Tagged: liability

Property Valuation and the Future of Data Collection 31

Property Valuation and the Future of Data Collection

Property valuation is shifting fast, and the push to regulate who collects the data inside people’s homes will determine whether the process stays accurate, safe and trustworthy.  Property data collection has quietly become one of the most consequential shifts in modern real estate, reshaping how lenders, AMCs and national platforms gather the information that ultimately determines a homeowner’s equity, a buyer’s loan terms and the integrity of the appraisal process itself. Yet most consumers have no idea who is actually walking through their home, measuring rooms, photographing conditions or documenting features. In many states, the answer is startling: no license,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Trending / Virginia Real Estate Appraiser Board

When Protected Becomes Pressure: Object by July 27 7

When ‘Protected’ Becomes Pressure: You Have Until July 27 to Object

The new fair‑housing course weaponizes protected characteristics to pressure appraisers into outcome‑driven valuation, directly contradicting USPAP’s prohibition on advocacy. The Fair Housing Course Is Training You to Break USPAP. You Have Until July 27 to Say So. The Appraiser Qualifications Board’s Second Exposure Draft keeps a required course that pressures new appraisers to advocate an outcome based on protected characteristics. That is not fair housing. It is not lawful. And you can still stop it — but the comment window closes July 27. Let me say it plainly. We are being pushed — through licensing law and federal fair-housing regulation...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / AQB / The Appraisal Foundation

Flags Over Facts: The Road to Obsolescence 62

Flags Over Facts: The Road to Obsolescence

The latest round of modernization comes wrapped in friendly language, but the flags are hard to miss if you’ve been paying attention.  For years, appraisers have been warning that the mortgage industry was slowly engineering us out of the process. We were told we were paranoid. Resistant to change. Stuck in the past. Then the newest Mortgage Credit Executive Order arrived, and the appraisal section opened with a single line that confirmed everything we’ve been saying: expand AVMs, desktops, hybrids, and AI. That’s the priority. Everything else in that section is just polite filler wrapped around a strategy to shrink...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Software / Appraisal Subcommittee / Appraisers News

“No Name” Licenses, No Accountability: From Highways to Housing 31

“No Name” Licenses, No Accountability: From Highways to Housing

Two fatal crashes, one in Florida and one in California, have reignited national concern over so-called “no name” commercial driver’s licenses issued to foreign nationals without lawful immigration status. According to reports, truckers and government officials are sounding the alarm. Some states are allegedly issuing CDLs without verifying full legal names, allowing individuals with unverifiable identities or even criminal records to operate 80,000-pound trucks on public roads. This is not just a transportation issue. It is a systemic warning. The same structural failures that enable “no name” CDLs are now surfacing in the real estate and mortgage industries. Property data...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

The 24-Hour Appraisal Funded by Appraisers 45

The 24-Hour Appraisal Funded by Appraisers

The 24-hour appraisal model runs on borrowed time and borrowed credibility. Guess who’s underwriting both.  Reggora’s “24-hour appraisal” pitch was flimsy from the start, and now that we’ve seen the fine print, it’s not innovation, it’s a liability handoff wrapped in buzzwords. Their shiny new “Streamlined Appraisal” is just another hybrid, bifurcated product dressed up to look like progress. And like most hybrids, it assumes appraisers are either desperate, asleep, or willing to sign off on someone else’s work for peanuts. Brian Zitin proudly explains that Reggora sends a property data collector to the home before the borrower even commits...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

The 24-Hour Appraisal Diet: Slim on Time, Light on Credibility 31

The 24-Hour Appraisal Diet: Slim on Time, Light on Credibility

Brian Zitin’s declaration that the appraisal “bottleneck” has been obliterated by Reggora’s 24-hour turnaround reads less like a breakthrough and more like a tech startup’s victory lap around a profession it barely understands. According to the post, decades of valuation nuance, regulatory compliance, and boots on the ground expertise have now been solved, at no extra cost to the borrower, in every location, and without compromising standards. All it took, apparently, was a few million dollars and a launch video. It’s a bold claim, not because speed isn’t desirable, but because speed without substance is just marketing. The idea that...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM

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...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models

The Great Debate on Appraisal Fees 32

The Great Debate on Appraisal Fees

She included several different fee split examples indicating AMCs retained as much as 70 percent of the total appraisal fee paid by the borrower, which prompted her to stop working with AMCs because of the lack of transparency.  The appraisal industry is abuzz with a discussion about appraisal fees. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued a Request for Information Regarding Fees Imposed in Residential Mortgage Transactions [Docket No. CFPB-2024-0021] in which it solicited feedback from the public and industry stakeholders on the fees charged to consumers by mortgage providers and related settlement services. The CFPB framed it as...

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

Lack of Evidence, Appraiser Challenges Discrimination Claims 10

Lack of Evidence, Appraiser Challenges Discrimination Claims

The next morning I went to my trusted AI program and asked if there was any evidence of bias. “Where is the evidence?”  The issue of perceived bias and discrimination in the appraisal industry has become a highly contentious and polarizing topic in recent years, sparking intense debate and controversy. At the heart of this complex issue lies a fundamental tension between the appraisal profession’s commitment to objectivity and impartiality, and the persistent allegations of systemic racism and unfair practices that have plagued the industry. As exemplified in the response from Maryland Certified General Appraiser William Turner to an article...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / HUD / The US Department of Housing and Urban Development

County Assessors' Standards - AVM Final Rule Guidance 17

County Assessors’ Standards | AVM Final Rule Guidance

County Assessors have the advantage of being able to calibrate their models specifically for one market, allowing for a more tailored and precise approach.  The OCC, FDIC, NCUA, CFPB, and FHFA (collectively, the Agencies) are adopting a final rule to implement AVM quality control standards mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The quality control standards apply to mortgage originators and secondary market investors in determining the value of a dwelling that is the collateral for mortgage financing. Under the final rule, institutions involved in specific credit decisions or securitization activities are required to...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / CFPB

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