Appraisal News and Appraisal Tips For Real Estate Appraisers - Your source for appraisal industry news, appraisers' opinions, and discussions of appraisal issues
Appraisers don’t use race… Race is NEVER considered during a valuation Last week in a congressional hearing on the future of the appraisal profession, some research was used to suggest appraisers are showing racial bias and essentially undervaluing black neighborhoods. I was not expecting the conversation to go that way during the hearing and I’ll admit I’m deeply concerned about the emerging narrative of appraisers being racists… In the congressional hearing a panelist talked about a study that shows black neighborhoods are devalued by $48,000 compared to otherwise similar white neighborhoods. That’s alarming and society needs to have some serious...
Appraisers, I belong to several appraiser forums, with active participation among appraisers. On Wednesday June 12, 2019, per a forum posting, the MetroList MLS (which uses Rapattoni data) was hit from an outside cyber-attack. This MLS provides service in central California around the Sacramento region. The cyber-attack caused property data to become unavailable via web sites – to appraisers and real estate agents. The MLS posted this message: The MetroList computer network that supports Prospector MLS is down as a result of a cyber-attack. The MetroList team is working at a very fast pace to resolve and restore services as...
Time to get on my soapbox and complain about a complaint filed against me (not a charge, but merely a complaint). I did an appraisal of a multi-family property near my office. The property owner/borrower called me to complain about the appraisal since it came in far less than she thought it should (not unusual). Clearly, I could not answer her questions since she was not the client. This upset her greatly, so she filed a complaint with the State. The complaint had no basis in substance. In fact, the complaint was that my appraisal was too low. Since neither...
Banking still hasn’t recovered from the financial crisis using this metric. History is repeating itself right now with the “modernization” movement – code word for “automated valuation” using abysmally unreliable technology. “Trust” is Hard To Win Back Trust is a wildly important asset to have in the banking industry. They violated the public trust during the housing bubble and have worked hard but still haven’t reach pre-bubble trust levels. Let this be a lesson to Appraisal Management Companies, Mortgage Lenders, GSEs and Regulators who are currently working hard to undermine consumer trust again through the mortgage valuation process in order...
Stop unfair, deceptive, and abusive iBuying tactics. Consumers are being mislead into believing that heavily funded real estate iBuying platforms are cheaper and easier than using a Realtor. Sign and Share this petition demanding that there be clarity for consumers on these deceitful iBuying platforms. Click HERE. Summary: Real estate agents, and the buyers and sellers they have faithfully represented for decades, are under threat from a small number of technology companies looking to disrupt the real estate industry. This movement began back in 2004 when companies like Trulia and Zillow were formed, and has recently neared a tipping point...
Clear Capital admission: This is an admission that inspector were previously offering appraisal opinions re Q&C. There remain many other areas in hybrids that also are appraisal opinion being provided by non appraisers. I have written many blog posts here, mainly for the consumer to read and understand what is actually happening in the world of Real Estate Valuations. My blogs range from being overcharged for appraisals so the middle man (the appraisal management company or AMC) can make money, lenders still pressuring appraisers to hit a value, and now having untrained and unlicensed people perform inspections (see my last...
VaCAP and 27 other State Appraisal Organizations reached out to the House Finance Services Committee concerning the upcoming Subcommittee meeting entitled “What’s Your Home Worth? A Review of the Appraisal Industry” on June 20th. The Network stresses the most qualified to testify on the appraisal profession is an appraiser. The letter also outlines some of the flaws, inconsistencies and realities of the effects of appraisal management companies and how the GSE’s current “appraisal modernization plan” is actually harmful to consumers, investors, lenders, the housing market and the economy as a whole. Fannie Mae’s own publications are being used as documentation. Hopefully the committee members ask the...
Until FNMA released their version of a test format for hybrids (1004P) there was not one hybrid form appraisal process and online form reporting system found that was not egregiously misleading in the entire country. Not one. Not Clarocity’s, nor Clear Capital’s or Mueller Inc. A “typical hybrid” sample follows. https://appraisersblogs.com/clearval-value-hybrid-appraisal Not those crafted in Hyderabad, Pakistan for $8 Billion for just one year’s Wall Street Investments (as published by Cezary Podkul Wall Street Journal) where the preparers claimed to be able to produce 360+ per day by illegally using broker login credentials from state-licensed brokers in America. The entire...
What makes a Next Generation home? Appraisers, both FNMA and FrMAC, in concert with manufactured housing builders and the Appraisal Institute, are promoting a new type of MANUFACTURED home, and CE classes to teach appraisers about them (and typical MFH). If your appraisal service area has manufactured homes, and you appraise them, you may want to peruse this essay. The name generically applied to these new manufactured homes is Next Generation (NG). Each GSE has a different name for their LENDING program, see below. Why is this happening? Up until relatively recently, the two GSE’s didn’t purchase manufactured home loans from...
Phil Crawford of Voice of Appraisal sent a “call to action” email to his followers early this week to recommend I provide testimony on this upcoming June 20th panel. As a result, there were hundreds of recommendations sent to the House Financial Services Committee providing why I would be a good candidate to speak on the panel. I was blown away by the support and the professionalism of the emails. I thank you all. The committee told me yesterday that I would not be on the panel but offered other ways to share our views and I was very appreciative...
