manufactured home - Appraisers Blogs

The Town With No Bank: How Rural America Lost Its Mortgage Lifeline

Dallas T. Kiedrowski, MNAA — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:30:24 +0000

For decades, we’ve been told that the problem is demand. That people don’t want to live in rural America anymore. That lending dried up because the buyers disappeared. That it’s just the market working as it should. But what if we’ve been telling the wrong story? Because when you look closely, when you actually follow the data, the decisions, and the people left behind, it turns out rural America didn’t walk away from mortgage credit. Mortgage credit walked away from rural America. The Collapse of Local Lending Up until the 1980s, a family in a small farming town could walk...

The One-Mile Rule: Prudent Policy or Modern Day Redlining? ...whether through redlined maps or implicit "one-mile rule," the result can be undervalued properties in historically marginalized neighborhoods. Throughout the…
UAD 3.6: The Appraisal Industry’s Shiny New Straightjacket UAD 3.6, the appraisal industry’s shiny new straitjacket, promises efficiency but threatens to bury appraisers under a mountain of data…
Is the GSE's "Appraisal Modernization" Really Just… Mass Appraisal tend to exhibit a regressive nature... In the intricate landscape of real estate mortgage financing, the notion of…

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VA Alternative Valuation Methods

AppraisersBlogs — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 12:30:24 +0000

On August 1, 2022, the Veterans Affairs released Circular 26-22-13 announcing new procedures for alternative valuation methods, effective immediately. The takeaway: “Desktop Appraisal means a valuation where neither the VA fee panel appraiser nor the appraiser’s designee under the AAPP has physically viewed the exterior or interior of the property and the VA fee panel appraiser has determined an opinion of value based on information obtained from public records, the Veteran, homeowner, realtor, and other appropriate data sources (as determined by the appraiser).” “The use of a Desktop Appraisal may allow an appraiser from outside the market area, but with...

Proposal to Eliminate the VA Fee Panel VA Fee Panel - The Appraisal Institute does not believe that a move to a lender select program, such as…
VA Unofficially Says NOPE to ANSI The other agencies, Freddie Mac, HUD/FHA, USDA, ONAP, VA have NOT (yet) adopted this ANSI measuring protocol. Appraisers, an appraiser…
Fannie Mae Filed a Complaint Against Me An appraiser shared the following with us which was posted on one of the appraisers’ groups. Fannie Mae filed a…

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Fannie Mae’s ADU Policy Updated

Dave Towne — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 12:30:50 +0000

On September 2, 2020, FNMA updated their policy allowing for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) on Single Family Residential (SFR) properties to be a Manufactured Home. This is in their Selling Guide Announcement SEL-2020-05, linked below. Key points: An accessory dwelling unit (ADU) is an additional living area that is independent of the primary property and has basic bathroom, cooking, and sleeping facilities. With this update, we clarified ADU property eligibility and comparable sales requirements in the appraisal as follows: expanded the current definition of an ADU to improve proper classification of ADUs; expanded property eligibility by allowing multi-width manufactured homes...

Missing HUD Tag # on Manufactured Homes Sometimes NO HUD Tag number can be found... Appraisers, Regarding Manufactured Homes (MFH), sometimes NO HUD Tag number can be…
AMCs Appraisal Report Reviews AMCs are legally required to do appraisal report reviews... Appraisers, an appraiser shared AMC appraisal report review documents with me,…
The Real Cause of the Home Value Gap Is the Income Gap Blaming appraisers for the income gap will never solve the real underlying problem... Blaming appraisers for the income gap is…

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What is a Next Generation Home?

Dave Towne — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:30:57 +0000

What makes a Next Generation home? Appraisers, both FNMA and FrMAC, in concert with manufactured housing builders and the Appraisal Institute, are promoting a new type of MANUFACTURED home, and CE classes to teach appraisers about them (and typical MFH). If your appraisal service area has manufactured homes, and you appraise them, you may want to peruse this essay. The name generically applied to these new manufactured homes is Next Generation (NG). Each GSE has a different name for their LENDING program, see below. Why is this happening? Up until relatively recently, the two GSE’s didn’t purchase manufactured home loans from...

Fannie Mae Filed a Complaint Against Me An appraiser shared the following with us which was posted on one of the appraisers’ groups. Fannie Mae filed a…
Is the GSE's "Appraisal Modernization" Really Just… Mass Appraisal tend to exhibit a regressive nature... In the intricate landscape of real estate mortgage financing, the notion of…
When ‘Protected’ Becomes Pressure: You Have Until… The new fair‑housing course weaponizes protected characteristics to pressure appraisers into outcome‑driven valuation, directly contradicting USPAP’s prohibition on advocacy. The…

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No Money to the Table!

