Tagged: Appraisal Management Companies

On Appraisals, Should You Follow the Money? 6

On Appraisals, Should You Follow The Money? Asks Kenneth Harney

Follow the Money Some appraisers are being paid less than half the fee, while the balance flows to an appraisal management company. Washington – The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on a real estate issue that gets to the core of the agency’s purpose: Bringing clarity and better disclosures about the often opaque and costly fees that homebuyers, sellers and refinancers are hit with at closings. One of the disclosures now under review might surprise you: appraisal charges. Why do they need clarifying? Doesn’t just about everybody who applies for a mortgage, whether it’s to buy a house...

American Guild of Appraisers Files Request with Federal Reserve Board Seeking Documents Related to Regulations on Customary and Reasonable Compensation of Fee Appraisers 1

American Guild of Appraisers Files Request RE C&R Fees

American Guild of Appraisers Files Request with Federal Reserve Board Seeking Documents Related to Regulations on Customary and Reasonable Compensation of Fee Appraisers WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ On behalf of the American Guild of Appraisers, today the law firm Garvey Schubert Barer filed a request with the Federal Reserve Board under the Freedom of Information Act seeking a wide variety of documents related to the regulations on customary and reasonable compensation of fee appraisers that were issued by the Board in October 2011. In announcing this action, Guild President Peter Vidi said, “It is clear that appraisal management companies...

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Putting Your Licence in Your Appraisals?

Why I refuse to put a full size copy of my appraisal license in reports This story appeared in the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 14, 2012.  I have ‘clipped’ excerpts: Durk Reese’s efforts to launch an appraisal business were nearly destroyed when his name was used without his knowledge on inflated appraisals as part of a mortgage-fraud scheme. Mark Harmon is still trying to recover from the damage to his reputation after his name was used in the scam two years ago. Both were victims of identity theft committed by Daniel J. Nichter, a former Franklin County development...

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“Public Trust Betrayed”

Congresswoman Jackie Speier letter to author of “Public Trust Betrayed” James E. Manning, author of “Public Trust Betrayed”, an appraiser in California who began his career in 1973, received a letter from Congresswoman Jackie Speier in response to his book and the state of the appraisal industry: December 30, 2011 – Mr. James Manning Dear Mr. Manning: Earlier this year you offered me a copy of your book, Public Trust Betrayed.  After some delay, I have finally had an opportunity to briefly review it. I agree with many of your conclusions. For example, you indicate that existing laws created after...

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FDIC Publication Focuses on Real Estate Valuation Programs

Issues related to real estate appraisal and valuation programs are of critical interest to bankers and regulators. “Navigating the Real Estate Valuation Process,” which appears in the Winter 2011 issue of Supervisory Insights released on December 14, 2011, highlights certain aspects of the 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines (Guidelines). This article also provides information for bankers regarding sound practices for banks’ real estate valuation processes in the areas of valuation review, independence, content standards, preparer selection, and monitoring. “Banks have implemented provisions of the Guidelines, but continue to seek feedback from their regulators on appraisal-related concerns,” said Sandra L. Thompson, Director, Division of...

FDIC case money 1

FDIC Settles Claims Against WaMu

The FDIC Settles Claims Against WaMu’s Top Officers. What’s the FDIC’s Case Against LSI Appraisal Worth? In March of this year, the FDIC sued Washington Mutual’s former CEO Kerry Killinger, its former chief operating officer Stephen Rotella and its former head of residential lending David Schneider for $900 million in alleged damages resulting from their “gross negligence” in running WaMu’s residential lending business. The FDIC claimed that their negligence caused what it is the biggest bank failure in U.S. history. It also alleged that two of them unlawfully transferred assets to their wives to protect the assets from potential collection efforts. Despite those...

Builders Advised Not to Hold Back From Giving Relevant Information to Appraisers 1

Builders Advised Not to Hold Back From Giving Relevant Information to Appraisers

Guidelines to help builders communicate with appraisers… November 7, 2011 – NAHB has developed a set of guidelines to help builders communicate with appraisers and lenders to ensure that they receive an accurate valuation of the new homes they are selling. The two-page document advises builders to meet with the appraiser on the site of where the home has been or will be built and provide direct support for the price with whatever relevant information they can. For example, builders should provide the appraiser with all appropriate comps, market and absorption data, specifications of the property, materials in the property...

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FDIC Sues 29 Appraisers Over Loans By Downey Savings

In the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Day, the FDIC sued 29 more individual residential appraisers. All of the appraisers sued in this round reside in California. The FDIC’s complaints against them uniformly allege that the appraisers were professionally negligent by overappraising the value of properties securing loans by failed Downey Savings in 2004-2007. The average claim against each appraiser is for approximately $350,000. The complaints concern both origination and review appraisals. One of the recently sued appraisers has now been sued twice by the FDIC. This is the third appraiser to be sued twice by the FDIC. Another...

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AI Calls for Transparency

Appraisal Institute Calls for Transparency on Home Buyers’ Forms saying that consumers deserve to know what they’re paying for, the Appraisal Institute asked the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Nov. 16 to require more transparency on home buyers’ forms. In a joint letter with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, AI asked the CFPB to separate appraisal fees from administration and processing fees on the settlement forms that consumers receive when purchasing a home. Created by Congress, the CFPB oversees consumer disclosure laws and is authorized to develop new forms to inform consumers and charges assessed...

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‘Middleman’ Appraisers Spur Concerns

If you’ve paid for a home appraisal within the last five years, a chunk of that charge likely went to a middleman you never knew existed. And because a third party was used, it might have driven up your closing costs and affected the quality of the valuation. Lenders often use appraisal management companies to block collusion between mortgage brokers and appraisers — and to comply with anti-fraud rules the industry adopted in May 2009. The hotly debated reforms have boded well for the appraisal managers, whose presence in the U.S. has jumped from a handful in the 1990s to...

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