Tagged: ARCC

Fannie Mae’s Conservatorship: A Babysitter’s Blunder 38

Fannie Mae’s Conservatorship: A Babysitter’s Blunder

Calling the FHFA a babysitter for Fannie Mae doesn’t fully capture the dysfunction.  What the general public doesn’t understand is that Fannie Mae has been under conservatorship since the 2008 market crash — a status far from ideal, just one step from bankruptcy. By definition, a conservatorship is a legal arrangement where a court appoints a conservator to manage the affairs of an entity unable to do so itself, due to financial distress or other incapacity. It’s a polite term for babysitting an organization that can’t handle its own affairs. A Babysitter Who Sparks Chaos Calling the Federal Housing Finance...

A Cry from the Appraisal Trenches: The Fall of GSE Oversight 84

A Cry from the Appraisal Trenches: The Fall of GSE Oversight

That could bring our best and brightest back to GSE lending, leveling the playing field with fairer work distribution.  Picture this: a system built to protect homeowners, backed by taxpayer dollars, now teetering on the edge of betrayal. The regulatory framework governing Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) was once a fortress of consumer protection, transparency, and fairness. As an appraiser, I’ve watched this fortress crumble. The rules imposed on GSEs and their partners—our trade-off for their congressional charter—have been chipped away through years of cunning maneuvers by trade groups and stakeholder interests. What’s left is a hollow shell, far removed from the...

AMCs Deceptive Fee Skimming Exposed in Lawsuit 65

AMCs Deceptive Fee Skimming Exposed in Lawsuit

Rocket Mortgage and the AMCs actively conceal this fee skimming from borrowers, never disclosing the proportion of the “appraisal fee” that is pocketed by the AMC rather than being paid to the appraiser.  The class action lawsuit, Timmins v. Clear Capital, et al., filed on November 1 in the Superior Court of California, County of Stanislaus, sheds light on the deceptive and unfair business practices allegedly perpetrated by ClearCapital.com, Inc., Core Valuation Management, Inc., and Rocket Mortgage, LLC in relation to the appraisal fees charged to borrowers in home mortgage transactions. The complaint asserts that these defendants engaged in a...

AMCs Overcharging Consumers? Morgan & Morgan Investigates 48

AMCs Overcharging Consumers? Morgan & Morgan Investigates

Morgan & Morgan, a prominent law firm, is currently investigating the practices of Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) and their potential role in driving up the cost of appraisals for consumers. The firm is actively seeking input from individuals who believe they have been overcharged or misled about the allocation of their appraisal fees between the AMC and the appraiser. At the heart of this investigation lies the concern over a lack of transparency, inflated costs, and questionable value that AMCs bring to the appraisal process. The Appraisal Regulation Compliance Council (ARCC) has conducted extensive research on this matter, revealing alarming...

The Shadowy AMC Fees Draining Billions from Homebuyers 156

The Shadowy AMC Fees Draining Billions from Homebuyers

The hidden costs of appraisal management companies (AMCs) in the real estate industry have faced growing scrutiny, as highlighted by a recent Business Insider article titled “The Hidden Middleman who cost homebuyers $12 billion dollars and counting.” The article examines the opaque practices of AMCs, which frequently charge exorbitant fees that can exceed the amount paid to the appraiser. As highlighted by former Appraisal Institute CEO Cindy Chance, this issue has faced significant resistance from entrenched interests, mirroring the challenges faced in other industries such as the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector, which ultimately led to an FTC investigation. The...

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