VaCAP Board — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 13:30:21 +0000

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...

What Are You Waiting For? Please comment now! VaCAP sent out a "Call to Action" a month ago to comment on the proposed increase in…
Freddie Mac Criminal Aspects of Its Appraisal Free Mortgages Freddie Mac is opening itself up to over 150,000± potential individual lawsuits... This is a response from Mike Ford to…
FNMA Rural High-needs Appraisal Waiver ...which counties in the US qualify for this kind of FNMA rural high-needs appraisal waiver... Appraisers, you may not be…

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FNMA Rural High-needs Appraisal Waiver

Dave Towne — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 13:30:17 +0000

…which counties in the US qualify for this kind of FNMA rural high-needs appraisal waiver… Appraisers, you may not be affected by this new FNMA waiver process. Then again, if you service certain ‘poverty’ counties in the US, you may. A surprise to me… Kings County, New York [Brooklyn], is one such county. It probably would be in your best interest to examine this blog, and then click on the map link within the article. The map will show which counties in the US qualify for this kind of FNMA rural high-needs appraisal waiver. Once the map opens, you can...

Fannie Mae Filed a Complaint Against Me An appraiser shared the following with us which was posted on one of the appraisers’ groups. Fannie Mae filed a…
The Town With No Bank: How Rural America Lost Its… For decades, we’ve been told that the problem is demand. That people don’t want to live in rural America anymore.…
USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…

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AMCs Have Failed

Guest Author — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 13:30:57 +0000

…it will be the appraisal management companies that are going to be held to the fire, not the appraiser… In the spring of 2002 my wife and I bought our third house; an older cape cod in a great school system where our son would start kindergarten in the fall and his sister the year after. This house literally was 1970 inside. It had deep red shag carpet in the family room and sculptured avocado green carpet upstairs. Not to worry, it blended well with the sunshine yellow stove, bright orange counter top and turquoise and pink bathrooms. After 3...

Enough Already, Nobody is Listening AMC technology is not about efficiency of the appraisal process... I am very tired of reading all the articles from…
Lie - Ability Tax payers should not be LIE-ABLE for the actions of greedy bad players! Michael Simmons, Principal and founding Director of…
The Reality There is no shortage of appraisers, only appraisers willing to work for Appraisal Management Companies, but there will be a…

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Missing HUD Tag # on Manufactured Homes

Dave Towne — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 12:30:41 +0000

Sometimes NO HUD Tag number can be found… Appraisers, Regarding Manufactured Homes (MFH), sometimes NO HUD Tag number can be found on, or in, the MFH. However, this number is required to be entered on the 1004C appraisal form. Loans for MFH’s cannot be processed without these numbers. The HUD Tag is the metal plate(s) attached to the rear of each section. Numbers are usually sequential, with three letters as the prefix. Inside the home, someplace, should be a paper ‘Data Plate’ with the home serial number, HUD Tag #’s, and other data. But often the Data Plate cannot be found, and...

The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0” Originally known as Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU), and subsequently Collateral Underwriter 2.0 (CU-2)i this always dubious product of Fannie…
USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…
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…

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Photographs in Appraisal Reports

Dave Towne — Tue, 09 May 2017 12:30:03 +0000

Photographs, 2 refers & Nat’l RE Appraiser’s Day… I’ve been asked to formally review a recent report. When looking over the report pages, the subject photo pages contain a mix of horizontal and vertical photographs, about half ‘n half. And there are lots of subject photos. Bear in mind, most report photo pages are formatted for horizontal photographs. It appears to me the appraiser used a smart phone for photos, as there would be no normal tendency to hold a regular camera vertically except in rare occasions to emphasize height of some feature. But people do that with phones. The...

Uncovering Flaws in FHA Appraisal & Loan Review Process The story of this single mother's harrowing experience with a defective home purchase and HUD's negligent oversight exposes deep flaws…
The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0” Originally known as Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU), and subsequently Collateral Underwriter 2.0 (CU-2)i this always dubious product of Fannie…
Systemic Failures in FHA Appraisal and Loan Review This case exposed the cracks in an FHA system where failures by the lender, the AMC, and the review process…

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“Pre-built” Housing Explanations

Dave Towne — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 12:30:31 +0000

I used to work for a MODULAR homes manufacturer, before becoming an appraiser… Folks, If you’ve ever wondered about the differences between various ‘pre-built’ housing “types”, this 4 part series (below) is a good explanation. See the links below. These are written by a California contractor/real estate agent who has 30 years’ experience (according to his info). I used to work for a MODULAR home manufacturer, before becoming an appraiser. This series does not really fully explain how MODULAR is different from “Manufactured.” In simple terms, MODULAR homes are constructed in a factory to specifications in the International Building Codes...

