property data collector - Appraisers Blogs

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

Desiree Mehbod — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:30:34 +0000

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...

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The 24-Hour Appraisal Funded by Appraisers

AppraisersBlogs — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 12:30:19 +0000

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...

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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...

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The Appraisal Profession’s Perfect Storm: A Veteran’s Take on a Dying Craft

Desiree Mehbod — Fri, 02 May 2025 12:30:49 +0000

The new UAD form, the AMC fee gouging, the waivers, the false bias claims. It’s a perfect storm of assaults. I’ve been an appraiser since 1993, back when fax machines were cutting-edge and the internet was a clunky novelty. Over three decades, I’ve seen this profession weather storms, economic crashes, regulatory overhauls, you name it. But what’s happening now? It’s not a storm; it’s a tsunami. Our industry is hemorrhaging talent, drowning under false accusations, and getting squeezed by corporate greed and bureaucratic overreach. As someone who’s stubbornly refused to bend the knee to Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), I’m here...

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A Cry from the Appraisal Trenches: The Fall of GSE Oversight

Guest Author — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 12:30:13 +0000

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...

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Hybrid Appraisals – Flawed Data or Flawed Agenda?

Guest Author — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:30:45 +0000

Brian Zitin’s self-serving interpretation of Reggora’s survey results on hybrid appraisals is a textbook example of twisting flawed data to fit a preconceived flawed narrative. He triumphantly proclaims that 60% of appraisers plan to perform hybrid appraisals, painting it as some groundbreaking shift in the industry. But the reality is far more nuanced and less flattering to his agenda. “Our main question to appraisers: Do you plan to perform hybrid appraisals? The result was a 60/40 split with 60% saying yes they will! That is quite the controversial result and indicates a lot more education and effort will need to...

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FHFA’s Appraisal Waivers Expansion

AppraisersBlogs — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 12:30:03 +0000

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) recent push to expand the use of appraisal waivers represents a concerning and potentially disastrous gambit that threatens to undermine the integrity of the housing market and the broader economy as a whole. The recent announcement from the FHFA Deputy Director Naa Awaa Tagoe regarding the expansion of appraisal waiver eligibility for purchase loans is a significant development that has sparked debate and controversy within the mortgage industry. By increasing the maximum allowable loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for full appraisal waivers from 80% to 90%, and for inspection-based appraisal waivers from 80% to 97%, the...

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How Deep Fakes Have Burrowed Into Home Finance

Jeremy Bagott — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:30:11 +0000

Fannie and Freddie have been toiling at the coalface of “synthetic appraisals” – “black box valuations.” In the 1960s, technocrats at the Pentagon used the latest IBM mainframe computers to analyze complex data related to the Vietnam War. Planners fed punch cards into the machines and ran endless simulations, hoping to determine strategies for winning the war. In 1967, analysts finally asked the computer, “When will we win in Vietnam?” The machine’s answer: “You won in 1965.” It exposed the hubris and naiveté of those who believed computer-generated models could capture and quantify millions of complex human interactions on the...

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Exposing Predatory AMCs

AppraisersBlogs — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:30:39 +0000

Exposing the inner workings of these predatory AMCs and their corrosive influence on the housing market. Cindy Chance’s recent comments about the concerning practices of some appraisal management companies (AMCs) have struck a chord with many in the real estate valuation industry. Chance is shedding light on the troubling ways in which certain AMCs have come to wield significant power and influence over the appraisal process, often to the detriment of both appraisers and the public. The growth of AMCs in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis was driven by the misguided belief that they could help “ensure the...

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Fannie, Freddie’s Offshore Gambit Imperils Privacy of Millions

Jeremy Bagott — Mon, 20 May 2024 12:30:58 +0000

The offshore firm will data-mine millions of images showing the personal spaces of U.S. homeowners and tenants. Fearing the Chinese government could access sensitive user data through the video app TikTok, House lawmakers passed a bill last month that would ban the app if it isn’t sold to new owners. But a greater peril looms. Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are reportedly “bench-testing” an arrangement with a foreign AI firm in which the offshore firm will data-mine millions of images showing the personal spaces of U.S. homeowners and tenants. If your home was appraised for a refinance or...

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Is the GSE’s “Appraisal Modernization” Really Just Mass Appraisal?

Dallas T. Kiedrowski, MNAA — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 13:30:04 +0000

Mass Appraisal tend to exhibit a regressive nature… In the intricate landscape of real estate mortgage financing, the notion of appraisal waivers recently dubbed “Value Acceptance”, by the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), has stirred considerable debate. The most recent statistics show Value Acceptance accounts for up to 40% of all mortgage approvals. It is presented as part of the GSEs “Appraisal Modernization” initiative, which aims to streamline the mortgage appraisal process. However, a closer examination reveals potential drawbacks, raising questions about its efficacy and impact on the housing market. Despite its roots in a methodology designed to support appraisers, Value...

