Tagged: real estate appraisal

January 31, 2018

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

July 25, 2016

Appraiser’s Response to LRES Order Blast

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...

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

January 28, 2016

Real Estate Appraisers…Who Are We?

Appraisers…Who are we? With the current requirements to enter the profession of real estate appraisal, it is likely that who we are will conceivably change in the coming years. Perhaps for the better? Or, it could be to the detriment of the professions. Appraisers today, and for many years prior to today, have come from a variety of prior jobs and professions. Many of us are former military, teachers, nurses, contractors, builders, home inspectors, real estate agents, lenders, accountants, environmental consultants and engineers, and minimum wage folks aspiring to better themselves. Some of us have dual roles as real estate...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice / USPAP

April 3, 2015

Virginia Enacts Law on Reasonable and Customary Fees

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on March 23 signed into law S.B. 1445, which requires appraisal management companies operating in the state to compensate appraisers at a reasonable and customary rate. The legislation gives the Virginia Real Estate Appraiser Board authority to take administrative action against AMCs not paying appraisers customary and reasonable fees in accordance with federal law. Prior to enactment of the legislation, Virginia law already required an appraiser engaged by an AMC to disclose as part of the appraisal report the actual fee they were paid. In 2014, the Virginia Center for Housing Research and the Virginia Tech...

AI / AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News

March 31, 2015

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

You are not the boss over who does or does not do business in 'your area.' “Our investigation and the Board’s review concluded that the evidence did not reveal a violation of the Board’s laws and rules governing the practice of Real Estate Appraising. The Board has, therefore, closed the file in this matter.” That is how the most recent complaint against me ended. The ordeal began last spring. I have been called upon multiple times from my current clients to please be willing to go to a new area. It is an area with few appraisers, and there is...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

Appraisal Bias Appraiser Pressure ~copyright AppraisersBlogs

March 6, 2015

Why All Appraisals are Always Wrong

Appraisal Bias & Appraiser Pressure: Why All Appraisals are Always Wrong Real estate markets cooled down in the fourth quarter of 2014, and despite historically low interest rates, refinance volumes dropped as well. The increasing pressure on lenders and real estate agents to maintain loan and sales volumes has brought about renewed interest in appraisal accuracy and increasing concern that residential real estate appraisals are inflated. A recent Wall Street Journal article asserts that “home appraisers are inflating the values of some properties they assess (appraise), often at the behest of loan officers and real estate agents, in what industry...

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

March 2, 2015

Original Comparable Photos

I recently received an AMC update and reminder about the need for and why actual comparable photos are necessary. My reply: Original Comparable Photographs: Scope of Work Point 3: Inspection of the comparable sales from at least the street. This requirement does not tie the appraiser to a specific time for that inspection. Geographical competence would have the appraiser in the area of the comparables many times, and depending on the appraiser’s experience, for many years. Taking a comparable photo a month, six months, a year or more after the sale, does not represent the sale’s condition at the time...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Quality Monitoring / Appraisers News

January 29, 2015

Appraisers, Pull Together and Fight Back!

Dear Real Estate Appraisers of America, To date, each of you have invested years of your life and tens of thousands of dollars to create your real estate appraisal career. No small feat. You have sacrificed greatly to get to where you are. And, now you are feeling as if everything you have worked so hard for is being stolen away from you. Tragically, over the last 5 years there has been a whirlwind of events that has resulted in a very frustrating situation for appraisers. AMCs who have been permitted to increase profits by driving down appraiser fees and...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Customary & Reasonable Fees

November 12, 2014

HOA Does Not Necessarily Equal PUD

HOA Fees but no PUD? It happened again this week. An appraisal was done, the report was turned into the AMC, and this was the revision request: “A preliminary review of your appraisal indicates that the HOA fee was filled out, but the PUD box and PUD section was left blank. Please fill out the PUD information and resend the report at your earliest convenience.” Ugh! I opened up the report and wrote a quick sentence or two in the Additional Comments section explaining that the subject has HOA fees for the private road maintenance, but it was not located...

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

November 7, 2014

FNMA Big Data to Check Appraisals

FNMA New Collateral Underwriter to Check Appraisals Using Fannie’s Big Data FNMA Collateral Underwriter Flyer showing info about the FNMA Collateral Underwriter process they will make available to lenders (NOT APPRAISERS) in January 2015. You should review it. It has to do with their Enhancement of Risk Controls. This is what we know as Appraisal Quality Monitoring (AQM), which was announced almost 2 years ago. FNMA has already been using the ‘scope’ on your reports, but will soon allow the lenders to have access to the software so that they can do pre-submittal exams prior to uploading the loan file,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Quality Monitoring / Appraisers News / AQM / Collateral Underwriter