the hopes to clarify the language in our laws. Unfortunately, the proposed guidance document falls short of providing any meaningful guidance or clarification. Per Virginia statute, the document has been published on Virginia Legislative Town Hall for public comments. At the end of the comment period, it is our understanding...
Maureen Sweeney, my friend and appraiser colleague from Chicago (who knew where the name “Chicago” originated from that I learned when I used to live there), wrote an opus about appraiser liability being created and the race to the bottom. It’s a great read. Spoiler alert: Apps don’t have any judgment, nor does their maker. There are moments in my life when I am glad to have given 12 years of my life to service to the Illinois appraisal community, and being part of the team that was in place when the Illinois AMC laws and rules were written years...
US House Financial Services Committee Hearing on Appraisals – The subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance is holding a hearing entitled “What’s Your Home Worth? A Review of the Appraisal Industry” on June 20, 2019 at 2:00 PM. The hearing is open to the public and can be lived streamed. To find out more about this hearing, go to the US House Financial Services Committee website. Contact the Representatives on this subcommittee. Make sure consumer protection is at the forefront at this hearing and not the profits of the GSE’s. Are the representatives aware the GSE’s are sending unlicensed,...
…the Cost Approach is the most INACCURATE of the three current ‘Approaches’ we use… Appraisers, for the past few weeks, emails have been sent by a third party asking appraisers to complete a survey about the appraisal process and the current forms. I did so; you should also. But I wanted to expand on one aspect of the survey. Two separate questions, on different survey pages, related to the Cost Approach (CA). These questions wanted appraisers to state their opinion about 1) if the forms provide adequate detail to develop a CA, and 2) if it is or is not...
It’s not been a good couple of weeks for CoreLogic, the massive data aggregator of real estate information. It’s been no secret that Corelogic has been steadily amassing all the major real estate data sources and the top MLS platform vendor. In my industry, they purchased the market leader of appraisal software, and many of my peers became wary of some of the software changes that were initiated. CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is one of the largest real-estate data companies in the nation with 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years. It operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. Here...
If the DOJ investigation proves fruitful, it is possible appraisal data could be investigated as well… The Department of Justice has sent a Civil Information Demand (CID) notice to CoreLogic. The CID requires CoreLogic turn over documents and answer questions. The article by Rob Hahn explains that the case revolves around not only the search features of the MLS systems, but the contracts and agreements on the use of MLS data by CoreLogic. If this investigation proves fruitful, it is possible appraisal data could be investigated as well. If this is the case, it will be a fast rolling snowball...
VaCAP has received a message from the family of Ken Harney, Real Estate Syndicated Columnist: Dear Friends, It is with great sadness that I write to you to tell you that Ken’s disease has progressed to Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and that as of today, we are in the care of hospice at home. We both want to thank you for all your prayers, your interest and concern and for the many years of friendship you have extended to us. Happily we are surrounded by our four children and our home is filled with love. Ken is not up to...
An appraiser/reader sends me this text from an XOME appraisal request: Good Morning, The state of NY requires the appraiser to include their invoice in the report. AMC fee does not need disclosed. Please include an invoice in your report when uploading. Thank you” This is technically accurate. Here is an excerpt from the NYS AMC Law: 38 (e) Knowingly fail to separately state the fees paid to an appraiser 39 for appraisal services and the fees charged by the appraisal management 40 company for services associated with the management of the appraisal 41 process to the client, borrower and...
Are you appraising the retail values of 10 sites to 10 different owners? Are you appraising the bulk or discounted market value of the 10 sites to a single purchaser? Can the Same Form Have More Than One Property on it? Lots of folks have asked me, “Dustin, can I appraise two different properties on the same appraisal report at the same time?”. Now understand I am not a USPAP instructor, I am an appraiser, so I’m going to answer this question as best I can. The question before us is legitimate, and one which I had to answer recently....
If AMCs weren’t invasive enough already on appraisers personal lives with overly-frequent status calls and other well-documented and demeaning requests, how about vacation time? In addition to the 37-page boilerplate order request the appraiser is required to read, appraisers now have to fill out another form. The fact that Solidifi and their competitors are in business to fee out to the lowest bidder makes this request silly because appraisers don’t have that kind of relationship with AMCs. It goes like this. They send out an appraisal request to 10+ appraisers and one of them is on vacation and therefore doesn’t...