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Should Property Data Collectors Be Licensed?

Peter Christensen — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 13:30:02 +0000

Should “property data collectors” who inspect properties and provide information to real estate appraisers be licensed by state appraiser boards? In Mississippi, a bill has been introduced this week to require exactly that. The legislator behind the bill happens to be an appraiser. HB1663 would establish a license category for property data collectors under the jurisdiction of the Mississippi Real Estate Appraisal Board. A property data collector would be defined as an individual or company, who is not a licensed appraiser and “who collects, either physically, virtually, or digitally, any information on real property, and produces such information to a...

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FNMA Continued Effort to Get Rid of Appraisers

Jonathan Miller — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 12:30:23 +0000

Fannie Mae Continues Their Effort To Get Rid Of Appraisers: Sends “Tips” For the past year, Fannie Mae has sent unsigned complaints to state appraisal boards; when they see something they don’t like, they write it up and send it to the state. In their recent newsletter, this effort is called “Tips.” They emphasize they are not automated: LQC reviews are not automated. Our expert analysts validate the appraisal results by asking questions like “Do the comparable sale selections make sense?”, “Is the data accurate?”, “Did the appraiser make appropriate adjustments?” and “Are we getting the most probable value?” in...

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Mortgage Application Volume Nearing Historic Low

Dave Towne — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 12:30:16 +0000

Appraisers, I’m almost reluctant to distribute this article, but the reality is what it is. Per the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the loan application volume is at another low point in our history. The article in Mortgage News Daily titled “Mortgage Application Volume at Lowest Levels Since 1996” in this link provides context. For a related perspective, the article contains a graph, which can be expanded to show mortgage rates and application volume for decades. The brown line in the graph shows 30 year mortgage rates – since early 1971. The light blue indicates the loan application volume, which corresponds...

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Foregoing Contingencies! But What About Fiduciary Duty?

AppraisersBlogs — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 12:30:21 +0000

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,...

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NAR Concerns & Survey on Property Data Collectors

AppraisersBlogs — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:30:58 +0000

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...

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‘Clean-Slate’ Laws, Bad Policy Could Dispatch More Felons to Borrowers’ Homes

Jeremy Bagott — Thu, 18 May 2023 12:30:02 +0000

The idea of unlicensed individuals being hired off the streets and paid a pittance to video and photograph the interiors of borrowers’ homes, which would include the exact location of valuables and children’s bedrooms, has been unsettling to some. An astute real estate broker recognized the name of a Michigan man awaiting sentencing in an armored-car robbery. The latter had been engaged by one of six companies authorized by mortgage giant Fannie Mae to dispatch so-called “data collectors” to borrowers’ homes. The broker alerted the bank and the National Association of Realtors. New, progressive laws designed to conceal felony convictions...

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AMC Hires a Convicted Felon as Property Data Collector

AppraisersBlogs — Fri, 05 May 2023 12:30:19 +0000

The recent case of Paschal Uchendu, a convicted felon awaiting sentencing for orchestrating a $1.2 million armed robbery of a courier van, which he was entrusted to secure, is cause for alarm when it comes to the use of unlicensed property data collectors. One of the largest appraisal management companies, Class Valuation, had hired Mr. Uchendu as one such property data collector despite his criminal background and pending legal issues – clearly demonstrating their lackadaisical attitude towards vetting employees who are tasked with collecting sensitive information about properties and homeowners. Class Valuation is among the six vendors approved by Fannie...

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Certified Appraisers vs. Unlicensed Data Collectors

Jonathan Miller — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 12:30:09 +0000

Here’s a great take on the difference between Certified Appraisers vs. Unlicensed Data Collectors by Leigh Brown, President of the NC Association of REALTORS. Fannie Mae has been working hard to get rid of appraisers for years. Their latest twist is to re-categorize many appraisers as “Unlicensed Data Collectors.” Fannie Mae will end up creating more instability for the trillions in the bond market – investors will have to process millions of valuations with the physical attributes of the home collected by unlicensed, uninsured, and unprepared individuals getting paid $10-$25 per inspection. AI meets with Fannie Mae regulators to...

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FNMA Property Data Collectors Program Violates WV Law

AppraisersBlogs — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 12:30:14 +0000

The Fannie Mae Property Data Collectors program seems to have run afoul of West Virginia law. This program allows for the collection of data related to real estate appraisals by unlicensed third-party data collectors, which is in direct violation of article 38 of the state’s Real Estate Appraiser Licensing and Certification Act. The act specifically states that only a casual or drive-by inspection can be performed when it comes to consumer loans secured by real estate, and no opinion can be rendered as to its value nor any fee charged for such an inspection. ARTICLE 38. THE REAL ESTATE APPRAISER...

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