Tagged: Freddie Mac

April 4, 2019

Price-Fixing, Who’s Shocked?

…criminal investigation into price-fixing… The State of Pennsylvania has filed a class action law suit against some of the biggest banks and financial institutions in the country. The claim is these companies conspired to fix the prices on almost $500 billion in bonds issued by Fannie and Freddie over a mere 5 year period from 2009-2014. The named defendants are: Bank of America – Barclays Capital – BNP Paribas – Citigroup – Credit Suisse – Deutsche Bank & Deutsche Bank Securities – First Tennessee Bank & FTN Financial Securities – Goldman Sachs – JP Morgan Chase – Merrill Lynch –...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Coester VMS

February 21, 2019

Faster Cheaper Appraisals!

An appraiser shared the following with us. Vintage Mortgage Firm is offering faster cheaper appraisals. New Faster Cheaper Appraisals! Three points: One: We run automated approvals with both DU (Fannie) and LP (Freddie) with the click of one button. This gives us the best chance for appraisal waivers. Have you done a purchase transaction recently with NO appraisal needed? We do them all the time. Two: As of Feb 1st, we will have access to a completely different kind of appraisal if one is needed. First step is a much cheaper $145.00 abbreviated appraisal. This information is put into our...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Collateral Underwriter

January 16, 2019

No Money to the Table!

Freddie Mac has an Enhanced Sweat Equity Program where borrowers (aka purchasers) can purchase a home and use sweat equity as a down payment and closing costs. No money to the table! Here’s what’s allowed: Sweat equity to be used for the entire amount of down payment and closing costs with maximum 97 percent LTV/105 percent total LTV (affordable seconds). Sweat equity for manufactured homes up to a maximum LTV ratio of 95 percent. Sweat equity as an eligible source of funds for: All repairs and improvements to be completed by the borrower that are listed in the sales contract...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / VaCAP

The Erosion of Bank Underwriting Standards. Let's Get Rid of Appraisers.

November 30, 2018

Let’s Get Rid of Appraisers. What Could Go Wrong?

Why would regulators fundamentally weaken bank underwriting standards? Appraisers Warned The World In The Late 1990s And No One Listened. It Is Now Time To Listen Again as History is About to Repeat Itself. There’s a proposal from the FDIC, Federal Reserve, and Treasury Department not to require appraisals for some mortgages under $400,000. The Trump Administration wants to disrupt the role of appraisers, but that’s not a good idea. This change can impact several groups in particular: 1) Consumers: Removing appraisers from transactions can mean a lot of loans get made that shouldn’t be made. Does that sound familiar? We...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

October 27, 2018

Human Real Estate Appraisers Unnecessary?

“Real estate appraisers will not exist in the future.” – Reasons Behind Matt Rider’s Projection and Why He’s Wrong Technology in real estate is advancing to a point where any user can “pull up a property’s data together” and create an appraisal. This is the main point raised by Franklin American Mortgage’s Chief Information Officer Matt Rider in his interview with National Mortgage News. He claimed that as a result, real estate appraisers wouldn’t exist in the future. See interview here. Rider’s projection seems to be based on society’s increasing dependence on Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI). According to...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

AMC Financial Trouble, The AMC Model Does Not Work

October 10, 2018

AMCs Financial Trouble

The AMC model does not work & these companies are in serious financial trouble… Stand Your Ground: A few weeks ago VaCAP reminded everyone to pay attention to the financial and economic side of your business. The article was titled “Stand Your Ground”. Since that time, we have learned of the following: A VaCAP member shared a retro desktop appraisal request in a rural area. The AMC was paying $75. An appraiser posted on AppraisersBlogs’ repost of our article about being owed thousands of dollars by the same company. See the comment here. Also take a look at the stock...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

August 24, 2018

The Public Trust – A Failed Goal?

Presumably, "public trust" is the foundational test. Have our institutions, rules, regulations, standards, and social expectations failed us? The purpose of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) is to promote and maintain a high level of public trust in appraisal practice by establishing requirements for appraisers. Preamble 2018-2019 Our mission is to foster the public trust of our members and the appraisal profession through compliance with the highest levels of ethical and professional standards. The American Society of Appraisers Its mission is to advance professionalism and ethics, global standards, methodologies, and practices through the professional development of property economics worldwide. The Appraisal Institute Some ten years ago, financial...

AI / American Society of Appraisers / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

July 10, 2018

AI, Appraisers & Buggy Whips

Most of these items cannot be ‘seen’ by Artificial Intelligence models or Big Data… Appraisers, The article below in Mortgage News Daily e-newsletter on July 3, 2018, got me to pound my noggin… for a couple of seconds at least. Actually, I think I need to do it again! Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ‘Big Data’ have been buzz words (and activity) for several years. And based on evidence in this article, lots of research and development leading to incorporation of AI is being done. While the article does not mention it directly, both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have instituted...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

ENV Format Appraisals May be a Violation of USPAP

July 4, 2018

Appraisals in ENV format

From my perspective there seems to be an increase in the number of appraisal requests that require the ENV format. The conversion to ENV of your completed appraisal report is usually not an exact copy of the report which the appraiser completed and signed. Some forms may not convert, other may separate your photos from the text which go along with the photo and the order of the forms in your report may not be the same and there may be other changes to your report. This should be a concern to every appraiser since the client/lender, is not getting...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

Fannie Mae Invites VaCAP for a Sit-Down Discussion of Relevant Topics

June 15, 2018

VaCAP Sits Down with Fannie Mae

As many of you know Fannie Mae (along with Freddie Mac) has launched an initiative which they label “modernizing appraisals”. This initiative consists of two distinct facets: 1) “modernizing”, or redesigning the forms which are utilized and 2) “modernizing” the processes involved in producing a valuation including the inspection process, data collection, etc., up to the delivery of the completed report. In the pursuit of this goal Fannie Mae has pledged to leverage stakeholder input, and of course appraiser input is both valuable and critical in this regard. In gathering stakeholder input Fannie Mae reached out to VaCAP, and invited...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News