Tagged: MLS

The Way Things Used To Be - Appraisal fees unchanged in two decades 127

The Way Things Used To Be

“We haven’t had a raise in two decades.” Give me a break! It’s a common complaint in our industry that real estate appraisers haven’t had a raise in two decades. The argument goes that twenty years ago, the standard fee for an appraisal was $350. Fast forward twenty years and it’s still $350. That’s a great sound bite, but the actual logic is deeply flawed. In real terms, we’ve had a huge raise thanks to the massively reduced amount of time we spend on our appraisals. It’s something I’ve written about before (Never Had a Raise in 20 Years), but...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending / Valuation Technology

Price of this Fiasco May be the Downfall of the US Real Estate Market 16

The Price of Big Data Valuation Fiasco

"Price" of this Fiasco may be the Downfall of the American Real Estate Market… I Choose Not to Be Part of the Big Data Valuation Revolution The big data and automated valuation explosion will ultimately destroy the real estate industry and it will take decades for it to recover. The facts are, we live and work in a price-per-square-foot industry. The square footage data used in the so-called “official record” in local tax records is in error enough to alter home values and it’s an equal opportunity offender – values can be too low or too high. And, it’s wrong...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Home Valuation Code of Conduct

Don Machholz Hangs up his Clipboard & Gives Away Spreadsheets 3

Don Machholz Hangs up his Clipboard

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Don Machholz for his willingness to assist appraisers… Appraisers, A well respected appraiser who has voluntarily helped many of us has decided to hang up his clipboard, and remove the batteries from his laser measurer. I first became aware of Don Machholz back when the screwball GSE designed MC form was introduced in 2009. Don was one of the first appraisers who used his skills with Excel programming to design and distribute an Excel computation spreadsheet for the MC. Many appraisers have been using that, and his other Excel spreadsheets, ever since....

1004MC / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions

Appraisal Management Companies AMCs Have Failed 63

AMCs Have Failed

…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...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

ClearVal Value IS So ClearCut - What IS a “ClearVal Appraisal” 162

What IS a “ClearVal Appraisal”?

Clear Capital ClearVal… Value Not So ClearCut… I’ve finally had an opportunity to read a hybrid ‘appraisal’ start to finish. All may read the unedited, non-redacted version in all its glory… or infamy, as the case may be. Please click here (report also embedded below) and read it first. I’ll wait right here. Finished? Great. One thing is clear. It is not an appraisal by any current accepted definition that I am familiar with. Ironically, there is also very little that is clear as far as support for the opined values is concerned. (I’m old fashioned and think it should...

AGA / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations

Solidifi on Notice... AMC System Is Further Degrading Itself 62

Appraisers Pushing Back!

Solidifi has taken the disrespect to another level… Appraisers Pushing Back Against AMC Bad Behavior! Appraisers have finally had enough of bad behavior by AMCs. VaCAP received the following email from an appraiser, who by the way is not located in Virginia. VaCAP spoke to the author concerning the email and found out a few more details. First, the author does not do residential work as they are a Certified General nor do they work for AMCs and are not on any AMC roster. Somehow, this nonresidential appraiser received this email from Solidifi. VaCAP commends our colleague for stepping up...

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

Alternative Evaluations... Good or Bad 10

Alternative Evaluations… Good or Bad

All of these "alternative evaluations" are an attempt to reduce the fee of the appraiser… All this talk about alternatives to a full appraisal needs some common business sense added to the conversation. At the end of these comments I will include some of my background and you can make your decision if you think I am qualified to put my 2 cents in this discussion. I have said this before and I will say it again, the lenders (AMC included) just want an Appraisers signature and their E&O insurance with a value and they want it as cheap as...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / E&O

Request for Appraisal Waivers If Granted Will Erode Public Trust 68

Appraisal Waivers vs. Public Trust

If the ASC grants the request for appraisal waivers, the precedent will have been set for other banks to follow… TriStar Bank has requested appraisal waivers for the entire year of 2018. According to the bank, they are having difficulty getting appraisals in the Nashville area and there is only one Certified General Appraiser in the the locality in which they are headquartered. Below is an excerpt form their letter to the ASC. They offer options in lieu of appraisals: Obtain an estimated value from a Realtor, selected from a small group of trusted Realtors who are not involved in...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee / Appraisers News / ASC

Third Party Services Prohibited - Prohibition is Back! 24

Prohibition is Back!

AMC strictly prohibits the use of third party services. A recent review of an engagement letter from a large national appraisal management company revealed something pretty peculiar… “An appraiser is prohibited from using any third party services.“ Wait, What? No third party services? I am no attorney, and certainly do not know all the aspects of law, but it seems that the definition of third party services is pretty self-explanatory. To be sure I am not mistaken; I researched the definition of third party. FreeDictionary.com: “A person who is not a party to a contract or a transaction, but has...

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

Subject Inspection for Hybrid Appraisals & USPAP Compliance 62

USPAP Compliance & Hybrid Appraisals

WHO does the SUBJECT INSPECTION? Appraisers, Some appraisers have questioned the name ‘Hybrid Appraisal’ because the requesting client WON’T USE THAT NAME for the product. When they call or email you, they’ll say something like “We have a really fast appraisal for you to do that you can do on your desktop without leaving your office.”, or “Can you do an exterior appraisal for us?” or they might identify it by the ‘name’ that client uses for the product. The FIRST question you need to ask is simple: WHO does the SUBJECT INSPECTION? If they say ‘someone else does that’…...

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

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