Tagged: AIR

ASC Blaming Appraisers For Low Home Values in Communities of Color 64

ASC Blaming Appraisers

The Appraisal Subcommittee, because they were directed to do so, has produced a report, which frankly and explicitly lays the blame for low market values of homes in ‘communities of color’ directly at the feet of independent appraisers involved with mortgage lending. You will start seeing accusatory slanted media reports about this report. ABC news already has distributed it. A TV station in San Francisco has aired a story already. Yes, the report casually mentions actual facts that GOVERNMENT policies and procedures promulgated segregated and extraordinarily unfair housing issues in the US, from the 1930’s into the early 1960’s. The...

HUD Dismisses Claims Alleging Racism Against Black & Minority People 72

HUD Dismisses Claims Alleging Racism

…white America (government) keeps trying to ‘fix’ Black People who are not broken in the first place! We’ve all heard of redlining. No one doubts it existed and MAY still exist, among private lenders. It’s hard to accept major national banking corps would risk it but it IS possible. Having said that, there is ZERO percentage or benefit for any appraiser to engage in it. None. Another appraiser in Los Angeles, who is a great researcher, posted addresses of the properties involved in half a dozen complaints alleging racism by appraisers and so-called ‘white washing’ of the houses producing subsequent...

Being Liberal with Values Hurts the Homeowner 7

Being Liberal with Values Hurts Homeowners

Why can’t it just be accurate instead of “conservative” or “liberal?” Just be precise in the way you do your job… Some people might say a public forum isn’t the place to air this dirty laundry, but this is not really a public forum. Of my thousands of readers, very few of them are not in real estate appraisal. Right now, I’m talking to the bad apples. Maybe you’re in a situation where you want a lot of volume and want to be the go-to person for the local mortgage company or local bank, and you want to keep them...

Independent Fee Appraisers Under Attack 57

Independent Fee Appraisers Under Attack

Appraisers, I have reached my boiling point about the negative press ‘we’ Independent Fee Appraisers have been receiving for many months – concerning supposed ‘systemic racial bias.’ It’s been done on purpose by a particular group of individuals whose main strategic objective is to keep many citizens teetering on their toes, always on the defensive, while the perpetrators claim they’ve been oppressed. It’s part of a new ‘culture’ of divisiveness promulgated by negative promoting people hell bent on disrupting society. There is no ‘unity’ in what they are doing. Only attacks. These stories make it seem like ‘we’ Independent Fee...

CPA Is Not Banned from Performing Services He's Qualified. Why Are We? 11

Why Are Appraisers Banned?

I just got out of an interesting conversation I had with my CPA. Eventually, our conversation veered onto the topic of work. I was curious about what it takes to get into his field (not that I’m interested in getting into it at all). We talked about our respective professions and about changes occurring in the real estate appraisal field. We got into talking about what it means to be a CPA, which is different than being an accountant. A CPA is an accountant, but an accountant isn’t always a CPA. He said anyone can hang up a shingle and...

Final Inspection When Not the Original Appraiser - Appraisers Blogs 29

Final When You’re Not the Original Appraiser

When You Complete a Final and Were Not the Original Appraiser First of all, let’s clear the air of any initial confusion that could be potentially floating around out there. It is absolutely okay for an appraiser to complete a final for a property when they were not the original appraiser on the original report. It is perhaps slightly more unusual, but completely ethical. However, there are a few issues that an appraiser could potentially run into if they are completing a final for a report where they were not the original appraiser. I am going to talk about one...

Time Saving Shortcuts Undermines Our Profession. Skip the Comp Photos 53

Skipping Comp Photos, Suicidal Shortcuts

I refuse to undermine my own profession by pretending that time saving shortcuts are always acceptable just because they are ‘more modern and progressive’. I know how long it takes to produce USPAP compliant, credible appraisal results. I charge accordingly for my time. I make no effort to compete on fees with half assed hybrids, evaluations, or single approach partially performed field work. Respectfully, neither should anyone else. Please stop undermining our own profession…. Recently The Appraiser Coach posted an article and links to a podcast suggesting its no longer necessary to photograph our comparable sales. I wrote a counter...

We the Owners Are the Only Ones that Can Fix Low Appraisal Fees 59

Customary and Reasonable Fees?

…appraisal firm owners roll up your sleeves & hold the line on fees… I have been the owner of HF Appraisal Ltd since 1993 and I have sat on the sidelines in regards to Customary and Reasonable appraisal fees. I can no longer stand by and read nor hear about this issue. It is amazing to me that over the past five to ten years our fees have remained the same and in some cases are lower than they were 10 years ago. The more that I read about this and talk to appraisers across the country in classes and...

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Appraising Where It is Warmer

I found that there are not really any appraisal laws… There was a point when I was seriously considering the possibility of moving to Belize. I live in a cold climate so the prospect of living in a warmer area for at least part of the year appeals strongly to me. However, after visiting Belize, I quickly realized that – while I love the country – I personally do not want to live there – mainly because their cost of living is higher than I had been told. That being said, while there, I did quite a bit of research...

Jan Bellas of AGA Breaches Solidifi's Intransigence. Thank You SOLIDIFI 8

Thank you SOLIDIFI

Jan Bellas breached their past wall of intransigence… Thank you SOLIDIFI Wow. That was more painful than I thought it would be. It’s no secret that I have been an extreme critic of Solidifi in the past. It’s also possible I will be so again in the future. I have not ‘sold out’ or traded my integrity or standards. What happened is that Jan Bellas of the American Guild of Appraisers, V.P. of Member Services has with great effort (and very little suggestion) breached their past wall of intransigence. With Solidifi’s Sr. Executives (Mr. “P” in particular) the very first...

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