Tagged: appraisal organizations

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Appraisal Practices Board: A Free Resource for Appraisers

The genesis of the Appraisal Practices Board was the collapse of the housing market in 2008… Congressional Hearing Provides Opportunity to Clarify Purpose – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 29, 2012. Washington, DC – The Appraisal Foundation (TAF), a non-profit education organization dedicated to professional valuation, testified yesterday before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity. The hearing, entitled Appraisal Oversight: The Regulatory Impact on Consumers and Businesses, focused on the Appraiser Regulatory System in place today and whether there is need for modifications or improvement of this system. One issue discussed...

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Home Appraisers Complain that New Regulations Hurt the Housing Market

On June 28, 2012 appraisers, appraisal organizations, and others testified before the US House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, on proposals to improve oversight, regulation, and enforcement of the housing appraisal process. Among the topics addressed were the implementation of new financial service regulations under the Dodd-Frank law, appraisal fraud, the role of state regulators, and oversight of the appraisal process at the local level. The topic of the hearing was Appraisal Oversight: The Regulatory Impact on Consumers and Businesses. You will can read the testimony by clicking on the following link.

Proposed Amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines in Mortgage Fraud Cases 1

Sentencing Guidelines Proposal

Proposed Amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines Speaking at a March 14 hearing in Washington, D.C., the Appraisal Institute urged a federal judicial agency to require the use of real estate appraisals when calculating loss in mortgage fraud cases. In prepared written testimony, Appraisal Institute President Sara W. Stephens, MAI, told the U.S. Sentencing Commission, “We believe the Commission should adopt a special rule for determining the fair market value of real property if the mortgaged property has not been disposed of by the time of the sentencing. However, this rule should require use of real estate appraisals prepared by qualified...

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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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Appraisal Institute Launches Opinions of Value Blog

The Appraisal Institute launched its new blog, Opinions of Value, on November 14. Content will feature the appraiser perspective on legislative and regulatory issues, enhanced discussion about recent industry media coverage and thoughts from AI leaders about upcoming trends. While a great deal of content exists in the blogosphere, the Appraisal Institute is uniquely qualified to provide expert analysis on all appraisal-related topics because the organization is the nation’s oldest and largest professional association of real estate appraisers with more than 24,000 members in 60 countries.

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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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AGA Fights to Overturn Federal Regs Cutting Appraisers Fees

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2011 / PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Guild of Appraisers (AGA), a national organization of real estate appraisers that is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO’s Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), announced today it has retained a law firm as part of a broad-reaching effort to overturn recent federal regulations that dramatically cut the fees that appraisers are paid to perform appraisals, and threaten the viability of professional appraisal practice and the reliability of appraisals used in real estate transactions. In the aftermath of the national financial collapse brought on in part by badly underwritten subprime loans,...

Computerized Appraisals Win in HARP 2.0 0

Computerized Appraisals Win in HARP 2.0

Sanctioned use of computerized appraisals using algorithms and computerized databases of property data to determine a property’s value. The federal government, with the reluctant support of the two leading professional appraisal organizations, has sanctioned the use of computerized, appraisals using algorithms and computerized databases of property data to determine a property’s value. Can more widespread use of computer-driven valuations by programs called Automatic Valuation Models or AVMs, in mortgage origination be far behind? Millions of homeowners use AVMs to check the value of their homes on a half dozen web sites. Even though more sophisticated versions have been developed for...

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Show and Tell

Everybody complains that the states aren’t doing enough to police the profession. Appraisers are running amok. Fraud is rampant and the states are twiddling their thumbs while caseloads grow exponentially. The handful of published state disciplines nationwide are a mere droplet compared to the vast ocean of chicanery that’s rising out there. Right? My question is, where are all the settled cases from the various professional standards and ethics committees of the big appraisal organizations? There should be a generous compendium of meaty disciplines somewhere. But there isn’t. If you go to their websites you’ll find plenty of references to...

Interior photos picture this 0

Picture This…Or Not

Maybe you should ask the homeowner if it would be alright to take the picture at all. When a consumer calls the department in a rage and wants to know “what law says that an appraiser can take pictures inside of my house?”, Houston, we have a problem. Actually, not Houston…and not the department. You, the appraiser and the client who ordered it have the problem because we will make it your problem. Law? There is no law for interior photos. There are guidelines and stipulations cloaked as requirements. That’s it. But, we do have privacy laws, don’t we? Clients,...

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