Tagged: appraisal news

Science & Art Reflect our Search for the Truth - Is There an Art in Science? 8

Is There an Art in Science?

We know there is science in art. Musical scales. Perspective and the golden ratio. The ordered sequence of a good novel. It’s difficult to be a good artist without knowing, or at least intuitively applying the truths found in the logic. Both science and art reflect our search for the truth. Our primal human nature is to resist the truth, even as it hits us in the groin. Resist the change. Fear. Give up something that has protected you. Something that gives you a place. A belonging. A prestige. An ego. A place where you are respected. Then someone or something comes along and says there is a better way. I...

Desktop Appraisals, the be-all end-all of Valuation Hype by non-Appraisers 29

Desktop Appraisals Hype

…attempts to make readers believe desktop appraisals are the be-all, end-all of property valuation… Folks, a ‘white paper‘ was put out by a company in the property title, escrow and servicing sectors, tied to mortgage lending. It does a reasonable job of explaining what Hybrid appraisals are… which they call “desktop” assignments. Then this puff piece put out by Clear Capital, attempts to make readers believe these products are the be-all, end-all of property valuation. Both of these are typical PR pieces, designed to provide information while promoting a specific brand. Interestingly, neither mention anything at all about the interest...

NY AMC Law Sends Shockwaves Through AMCs - Appraisers Blogs 21

NY AMC Law Sends Shockwaves

Back on April 19th, I wrote about the New York AMC law in my Housing Notes newsletter. After years of AMCs chipping away at the public trust, the New York AMC law was designed to protect the consumer. The bill summary was: Relates to the registration of real estate appraisal management companies or an individual or business entity that provides appraisal management services to creditors or to secondary mortgage market participants including affiliates by the department of state. Last week, AppraisersBlogs ran it as a standalone post and I got a lot of feedback. To be clear, the bill was...

Let's Come Together, and Take Control of the Appraisal Process 32

Take Control of the Appraisal Process

If the appraisers want to take back their industry they need to come together… This new law in NY has aroused a lot of comments from appraisers but let’s be honest. Appraiser have been complaining about AMCs for the last 10 years and waiting for the government, regulators and other to solve the problem with the whole AMC disaster. I have written about this before, the appraisers have no one to blame except themselves. If you wait for someone else to solve the AMC problem you are looking in the wrong place. We all know of the problems with AMCs...

VaCAP Launches Consumer Protection Campaign 10

Consumer Protection Campaign Launched

VaCAP Launches Consumer Protection Campaign VaCAP is excited to launch a Consumer Protection Campaign! For months we prepped, we discussed, we negotiated, we wrote, we edited, wrote some more, edited some more… finally, we recorded. We have three 60 second consumer protection announcements airing on WRVA 1140 News Radio starting on Monday April 29th. The three consumer protection announcements will air randomly throughout the day for two weeks. WRVA 1140 News Radio live streams through Radio.com and iHeartRadio so anyone can tune in and listen. The consumer protection announcements will refer listeners to VaCAP’s website for more information where we have added a...

Beware of Appraisers Point Solicitations 65

Beware of Appraisers Point Solicitations

Appraisers, a new ‘company’ with “Appraisers Point” in their name has been marketing their services via emails across the fruited plain lately, encouraging appraisers to sign up on their web site and pay an annual fee so that ‘you’ can get on a list to be presented to, or accessed by, unnamed lenders, who might, or might not, want your service. They have a very slick looking web site that makes them look legit. Appraisers Point has no location shown on their website, so in reality, it could be anywhere in the world. The email messages show a location in...

We the Owners Are the Only Ones that Can Fix Low Appraisal Fees 59

Customary and Reasonable Fees?

…appraisal firm owners roll up your sleeves & hold the line on fees… I have been the owner of HF Appraisal Ltd since 1993 and I have sat on the sidelines in regards to Customary and Reasonable appraisal fees. I can no longer stand by and read nor hear about this issue. It is amazing to me that over the past five to ten years our fees have remained the same and in some cases are lower than they were 10 years ago. The more that I read about this and talk to appraisers across the country in classes and...

Appraiser vs Machine - The Appraiser Cannot be Replaced by a Machine 5

Appraisers vs. Machines

Collateral risk analysis (appraisals being a key element of that) is partially art, partially science. Those two facets are blended inseparably, like a soup…the ingredients can’t be separated. While computers can undeniably perform certain tasks better than humans (such as the handling of large amounts of data) appraisers can perform other absolutely critical aspects of the process better than a machine. The appraiser can actually see the property to be valued, they can utilize their human senses, they can use their judgement based upon what they observe by physically being at “ground zero” (the Subject property), and can then apply...

North Dakota Bankers Seeking to Eliminate Consumer Protection Benefits 5

ND Banks Seeking to Kill Consumer Protection

…North Dakota bankers seeking to eliminate consumer protection benefits associated with appraisals… The real issue of concern to all appraisers is the attempted con job and subtle coercion by officials and State Senators in North Dakota over the ASC. In their letter to ASC regarding their appraisal waiver request, they cite only 170 ‘in area’ appraisers while excluding a hundred so-called out of the area (multiple state licenses). While North Dakota is about the 19th largest state in land area, it is the fourth lowest in overall population. The 2018 population was only 760,077! That makes it among the lowest...

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Appraising Where It is Warmer

I found that there are not really any appraisal laws… There was a point when I was seriously considering the possibility of moving to Belize. I live in a cold climate so the prospect of living in a warmer area for at least part of the year appeals strongly to me. However, after visiting Belize, I quickly realized that – while I love the country – I personally do not want to live there – mainly because their cost of living is higher than I had been told. That being said, while there, I did quite a bit of research...

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