The Federal Housing Administration on July 31 issued drafts of four new appraiser policy documents that it plans to add to its Single-Family Housing Policy Handbook. The FHA is seeking feedback before the documents are finalized. The draft documents relate to FHA appraiser eligibility requirements and the application process, as well appraiser responsibilities and compliance actions, eligibility guidelines for appraisers performing appraisals and reporting results, data delivery requirements related to the FHA Uniform Appraisal Dataset and instructions to help appraisers accurately complete FHA appraiser forms. FHA developed the documents in an effort to provide appraisers a more consistent approach to...
USPAP Violations… This is a list of USPAP violations most commonly encountered by the Texas Appraiser Licensing & Certification Board’s staff appraiser-investigators when investigating complaints filed with the Board. This list of violations is given for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or instructions on how to properly comply with USPAP or properly complete an appraisal assignment. Most Commonly Encountered USPAP Violations: Sales Comparison Selection of Comparable Properties. Failing to select and/or support the selection of comparable sales using recognized methods and techniques. Examples include: Leaving the subject’s neighborhood when sales data is readily available in the immediate neighborhood; Searching by...
Is the land fertile or barren? The practice of real estate appraisal began about 3,200 years ago. We learn this from the Book of Numbers, Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen. God commanded Moses to commission one person from each of the twelve tribes, “to make a reconnaissance” of the Land of Canaan, now Israel. Each person chosen was a leader within his tribe. His selection was based on sincerity of purpose, integrity, honesty, wisdom, judgment, and knowledge. Each leader was capable of guiding the course of this important assignment. A Leader is “one who goes first.” These appraiser were to “scout”...
Back to Basics (Part 2): The Cost Approach – An Approach to Value, Without Worth, Really? The foundations of appraisal were based upon three independent approaches to value. A system, when developed correctly, presents a check and balance within the report. The idea being that when an appraiser takes the time to develop each report, the data will show three independent motivations and three separate value conclusions. Nonetheless, the conclusions will support one another because the underlying principle for each approach is the principal of substitution. For the purposes of valuation or real estate appraisal, the principle of substitution is...
I have had numerous appraisers, both residential and general certified, ask me about various elements of competency. Some are questions regarding levels of certification and property types. On other occasions, the questions have to do more with geographic coverage. Finally, the concept of competency as it relates to various special use property types is the most complex topic I typically discuss with fellow appraisers. Subject Matter First, I will start with residential versus general certification and the common and ongoing concern appraisers have in Missouri. USPAP itself does not dictate what is residential and what is commercial. It simply requires...
