Tagged: appraisal news

February 11, 2013

Overtime Lawsuits Affecting Appraisal Firms, Lenders and AMCs

Are employee appraisers of appraisal firms, AMCs or lenders “exempt” from overtime pay under the FLSA? Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees in most types of businesses are required to be paid overtime at 1.5x their hourly rate if they work more than 40 hours in a seven-day workweek, unless they are properly classified as “exempt.” As I’ll show in three cases below against an appraisal firm, a lender and an AMC, this law presents a genuine liability risk to businesses in the valuation industry. Let’s start with what should seem like a basic question: Are employee...

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

February 4, 2013

Home Inspectors & Appraisers’ Doomsday

The Sky is Falling for Appraisers & Home Inspectors Chicken Little was right – the sky is falling…and landing on both appraisers AND home inspectors. Home inspectors often suffer from a general lack of respect, part of which is caused by the fact that they have no single set of national standards of practice like appraisers who have USPAP. Appraisers, on the other hand, suffer from what is commonly known as appraisal creep where the conditions and requirements of appraisal work keep expanding, but the fees for the work either shrink or stay the same. Now, forces within the government...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

February 1, 2013

The FHA is Broke – Bailout Broke

Chairman Hensarling Announces Series of Committee Hearings Focused on Looming Financial Crisis at FHA Washington, Jan 30 – Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced today that the Financial Services Committee will hold a series of hearings throughout the year that focus on the financially troubled Federal Housing Administration, the FHA’s outsized role in the nation’s housing finance system, and the need to create a sustainable mortgage finance system. The FHA’s single-family insurance fund, which insures more than $1 trillion worth of home mortgages, has a negative economic value of $16.3 billion, according to an actuarial report released by the Department of Housing...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Administration / FHA

February 1, 2013

Is the Appraisal System Broken?

John Brenan, The Appraisal Foundation, and Melissa Cohn, The Manhattan Mortgage Company, discuss on CNBC, whether the home appraisal system is broken after the Dodd-Frank Act. …complaints are skyrocketing and many appraisers are getting low or even failing grades now. Why is this happening?

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Dodd-Frank Act / C&R Fees / The Appraisal Foundation

January 31, 2013

FHA Updated Valuation Protocol FAQs

FHA Updated Valuation Protocol FAQs Revised 01/24/13 FHA has updated the Valuation Protocol FAQs posted on the FHA Appraiser Roster web page. The most recent FAQs can be found on page 27 of the document and provides clarification for what constitutes an acceptable conventional heating system. You can periodically review the FHA Appraiser Roster web page for alerts on recently published Mortgagee Letters of interest and other pertinent announcements. The publication contains the following topics: New Construction Wood Destroying Insects/Termites Utilities – Well and Septic Inspections & Certifications Cost Approach Accessory Dwelling Units Manufactured Housing Two Unit Properties HECM Appraisals Lender...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Federal Housing Administration / FHA / HUD

January 30, 2013

Evaluation Solutions Failure

Evaluation Solutions, LLC: The Anatomy of an AMC’s Failure and Why Lender’s Should Care Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Collateral Risk Network about lender oversight of appraisal management companies. With that exciting topic as my general theme, I chose to address the specific issue of AMCs failing to pay independent contractor appraisers for appraisals ordered by the lender-client (and also failing to pay agents and brokers for BPOs). This issue has been brought to the forefront of many appraisers’ minds and bank accounts by the recent failure of two large AMCs: National Real Estate Information...

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

January 30, 2013

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac UAD Update

January 29, 2013 – Uniform Appraisal Dataset Update and Uniform Collateral Data Portal Release Notification As communicated in the September UAD Update, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) will convert several of the current Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) compliance warning edits to fatal UAD edits in the Uniform Collateral Data Portal® (UCDP®) during 2013. The first phase, targeted for implementation in June 2013, will include warning edits for the following data fields converting to fatal UAD edits: Appraisal effective date Subject contract price and comparable sale price Above grade Gross Living Area (GLA) (subject and comparables) Sale type (subject...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / UAD / Uniform Appraisal Dataset

January 28, 2013

Deadbeat AMCs – FBI Wants to Know

We are passing along this message from Dave Towne: “Ivor Hill has been working with the FBI. Today (1/24/13) the FBI collected all the files he had for JVI and appraisers that are owed money.” “He has asked to ask everyone, and that they ask everyone they know, to spread word that if anyone is owed money from ES Appraisal or any other AMC that went out of business without paying for appraisals to please contact him. He is putting together information directly for FBI investigations.” Please tell your friends to contact Ivor at: ijh@ijhill.com

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / ES Appraisal Services

January 25, 2013

Rate AMCs and Lenders

Because life’s too short for a bad client Appraisal Advisor provides a suite of tools to anonymously view, rate and review AMCs and Lenders using criteria that only matter to appraisers like you. You can search for good and bad clients, view average payment time frames, see average fees, gain a better negotiating stance, and much more. Founded in 2011, Appraisal Advisor is a real estate appraisal technology company that gives appraisers the tools to better manage their clients. It provides an anonymous community to score AMCs and lenders with its review and ratings

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News

Appraisal Institute Releases Enhanced ‘Green’ Addendum

January 24, 2013

What is the Value of ‘Green’?

An academic study released last year found that homes with green labels provide a market premium of 9 percent compared to similar homes without the labels. The study, “The Value of Green Labels in the California Housing Market,” examined how green and energy efficient features impacted the sale price of homes in California. It was published by Nils Kok, Maastricht University, Netherlands/University of California, Berkeley; and Matthew E. Kahn, University of California, Los Angeles. The study also found: The premium associated with green labels is highest in areas with hotter climate. The premium is positively correlated to the environmental ideology...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News