Appraisal News and Appraisal Tips For Real Estate Appraisers - Your source for appraisal industry news, appraisers' opinions, and discussions of appraisal issues
The OCC, Board, and FDIC (collectively, the agencies) are inviting comment on a proposed rule to amend the agencies’ regulations requiring appraisals for certain real estate-related transactions. The proposed rule would increase the threshold level at or below which appraisals would not be required for residential real estate-related transactions from $250,000 to $400,000. Consistent with the requirement for other transactions that fall below applicable thresholds, regulated institutions would be required to obtain an evaluation of the real property collateral that is consistent with safe and sound banking practices. The proposed rule would make conforming changes to add transactions secured by...
Are we supposed to be paid truth-seekers? The appraiser is supposed to be accurate. What is “accurate”? Dictionary meanings say accuracy is “the condition or quality of being true, correct, or exact.” Tell the truth. Can it be? Hmmm. A search for truth. OK. So how do we come to know the truth? Are we supposed to be paid truth-seekers? Cool. I read that there are four ways to “know” truth: Tradition, Authority, Insistence, and Science. Wow! Let’s look at these briefly. This sounds serious! Let’s look at USPAP and The Appraisal of Real Estate. Appraisers have long been steeped in the...
Coester VMS Surety Bond Claims Exceed Value… Appraisers licensed in North Carolina received the following email by International Fidelity Insurance Company: Re: Principal: Coestervms Bond No.: TXIFSU0633863 Obligee: NORTH CAROLINA APPRAISAL BOARD Please be advised that International Fidelity Insurance Company (the “Surety”) issued an Appraisal Bond to CoesterVMS (“Coester”). The penal limit of the bond is $25,000.00. This letter will advise you that the Surety has received claims against the above referenced bond in excess of the bond’s penal sum. As a result, the Surety will pay claims on the bond on a pro rata basis according to the amount...
Remember liar loans of a decade ago? Those same people want to do away with appraisers. My friend and appraisal colleague Ryan Lundquist and I authored a petition on change.org to point out the growing reckless behavior that is enveloping the mortgage process. There’s a proposal from the FDIC, Federal Reserve, and Treasury Department not to require appraisals for some mortgages under $400,000. As we say in the petition, this change can impact several groups in particular: consumers, the taxpayers, the housing market and appraisers. One group not explicitly mentioned in the petition but impacted down the road are real estate agents and brokers....
Accuracy is an issue with Zestimates… I happened to find this article, which explains the processes used to generate Zillow’s Zestimate, the estimate of residential property value: Inside the Zestimate: Data Science at Zillow I found it interesting that they use the ‘R’ spreadsheet for doing some number-crunching, not Excel. ‘R’ is what George Dell has been demonstrating in his classes. But the graphs are generated by a different software. Accuracy is an issue with Zestimates, according to Zillow, per the article: “Nationally, the median error rate is 8.3 percent, the company says.” However, they don’t define what ‘error rate’ means. Is...
The Recap The VREAB Committee meeting on hybrid appraisals met last week. The turnout was a decent one. Some traveled a great distance to attend. There were appraisers, assessors, consumers and trade group representatives in attendance. The meeting started with the Appraisal Foundation Video on Hybrid Appraisals. Public comments followed and many spoke and shared their concerns. Examples of hybrid appraisal products were submitted to the committee. Protecting the public was a key discussion and the following existing Virginia laws and regulations were discussed. 54.1-2009 Definition of appraisal- “Appraisal” means an analysis, opinion, or conclusion relating to the nature, quality,...
Why would regulators fundamentally weaken bank underwriting standards? Appraisers Warned The World In The Late 1990s And No One Listened. It Is Now Time To Listen Again as History is About to Repeat Itself. There’s a proposal from the FDIC, Federal Reserve, and Treasury Department not to require appraisals for some mortgages under $400,000. The Trump Administration wants to disrupt the role of appraisers, but that’s not a good idea. This change can impact several groups in particular: 1) Consumers: Removing appraisers from transactions can mean a lot of loans get made that shouldn’t be made. Does that sound familiar? We...
The real question I have is simple: Is Mr. Brian Coester being honest with people, and telling the truth about what REALLY happened? I’m skeptical, but I don’t do business with CoesterVMS. Brian Coester claims “We are not out of business,” as AMC runs into financial difficulty – AMC claims bank made mistake I sure have read lots of first-hand comments from appraisers about either slow pay, or not being paid, for reports completed for CoesterVMS. That makes me highly uncomfortable about accepting any assignment from them, unless they pay the report fee UP FRONT, and they don’t get the report until...
Here’s the math: An appraiser shared an email survey concerning hybrid appraisals. The survey reveals the fees they are thinking of charging. These fees aren’t that different from what I’ve heard elsewhere. It’s actually quite telling on how the AMC/Mortgage Lending industry sees the appraiser’s role in providing a reasonable benchmark on their collateral to make more informed lending decisions. Here’s the scenario – take the $78 national desktop report fee and divide it by the $500 average appraisal fee as quoted by Realtor Magazine. Now think in terms of the inspection versus valuation. valuation expertise is viewed as a...
VaCAP has been forwarded an email from the North Carolina Appraisal Board stating the Surety Bond for Coester VMS has been cancelled. We have not heard anything from Virginia or any other state, but will update you as new developments arise. From: NCAppraisal Board ncappraisalboard@ncab.org Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 11:24 AM Subject: Bond Claims against CoesterVMS The surety bond holder for CoesterVMS, IFIC, has notified the Appraisal Board that Coester requested the bond to be cancelled. The effective date of the cancellation is February 16, 2019. The bond number is TXIFSU0633863. A scan of the original bond is attached. Note...
