Tagged: appraisal fee

Suppression of Appraisal Service Free Trade & Fair Price Competition 25

Restraint of Trade Investigation

I am heartened that the Federal Trade Commission has recognized the need to assure that appraisal “…consumers deserve to benefit from a free market where those fees are set by competition.” It appears that your complaint may have been instigated by the very special interests that are most responsible for suppression of appraisal service free trade and fair price competition in America today. By that I am referring to the entities broadly described as Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), and in this specific complaint – the Federal National Mortgage Association, also known as Fannie Mae and/or FNMA .

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

Paying Too Much For Appraisals? 38

Paying Too Much For Appraisals?

Why am I paying more than TWICE the amount paid to the appraiser? I was recently charged/paid $750.00 to have the appraisal completed on the home I was purchasing. With the fees and costs associated with obtaining a mortgage, the appraisal fee was one of little to no concern to me BUT then I received a copy of my appraisal. In accordance with local regulations, the appraiser disclosed the amount he was paid to do the appraisal…$275.00 minus a $15.00 technology fee. I thought to myself why am I paying more than TWICE the amount paid to the person who...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees

Conforming Loan Limits to Be Raised 2

Conforming Loan Limits to Be Raised

FHFA raises conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Appraisers, The announcement by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on November 23, 2016 may affect your fee structure if your fees are higher for loans above the upper limit for home sale prices for a standard mortgage loan, so called conforming loan. When mortgage loans are for amounts higher than the conforming limit, the loans are termed “Jumbo” loans. This is not the same as basing appraisal fees on APPRAISED values. As a general statement, Jumbo loans are for homes with excessive characteristics – considered ‘complex’...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Finance Agency / FHFA

Modernizing Appraisals: It seems we're stuck in 1989. 46

Modernizing Appraisals & Being Stuck in 1989

Modernizing Appraisals: It seems we’re stuck in 1989… On November 16, 2016, the Housing and Insurance Subcommitte held a hearing on “Modernizing Appraisals: A Regulatory Review and the Future of the Industry.” Subcommittee discussed modernizing appraisals to benefit American consumers. The hearing focused on necessary changes to the appraisal industry. Subcommittee Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) explained: “Appraisals are one of the cornerstones of the home-buying process. Issues that impact appraisers also impact nearly every American buying or selling a home, in rural and urban areas; in high- and low-income neighborhoods. Yet when it comes to the regulatory regime surrounding appraisals,...

AI / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News

Freddie Mac Criminal Aspects of Its Appraisal Free Mortgages 38

Freddie Mac Criminal Aspects of Its Appraisal Free Mortgages

Freddie Mac is opening itself up to over 150,000± potential individual lawsuits… This is a response from Mike Ford to Kenneth Harney’s article, “Freddie Mac planning appraisal-free mortgages”. I represent the American Guild of Appraisers, #44OPEIU, AFL-CIO, and the real estate appraisal-related consumer and taxpayer interests of our more than fifteen million± AFL-CIO members, retirees and their families. I’m prompted to write this open letter regarding your recent well written & researched article, titled “Freddie Mac planning appraisal free mortgages”. Regrettably, it was too brief to cover several additional critical aspects of the issue, but I assume the Chicago Tribune’s...

ACI / AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News

Wells Fargo & Inflated Appraisal Fees: The End of AMCs? 5

The End of AMCs?

Wells Fargo has agreed to a $50 million settlement over inflated appraisal fees. Think about this for a minute….. The people bringing the lawsuit (the “Plaintiffs”) claim that Wells Fargo violated Federal law by charging homeowners more than the amount Wells Fargo paid for Broker’s Price Opinions (“BPOs”) and improperly concealing these “marked-up” charges. So, Wells Fargo was charging customers more for BPO fees on defaulted loans than the actual fees charged by the vendor. Is this any different than the use of an AMC? From the case: “Wells Fargo does not identify any provision in any of the numerous...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Appraiser’s Response to LRES Order Blast 80

Appraiser’s Response to LRES Order Blast

LRES Standard Interior Appraisal Request? Your special requirements and micromanagement of the appraisal process dictate that I charge a fee commensurate with the additional, but typically unnecessary work needed to produce credible results. You are the potential client (agent), so that that is your prerogative and it would be my pleasure to accommodate you as long as appropriate compensation is provided. Respectfully, there is little about your appraisal request that is “standard”. Please explain briefly what you consider to be a ‘standard interior appraisal’. That definition does not appear in The Appraisal Institute’s Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal. To be...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

ppraisers Under Siege & Cost of Appraisals 31

Appraisers Under Siege & Cost of Appraisals

Appraisals that were just $400 are now $550 This little ditty of a few hundred words is via Jonathan Miller’s Housing Notes blog on June 24, which I hope he, and Mr. Chrisman, won’t mind if I re-post. I added a bit more below: Appraisers Remain Under Siege Miller: The banks have won and the appraisal industry has lost. At least for now. Here is a series of feedback from Rob Chrisman (Mortgage News Daily blog) in his must read newsletter on the mortgage industry. It is a heavily read source of in-the-trenches mortgage insights that I subscribe to. He...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees

Legal hotline advice concerning FHA inspections 18

Legal Hotline Advice Concerning FHA Inspections

Advice from the Virginia Association of Realtors Legal Hotline Mack Strickland, a dedicated founding member of VaCAP, recently contacted the Virginia Association of Realtors Legal Hotline concerning FHA inspections. He shared with VaCAP his findings. “I called VAR legal hotline, a service to all REALTORS (appraisers are REALTORS too if paying dues). I inquired about the liability of the FHA inspection protocol of operating appliances. The lawyers confirmed my belief that to reduce the appraiser’s liability as to operation of appliances and equipment is to have a responsible person present to operate the appliances for the appraiser. I have adopted...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Appraisal Fees Do Not Tell The Whole Story 19

Appraisal Fees Do Not Tell The Whole Story

Is it possible that the company with the lowest bid will also do the worst job? If you are on social media platforms where appraisers hang out for any length of time, you are bound to see a version of the following, on a regular basis: “I was just offered $275 to do a full appraisal in my hometown. Before I had time to email the AMC and tell them how ridiculous a fee like that is here, some other appraiser accepted it! Can you believe that? What kind of low-life appraiser does a full 1004 for $275?” This kind...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Home Valuation Code of Conduct