Tagged: AVMs

Be Part of the Solution & Stop Being Part of the Problem! 27

Be Part of the Solution & Not the Problem!

Why would a professional licensed appraiser not want to be part of the solution? The Appraisal Foundation has posted the National Real Estate Appraiser Job Analysis Study. The survey is to determine the areas that are relevant to our daily functions as appraisers. This is our profession and appraisers are the best source of information on what we do and how we do it. The results will be used to determine the criteria necessary going forward for license examinations. We all have experienced revision requests from a reviewer who does not understand the appraisal process. What about those revision requests...

Are Technology Companies Selling Modern Version of a Pet Rock? 8

Technology Companies Selling You a Pet Rock

Are technology companies simply selling a modern day version of a Pet Rock? Technology companies flaunting their real estate valuation products show us lots of pretty color charts and graphs and sell us on their products. But what would happen if someone were to ask a simple question of these technology companies… How did you determine that value? Just imagine for a moment you are testifying in court and counsel asks you how you determined your opinion of value. The appraiser could answer that question without hesitation. Simply, you know what you did. Even follow up questions could be answered...

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...

FIRREA Under Attack - Protecting Homeowners from Appraisal Loopholes 25

FIRREA Under Attack!

…the federal agencies charged with implementing Title XI of FIRREA have taken steps to limit the number of transactions for which an appraisal is required… Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Congressman William Lacy Clay request a formal study/investigation into Title XI (FIRREA) and the recent dilution of its intent by the Federal Agencies. The letter to  Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General, Government Accountability Office, addresses threshold increases, regulatory exemptions, appraisal waivers, the North Dakota appraiser certification waiver and evaluations in lieu of an appraisal. It is clear the Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee and Subcommittee Chairman on Housing, Community Development and Insurance...

Review Appraiser Flawed Review... Phony Complaint Against Appraiser 14

Phony Complaint Against Appraiser

…a laundry list of ‘pile on’ purported USPAP “violations” were fabricated deriving for the above oversights ‘confirmed’ by the out of area review appraiser… In fighting or appealing a false complaint filed against you as an appraiser, truth, factual evidence and professional competency is no longer enough! More important than all these things, is conformity to the detailed technical rules of a state’s administrative law procedures. In short, in many if not most cases, appraisers MUST HIRE AN ATTORNEY to represent them before any administrative board. Anything less, is playing with fire and your professional career. Worse, E&O won’t cover...

Hybrids, Invitation to Fraud - The New Subprime Fiasco of This Decade 6

Hybrid Appraisals, Invitation to Fraud

Until FNMA released their version of a test format for hybrids (1004P) there was not one hybrid form appraisal process and online form reporting system found that was not egregiously misleading in the entire country. Not one. Not Clarocity’s, nor Clear Capital’s or Mueller Inc. A “typical hybrid” sample follows. https://appraisersblogs.com/clearval-value-hybrid-appraisal Not those crafted in Hyderabad, Pakistan for $8 Billion for just one year’s Wall Street Investments (as published by Cezary Podkul Wall Street Journal) where the preparers claimed to be able to produce 360+ per day by illegally using broker login credentials from state-licensed brokers in America. The entire...

Should We Real Estate Appraisers Stop Making Adjustments? 43

Should Adjustments Actually Be Done?

How much credit should we give ourselves when it comes to making adjustments? Making adjustments is controversial. USPAP says nothing about adjustments – it does not require us to make them. They are a GSE construct. So, should we real estate appraisers stop making adjustments? Clients pay us for opinions of value, so our adjustments are really opinions based on what the market tells us (or that’s what we should base them on), but they are still opinions we form; they are not facts we find. So, maybe, should we stop making adjustments? We derive our adjustments from sources such...

Loan Officer' Letter Instructing Borrower to Push Appraiser for Value 38

A Little Push Can’t Hurt Right? Wrong!!

…forget the risky position foisted on the consumer by the loan officer… Well, here we go again. In my previous blog posts titled “Round and Round” and “Pressure My Story”, I spoke to examples of how lenders and/or AMCs have been pushing and pressuring appraisers to hit certain values on transactions. If an appraiser did not hit these numbers, or make changes to make the transaction work in the lender’s favor, the appraiser would be threatened with non-payment, removal from appraiser panels, and/or blacklisted. If you haven’t read those blog posts, feel free to go back and have a look....

Another Huckster Enters the Appraisal Arena 20

Another Huckster Enters the Appraisal Arena

Yet another third party huckster has entered into the real estate appraiser and appraisal arena. It’s that time again! Yet another third party huckster has entered into the real estate appraiser and appraisal arena. Apparently motivated by pure altruism. We identified a need in the marketplace to address a common problem that lenders are regularly challenged with in providing accurate appraisal quotes and then ensuring pricing on the Loan Estimate is consistent and compliant,” stated Vladimir Bien-Aime, president and CEO at Global DMS. (I LOVE this guy, he writes like me!) Global DMS Launches SnapVal to Provide Instant, Accurate, Guaranteed...

Appraisers Disappointed at Federal Banking Agencies - Appraisers Blogs 21

Appraisers Disappointed at Federal Agencies

I’ve read a number of posts where appraisers are disappointed at federal banking agencies declining to hold public hearings on the topic of raising the appraisal minimum threshold for residential real estate transactions from $250,000 to $400,000. The request for a public hearing on the issue was ‘worth a shot’ but was never a realistic expectation. We knew that when we joined with others in signing the letter. Federal rulemaking agencies already have policies and procedures in place for mandatory public input. It’s unrealistic to expect them to make special exceptions. Especially when existing lobbyists that promoted the short-sighted policy...

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