As a house gets older the wood begins to shrink… Do you ever get those questions? “Well ABC appraised my house last year and my house was 3,726 square feet. Why do you say it only contains 3,698 square feet?”. I have always wanted to say, well as your house gets older, the wood begins to shrink… Everyone knows of course that houses come in different sizes, shapes and that walls can be built at angles other than 90, 60 or 45 degrees, thus accurate measuring can be a challenge. When you factor in roof pitch for upstairs rooms, or...
Federal Court Rules on USPAP Confidentiality Issue in FDIC Lawsuit Against Appraisers in Colorado On September 5, 2013, in a professional negligence case against two Colorado appraisers by the FDIC, a federal court ruled on an issue concerning USPAP confidentiality. It was a simple issue, but it’s one of the very few court decisions relating to USPAP’s poorly written confidentiality rule (this previous post here explains why the rule is poorly written). This is the rule: An appraiser must not disclose: (1) confidential information; or (2) assignment results to anyone other than: the client; persons specifically authorized by the client; state appraiser...
Simply dumping rents into rental grid… The Fannie Mae Form 1025 is a lame document. There. I said it. You appraisers out there all know exactly what I’m talking about. Part of what makes it lame is the goofy layout of the form and what passes for education for appraisers in how to complete it properly. Too many appraisers haven’t a clue how to compare rents in a two to four unit apartment building. In many cases they simply dump rents into rental grid and magically opine that the subject rents are supported in the market. What market is that? Actual...
January 29, 2013 – Uniform Appraisal Dataset Update and Uniform Collateral Data Portal Release Notification As communicated in the September UAD Update, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) will convert several of the current Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) compliance warning edits to fatal UAD edits in the Uniform Collateral Data Portal® (UCDP®) during 2013. The first phase, targeted for implementation in June 2013, will include warning edits for the following data fields converting to fatal UAD edits: Appraisal effective date Subject contract price and comparable sale price Above grade Gross Living Area (GLA) (subject and comparables) Sale type (subject...
common sense needs to take the place of algorithms and automated valuation models… I dealt with an old question recently that I felt was pertinent and worthy of repeating. The question arose in Brooklyn, NY when an underwriter demanded that the appraiser include the basement area as part of the gross building area when comparing the subject to the comparable sales. After all they reasoned, Fannie Mae guidelines, i.e. Property and Appraisal Guidelines, XI 405.07 state, “Gross building area, which is the total finished area (including any interior common areas, such as stairways and hallways) of the improvements based on...
