Tagged: appraisal news

Appraisers Are Considered an Essential Business 36

Appraisers Considered an Essential Business

Under the order, “essential businesses” cover a wide variety of workers…Appraisers are considered an essential business… Illinois Governor Issues Stay-at-Home Order. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker today issued a “stay at home” order for the entire state starting Saturday March 21, 2020, at 5 p.m. through April 7. The order encourages all “essential businesses and operations” to remain open. Appraisers are considered an essential business The order encourages all “essential businesses and operations” to remain open, but directs them to enforce six-foot social distancing for both employees and customers. Under the order, “essential businesses” cover a wide variety of workers, including...

COVID-19 Pandemic and Exterior Appraisals - Appraisers Blogs 64

COVID-19 Pandemic & Exterior Appraisals

Everyone, not just appraisers is getting bombarded with information on COVID-19. So much of the information differs, it is hard to know what is real, hype or hysteria. So much has been shared within the appraisal groups on social media that there are more conversations about COVID-19 then appraisals. VaCAP is a volunteer organization of appraiser professionals. We are not medical professionals and are just as confused as most of you. Each and every one of us is different. We have different levels of health and different people living in our homes; some may have compromised immune systems, some maybe...

A Flipper Transaction - Appraisal vs AVMs... Are AVMs Reliable? 3

Appraisal vs AVMs

…the ‘flipper’ realized that the list and contract price was way too high… I just saw an article titled “Realor.com now providing third-party home valuations” about Realtor.com now using a ‘new’ service to provide a home value. Just for grins, I thought I’d do this essay using one of my recent assignments for the case study, which was in Bellingham, WA. The home was undergoing renovations by a ‘flipper’, and it had a signed contract for a high $$ amount. The report was written ‘subject to’ completion of the repairs/renovations. During the initial inspection, the ‘flipper’ was present and doing...

Appraisal Inspection Procedures & Protocols 64

Appraisal Inspection Procedures & Protocols

The industry needs to discuss the coronavirus issue and how to conduct inspections. I set up an inspection a few days ago using the Procedures & Protocols form below and this is how I handled it. I called the listing agent and tactfully told him that we had to discuss this Coronavirus issue … that I had a family member with a compromised health situation and that we had to presume the virus was already within our community. Then I explained to him that I inspect a lot of homes every week and that normally involves touching a lot of...

Coronavirus Will Cause Our Next Recession - A Black Swan has Appeared 25

Coronavirus Will Cause Our Next Recession

A Black Swan has Appeared – Coronavirus will cause Our Next Recession In a previous post entitled The Black Swan published in August, 2019, I wrote, “though more common now, especially in Australia, Europe, and Asia, black swans (Cygnus atratus) were once thought to be almost extinct… so rare that a sighting of one was considered to be an unexpected, improbable event. Today, The Black Swan is a metaphor for an unpredictable, unforeseen, random event, typically one with extreme consequences. Today’s best technology cannot predict their cause or emergence. The only thing we know for certain is that someday, somewhere,...

Sharestates Seeks to Overturn NY Appraiser-friendly Statute of Limitations 15

Lender Seeks to Overturn NY Appraiser-Friendly Statute of Limitations Law

Sharestates operates a crowdfunding platform that provides alternative mortgage lending secured by both residential and commercial real estate. Over the last 10 years, it has reported average annual returns for loan investors ranging from 9.24% to 11.02%. With returns like these, there is likely some loan risk – and Sharestates reports a current foreclosure rate of 2.44%. Following several of its foreclosures, Sharestates has filed professional negligence cases against about a dozen defendant appraisers, appraisal firms and appraisal management companies, blaming the loan losses on inflated appraisals. Last year, it lost one of those cases in a Nassau County, New...

Report Finds Connection Between Student Housing Values and Elite College Football Programs 0

Connection Between Student Housing Values & Elite College Football Programs

If you watched the 2020 college football national championship contest, you probably weren’t thinking about investment properties as LSU handed Clemson a 42-25 whipping. But maybe you will during next year’s title game… Universities with big time college football programs also have valuable student housing. That was the finding of a recent report issued by CBRE. The commercial real estate giant discovered schools with high-profile football teams have experienced boosted enrollment in recent years. The influx causes student housing demand to increase, and along with it, property values. Newer student housing builds resemble traditional multifamily in terms of function 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...

Appraisers CASH the Darn Check! - Appraisers Blogs 52

CASH the Darn Check!

…AMC in question is refusing to allow new vendor appraisers to accept fee payments by check… Appraisers, I had an interesting conversation with a Chief Appraiser at a prominent AMC today (and no, you don’t have to berate or chastise me for using that expression) who told me they have a real problem with appraisers FAILING TO CASH FEE PAYMENT CHECKS! This news was absolutely stunning to hear. It is incredulous to me that people who claim to be ‘professional’ in their work, can’t figure out how to take a piece of paper with their business name on it and...

Borrower Class Action Against LandSafe Appraisal Settled for $250 Million 8

Class Action Against LandSafe Settled

…alleged that the lenders conspired with LandSafe to inflate appraisals to increase the size of mortgage loans sold on the secondary mortgage market… Believe it or not, cases are still being litigated in relation to events during the mortgage meltdown years. After nearly seven years of litigation, a settlement (subject to court approval) has been reached in the borrower class action filed in 2013 regarding appraisals managed by defendant LandSafe Appraisal Services between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2008. The other defendants in the suit include Countrywide Home Loans and Bank of America and various affiliates. The central premise...

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