Tagged: profession

Fighting for Consumer Protection and the Appraisal Industry 34

Fighting for Consumer Protection & the Appraisal Industry

I’m just an Average Joe, surrounded by some really smart people, and we are fighting back. I often wonder if Certified General, MAI or SRA appraisers sitting in their ivory towers often chuckle to themselves and say HA, data collectors will never impact commercial. Who cares about the residential appraiser. Well, it looks like it’s time for you all to care. Copied from a Real Estate Forum Post: “Good morning, My name is Kevin Graham, and I am with Beacon Property Data Collection Services. You had recently signed up to become a panel member and we have an assignment for...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

Has Fannie Mae Gotten Too Big to Control? 28

Has FNMA Gotten Too Big to Control?

Has Fannie Mae gotten too big to control? That was one of the many questions asked to Senators & Congressman while in Washington DC. The agreement on whether Fannie Mae has gotten too big to control was unanimous. Most believe that the company is too large and complex to be effectively managed by the government. They argue that Fannie Mae is too big to fail, and that if it were to collapse, it would have a devastating impact on the housing market. Others believe that Fannie Mae is sorta manageable, and that the government has taken steps to reduce the...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Finance Agency / FHFA

Foregoing Contingencies! But What About Fiduciary Duty? 14

Foregoing Contingencies! But What About Fiduciary Duty?

By foregoing contingencies such as home inspections and appraisals altogether, mortgage lenders risk violating their fiduciary duty – which is supposed to prioritize the interests of the borrower above all else. It is no surprise that some loan officers are salivating over the prospect of not having to wait for a full appraisal or a home inspection. After all, who doesn’t want to close more deals in less time? While this may be beneficial from a broker’s perspective, it could result in borrowers making decisions without being fully informed about their investment. Kim Nichols, senior managing director of Pennymac TPO,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is Overlooked by HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge 19

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is Overlooked by HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge

Marcia Fudge, the Secretary of HUD, decided to convene a special meeting of master minds with absolutely no real diversity, equity or inclusion included, with the intent of “closing the racial gap and increasing access to homeownership in African American communities.” Appraisers, all the racial mud-slinging against appraisers by the current government is extremely disheartening toward our honored profession. The people ‘in power’ over the last few years have been fond of image building and acronyms, believing those items will have magical influence over property values, and how people conduct themselves. One of these is named DEI, which stands for...

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

GLA Adjustment Process: - Adjusting the Full Difference vs. a Threshold Amount 79

GLA Adjustment: Adjusting Full Difference vs a Threshold Amount

Appraisers, on Thursday, before the Memorial Day holiday, I circulated across the US an email asking for response to a simple two question survey about how you “adjust” the GLA square footage between the Subject and Comparables. The questions: adjust 100% of the square foot difference, or adjust the difference after a ‘threshold’ square foot amount (meaning not the full 100% difference). I received a respectable number of responses compared to emails sent out, and also posted to 3 different web forums, nearly 200 replies. So that’s enough to validate the percentage of both responses, and report the trends. As...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Software / Appraisers News / Trending

And Why Is the Second Appraisal Always the “Correct Value?” 19

And Why Is the Second Appraisal Always the “Correct Value?”

On Friday morning, May 19, I was one of five expert witnesses (and the only as an appraiser) to testify on the topic of appraisal bias in front of the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC). During the first hour of testimony, our fourth grandchild was born. My wife was in the audience and stepped out of the hearing (the nerve!) to take the call from my oldest son on the news of our new granddaughter. The Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) held a second hearing on challenges facing the appraisal industry, including barriers to entering the profession and racial bias in home appraisals. The...

Appraisal / Snippets / Trending

NAR Concerns and Survey on Property Data Collectors 12

NAR Concerns & Survey on Property Data Collectors

NAR is conducting a survey and wants to know if you have any concerns regarding property data collectors, if the appraisal fees are higher since the involvement of data collectors, if borrowers are made aware of a fee for the appraisal and a separate AMC fee or were the fees bundled, if the property data collector gave the impression that they were the appraiser, whether you have any safety and privacy concerns with the data collection process, quality of data collected and whether they need to be licensed…  In a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) regarding appraisal...

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

AMC Fee Impact on Appraisal Fee 78

AMC Fee Impact on Appraisal Fee

While the borrower was charged $695 for the appraisal, the appraiser was only paid $301. The AMC fee was $394.  We often hear complaints from GSEs and lenders that appraisal fees are too high, hence the push for modernization. Yet they fail to acknowledge that this is due to an overly bloated middleman – the appraisal management company (AMC). As a consumer, you should be aware of the potential for being fleeced on appraisal fees. It’s possible that you could be paying more than double what the appraiser is receiving for actually doing the work, with the excess going to...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Dodd-Frank Act / C&R Fees

VA Appraisal Request Form at Heart of AIR Violation Class Action 61

VA Appraisal Request Form at Heart of AIR Violation Class Action

While the statute doesn’t explicitly mention that providing a loan amount is an AIR violation… When a mortgage lender seeks to make a Veterans Administration-backed home loan, the lender requests an appraisal from the VA’s appraiser panel by using a form entitled Request for Determination of Reasonable Value. For many years, until it was revised in July 2022, this form had a box labelled “Refinancing-Amount of Proposed Loan.” This box asked the lender to fill in the proposed loan amount for refinances. Once submitted, the form begins the appraisal process and is provided to the appraiser assigned by the VA...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / The US Department of Veterans Affairs / Trending / VA

The New & Improved Fannie Mae FRAUDULATOR 2.0 42

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 Mae is increasingly being referred to by some, if not many American Appraisers as The Fraudulator / Underwriter 2.0 (FU-2). To be clear it is not limited to the Collateral Underwriter (CU & CU-2) software. The new Fraudulator (FU-2) combines the CU products with their numerous improper uses. The end result of which includes OUTRIGHT FRAUD being perpetrated against banks via the repurchase letters Fannie Mae now issues on a quota based system rather than because of legitimate appraisal defects....

AGA / AI / AMC / American Society of Appraisers / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute

xml sitemap
blank