Tagged: AMC

USPAP violations 3

AppraiserLoft Fined for Failure to Pay Appraisers

AppraiserLoft Fined $855,000 for Failing to Pay Arizona Appraisers A Phoenix judge fined the defunct appraisal management company AppraiserLoft $855,000 for failing to pay Arizona appraisers at least 171 times within the past 18 months, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported June 12. The San Diego-based AppraiserLoft has been the subject of numerous non-payment and late-payment claims from appraisers, former employees, advertisers and other parties before shutting its doors in October. The AMC allegedly owes more than $3 million in property valuation invoices. In the Arizona case, administrative law judge Diane Mihalsky found that the AMC failed to pay Arizona appraisers...

3

20 Reasons Appraisers Should Get Paid Full Fee

JIM THORPE, Pa., May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Rick Grant of RGA Public Relations and Jeff Schurman of Leading Causes have released an industry white paper entitled “The Appraisal Management Company Full-Fee Hypothesis.” This is the first paper in a series the two plan to write in 2012, while also working with a number of mortgage technology thought leaders to produce other papers. “I’m very proud of the work we’ve done on this paper,” said Grant. “While the conclusions we have reached are bound to stir up controversy, this is an issue the industry needs to start taking very seriously....

0

What is the FDIC Suing Appraisers About? Some Examples of the FDIC’s Specific Allegations?

The FDIC continues to sue residential appraisers in connection with origination appraisals and review appraisals performed for failed lenders between 2003-2009 on loans now in default. It may be helpful, or scary, for appraisers and AMCs to see for themselves exactly what kinds of alleged USPAP violations or other errors the FDIC is claiming in lawsuits against appraisers. Therefore, I have copied below the FDIC’s actual allegations against several appraisers. These are word-for-word the entirety of the FDIC’s claimed errors against these appraiser defendants. Please don’t shoot the messenger. I’m a lawyer, not a USPAP expert, but even I know...

Question your appraisal fees 5

How Much Do You Charge for a 1004?

Question: “Care to reveal the minimum fee for a ‘typical’ 1004 + MC in your area?” Had an interesting email come in yesterday. It came from a friend of mine in the appraisal industry and began with this question, “Care to reveal the minimum fee for a ‘typical’ 1004 + MC in your area?” The message went on to express some concern over some of the shenanigans that was going on in his own area concerning AMCs, low fees, and appraiser’s willingness to sell themselves short. Unfortunately, the same is likely going on in every community (yours included). Though the...

Sense is Like Courtesy it is no Longer Common! 0

Sense is Like Courtesy It is No Longer Common!

common sense needs to take the place of algorithms and automated valuation models… I dealt with an old question recently that I felt was pertinent and worthy of repeating. The question arose in Brooklyn, NY when an underwriter demanded that the appraiser include the basement area as part of the gross building area when comparing the subject to the comparable sales. After all they reasoned, Fannie Mae guidelines, i.e. Property and Appraisal Guidelines, XI 405.07 state, “Gross building area, which is the total finished area (including any interior common areas, such as stairways and hallways) of the improvements based on...

2

Memo to KY AMCs

Memorandum to Kentucky Registered AMCs Regarding Appraiser Independence, Objectivity, and Impartiality From: Larry Disney, To: Kentucky Registered Appraisal Management Companies and Credentialed Appraisers, Date: March 29, 2012 Subject: Appraiser Independence, Objectivity, and Impartiality The Kentucky Real Estate Appraisers Board staff has received calls from Kentucky credentialed appraisers in the past two weeks concerning the following issue that is being propagated by Appraisal Management Companies: When appraising one unit residential properties and reporting the results of the appraisal development using a 1004 Fannie Mae form, the appraisers are told that if the cost approach is developed and reported, regardless of reasoning,...

0

We Need More Regulations?

“There oughtta be a law!” This is the typical rant from well-meaning Americans who feel they have been wronged in some way. In some cases, they may be right. There is a place for government and there are a reasons for regulations. The problems is, we have too dang many of them! Appraisers of any walk are usually the first ones to complain against excess government overreach. Yet surprisingly, they can also be the first ones to call for more when it appears to be in their favor. Take a recent thread I was reading on a popular appraiser web...

Top to Bottom Complaint Primer 0

Top to Bottom: Complaint Primer

“Why don’t you write about the complaint process from start to finish?” Howard Richter, MAI of IACREA made a great suggestion for an article. “Why don’t you write about the complaint process from start to finish?” Okay, Howard. Let’s do it! Whether complaints come from homeowners, lenders, AMCs, other government entities, they all find their way to my desk via Complaint Intake. The two-page complaint form is on-line and was designed to make it easy for the complainant and for the Department to get to the heart of the problem. Complaints come in all shapes and sizes. Some are vague...

0

Questions & Comments RE Customary and Reasonable Fees

Where To Direct Questions and Comments Regarding Customary and Reasonable Fees The appropriate agency to receive your concern about a creditor’s compliance with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), including the requirement for the creditor or the creditor’s agent (including an AMC) to pay an appraiser a customary and reasonable fee, is the agency that enforces TILA with respect to the creditor. With respect to insured depository institutions of more than $10 billion and their affiliates, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is the appropriate agency. For other non-depository institutions, the appropriate agency to receive the complaint is the CFPB...

0

The 8 Biggest Appraiser Liability Cases in the U.S.

I have described below the 8 biggest appraiser liability cases with which I am familiar that are currently pending in the U.S. These are cases that specifically name appraisers, appraisal firms or appraisal management companies as defendants. That’s an important distinction because the appraisal industry has been fortunate that only a small fraction of litigation about financial losses blamed on appraisal deficiencies actually names any appraisal defendants. Yet, the stakes below are very significant for the appraisal industry because the realistic measure of damages at issue in just these 8 cases — not the plaintiffs’ puffed-up alleged damages — is...

xml sitemap
blank