The Site Value… A Walk in the Park or USPAP Nightmare? Recognized methods to determine the site value... We have all been there, the subject is located in an established neighborhood,…
Cost Approach Booklet & Instructions FREE Cost Approach calculation worksheet... Appraisers, Many use Building-Cost.net as a source for completing residential Cost Approach details in appraisal…
Bugged About Adjustments Illogical line item adjustments... Appraisers, I’ve recently ‘come in contact with’, in a semi-official capacity, a recently completed appraisal report.…

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Appraisal Forms Designs & Purposes

Dave Towne — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 13:30:33 +0000

These forms were “designed” to be used for those specific purposes… Appraisers, Earlier this week, I discussed the following about some lenders requesting a type of property inspection to be completed on a form “Not Designed” for the specific property type: Original observation discussed earlier this week: Read the highlighted sentence. Read the highlighted sentence again. According to a regional bank in my area, via info from their AMC, “thousands” of Manufactured Home appraisals have been done on the 2055 form. Do you do that, just because someone – who just wants to “make a sale” – tells you to...

Executive Summary in Appraisal Reports Executive SummaryAppraisers, I spent two days last week at the Appraisal Summit and Expo in Las Vegas – which was…
Desirable, Rite or Rong? Desirable, banned or permitted? I was caught up in a minor ‘dispute’ last week when a review appraiser wacked my…
The 1004D for Disaster Inspections - Advice When Disaster Happens... Appraisers, The phrase "disasters happen" is, unfortunately, all too common. Fires, floods, vehicle accidents, wind storms, hurricanes,…

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Appraiser’s Response to LRES Order Blast

Michael Ford — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 12:30:17 +0000

LRES Standard Interior Appraisal Request? Your special requirements and micromanagement of the appraisal process dictate that I charge a fee commensurate with the additional, but typically unnecessary work needed to produce credible results. You are the potential client (agent), so that that is your prerogative and it would be my pleasure to accommodate you as long as appropriate compensation is provided. Respectfully, there is little about your appraisal request that is “standard”. Please explain briefly what you consider to be a ‘standard interior appraisal’. That definition does not appear in The Appraisal Institute’s Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal. To be...

Requests from Lenders with Specific Statements Lenders' Requests, C&R Fees, Email Blasts, SOW, Unlicensed AMCs and more... What is the best way to ensure you receive…
AMCs Bidding Game An appraiser's response to AMCs bidding system. Recently, we came across an interesting story and thought it's something fruitful that…
Appraisers and Their Lack of Fees I feel it’s only prudent to put my ten cents, or more, in on the subject of actual cost, versus…

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Collateral Underwriter Crumbles

Dave Towne — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 12:30:28 +0000

CU Robot Keeps Score on Appraisers Appraisers, No, this is not about “cuukie” crumbles. It’s about what the Fannie Mae Collateral Underwriter (CU) process is finding in far too many appraisal reports. A few days ago, I had an opportunity to speak with someone on the ‘inside’ of Fannie Mae. The discussion evolved to “what are the most serious items the CU process is finding in appraisals?” The CU process, which became effective January 26, 2015, is a giant electronic robot collecting tons of specific data from submitted appraisals to FNMA. This data can then be tied directly to the...

Fannie Mae Fraud and Abuse Exposed History of waste, fraud & abuse at this rogue organization... Fannie Mae reported this week it had fired more than…
Fannie Wants to Script Conclusions of Outside… Government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae is essentially forcing banks to repurchase any loan it wants if [the appraiser] refuses to…
Uncovering Flaws in FHA Appraisal & Loan Review Process The story of this single mother's harrowing experience with a defective home purchase and HUD's negligent oversight exposes deep flaws…

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manufactured home - Appraisers Blogs

The Town With No Bank: How Rural America Lost Its Mortgage Lifeline

Related Posts:

VA Alternative Valuation Methods

Related Posts:

Fannie Mae’s ADU Policy Updated

Related Posts:

What is a Next Generation Home?

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No Money to the Table!

Related Posts:

FNMA Rural High-needs Appraisal Waiver

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AMCs Have Failed

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Missing HUD Tag # on Manufactured Homes

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Photographs in Appraisal Reports

Related Posts:

“Pre-built” Housing Explanations

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Appraisal Forms Designs & Purposes

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Appraiser’s Response to LRES Order Blast

Related Posts:

Collateral Underwriter Crumbles

Related Posts: