It is important for every appraiser to submit comments… The Appraisal Subcommittee wants to hear from appraisers on Tristar Bank’s request for appraisal waivers. The comment period is open until April 9, 2018. VaCAP has previously participated in a group letter with other organizations and expressed our concerns on this topic. We will once again be part of a group letter as well as send in our own comments. It is important for every appraiser to submit comments on how this is a dangerous slippery slope if the waiver is granted. Consumer protection is the issue and the door will be...
This will be better than your favorite band’s concert! Watch the oral arguments in the FTC vs LREAB case live in Washington DC on Thursday February 22, 2018! “The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or "Commission") will meet on Thursday, February 22, 2018, in Room 532 of the FTC Building for an Oral Argument In the Matter of Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board. The public is invited to attend and observe the open portion of the meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. The remainder of the meeting will be closed to the public ” VaCAP will be there...
ASA and NAIFA Agree to Move Forward with Merger Consideration The American Society of Appraisers (ASA), the original multidisciplinary valuation society, and the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers (NAIFA), the leading voice for independent professional real estate appraisers, announced on April 18, 2017, they have reached an agreement to move forward with a Memorandum of Understanding leading to the merger of NAIFA with ASA. Boards for both organizations will provide details to their memberships in upcoming weeks for final consideration and approval. The merger will add to ASA’s nearly 5,000 multidiscipline credentialed valuation professionals in over 75 countries and...
No paid lobbyist, just appraisers talking with the Senators and Delegates about the abuses of some AMCs… Governor McAuliffe signed SB1573 into law requiring appraisal management companies to pay within 30 days of the initial delivery. This becomes law July 1, 2017. Here is how it happened…. Two appraisers, both small business owners, sat down and had a conversation with Senator Frank Wagner about some of the issues appraisers are facing. By the end of the conversation, the three were on the phone with a representative of Legislative Services drafting the verbiage of the bills needed to help protect the...
Excessive markups are common but consumers usually “know nothing about it”… The Chicago Tribune has published an article written by Ken Harney concerning appraisal fees. The article is very telling of what appraisers already know. Now the consumers are aware. Please read and share the article with your colleagues, agents, local MLS Board, Realtor Board, Appraisal Board and your Legislators. The more the abuses of some AMCs are exposed, the more opportunity we have to protect the consumer. Are you paying unseen add-on fees for your appraisal? By Kenneth R. Harney Are you getting fleeced on appraisal charges when you...
The problem is not simply that too many appraisers are retiring. Very few appraisers are entering the profession. In Illinois, the drop in real estate appraiser trainee applications went from 1,231 in 2005 to only 55 in 2015. That’s an over 95 percent decline. This drastic reduction in new entrants is being seen in states across the country. Many appraisers welcome the shortage, which has already driven up fees in many areas. But many believe the celebration is shortsighted. A decline in the number of appraisers threatens the integrity of lending and undermines the stability of the real estate market…
Adjusting appraisal threshold levels On December 2, 2015, Dave Towne called attention to an article on a potential increase in appraisal threshold levels, which appeared in the ABA Banking Journal. Excerpt: The banking agencies are revisiting the dollar thresholds for their appraisal requirements, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in Arlington, Va., today at the final outreach meeting for the decennial Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act review. “Based largely on comments we have received during these outreach sessions, we have formed an define working group to review the appropriateness of dollar thresholds for transactions requiring appraisals and other requirements...
Recently an article appeared in WorkingRE about the Future of Valuation. The author is the President of a large and highly respected Appraiser Peer and Educational Organization. My own contrary response was either too lengthy, or deemed too critical of a big advertiser for publication in WorkingRE. I thank the hosts of this blog for granting the space. My concern with the author’s views starts with the description of our Real Estate Appraisal profession as ‘valuation.’ The concern is more than mere quibbling over semantics. Valuation is the phrase preferred by the Business Valuation community. They have long been dominated...
For well over a year, the Columbia Society of Real Estate Appraisers and five other nonprofit appraiser groups have been working on an industry paper entitled Regulatory Issues Affecting the Real Estate Appraisal Profession (subtitled: Unintended Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Law and Potential Remedies). The paper is aimed at informing lawmakers of some of the unintended consequences of the Dodd-Frank law as it relates to appraisers and consumers. We hope that lawmakers will address and correct some of the issues brought to light in this paper. The Letter Over the past year, a select group of professional appraisal organizations have...
Banking Agencies are Told Proposed AMC Rules Fall Short on Guidance In comments filed June 6 with several federal banking agencies, the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers expressed our concerns that rules proposed to regulate appraisal management company (AMC) conduct lack sufficient detail to allow for effective implementation. Additionally, the organizations expressed concern that some provisions of the proposed rule depart from Congress’s intent when the enabling law was included in the Dodd-Frank Act, and could negatively affect the overall public policy goals. In the comment letter, ASA and NAIFA cover numerous...
