Tagged: rural

Using Discrimination As a Bully Tactic 11

Using Discrimination As a Bully Tactic

As an appraiser who has been appraising in rural south for 20 years I have seen a few things. This wave of discrimination has gotten out of control. Sure, there has been some discrimination going on which is not the norm, but to accuse someone of discrimination because the value came in lower than an expected value is pure asinine. It is not our job to validate lenders and borrowers expected values. I have had very few borrowers get mad, that I am aware of, because my opinion of value was lower than their expected values. I can remember three...

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

Opportunity to Work for Free is Not a Plan 73

‘Opportunity’ to Work for Free is Not a Plan

I gave this ‘opportunity’ further critical analysis in terms of time spent versus the fee income potential.  Appraisers, I’d like to disclose a personal ‘opportunity’ that was presented to me last fall, early winter. A company with AMC roots was, or is, recruiting people to become “property inspectors” with the resulting reports potentially fed to other appraisers who do HYBRID, or maybe even DESKTOP reports. The GSEs never intended the DESKTOP report to incorporate separate ‘property inspections’ from a hired third party, but that’s been the evolution because they just look the other way. Last fall, due to the slowdown...

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

Visualizing Market Activity Using Graphs & Trendlines 4

Visualizing Market Activity Using Graphs & Trendlines

Spreadsheets and graphs are powerful tools for appraisers. With proper data, and incorporated into reports, they can enhance your professionalism and decision-making ability.  Appraisers, this article will highlight the process I use to bring clarity to my research and analysis of ‘comparable’ properties. This completed process becomes an exhibit in all my appraisal reports because it helps the Intended User(s) visually see what the market has been doing over a known time period. The exhibit graph also indicates a daily rate of change for the sales over the time period, which can then be applied as a ‘time’ (market) adjustment...

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

Remove Predominant Price from the New Forms 16

Remove Predominant Price from New Forms

Something that has ‘stuck in my craw’ or ‘frosted my cookies’ for years is the nonsense about stating a specific “PREDOMINANT” price for neighborhood homes. And then being forced to explain why the Opinion of Value is not precisely that number, and if not, why not. Real estate is IMPERFECT. Properties, especially comparables, seldom, if ever, sell for the very same or extremely similar prices. If that is the case, how can there be an exact “PREDOMINANT” figure? The possible exception to this are highly dense urban developments where the new construction homes are cookie cutters, and the builder sells...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Subject Property Actual Location - Where Is It? 26

Subject Property Actual Location

Don’t say that the subject property is ‘within’ a particular City or Town due to the postal ZIP Code that applies to the street address unless that is accurate. The actual location may be miles away from there. Appraisers, this article was prompted by my ‘coming in contact with’ several appraisal reports where different regional appraisers report the physical location of the subject property “in” a particular City associated with the postal ZIP Code for that City. Actually, the property was not “in” the City at all. It was in the County. Since I observed this inaccuracy among appraisers who...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

Proposal to Eliminate the VA Fee Panel 26

Proposal to Eliminate the VA Fee Panel

VA Fee Panel – The Appraisal Institute does not believe that a move to a lender select program, such as those found in the conventional or FHA mortgage markets, would  improve timeliness, nor would it be in the best interests of veterans. On May 18, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity held a legislative hearing on the Discussion Draft of H.R. 7735, Improving Access to the VA Home Loan Act of 2022. The bill is sponsored by Representative Mike Bost, R-Illinois, the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, a member of the Senate Veterans...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Scope Creep & the Imploding of Rules Have Little to Do With Appraising 24

Scope Creep & the Imploding of Rules

…the imploding rules then implemented, and the scope creep that evolved because the cart was leading the horse, has severely lessened the reliability of ALL appraisals in my opinion. ANSI, while certainly worthy of discussion and taking a position on, will not solve the real “appraisal problem” that we all have. It really isn’t an effective tool anyway, but what the heck do I know. Being one of those AG certified from the very beginning, too early to get trained by anyone above me, since 1992, and licensed in real estate since 1971, and a broker since 1991, in a...

American National Standards Institute / ANSI / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

Is This Room a Bedroom? 3

Is This Room a Bedroom?

I often see discussions on various forums about “is this room a bedroom”, or similar comments. In case you’ve never seen the IBC requirements, I found this on a set of building plans for a new house: IN EVERY SLEEPING ROOM, PROVIDE AN EMERGENCY EXIT WINDOW WITH MIN. HT. OF 24″ AND MIN. WIDTH OF 20″ AND NOT LESS THAN 5.7 SQ.FT. OF OPENABLE AREA AND NOT MORE THAN 44″ FROM FLR. TO SILL So to decipher: A BEDROOM egress window sill must be no more than 44” above the floor. The opening height of the window must be no...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Federal Housing Administration / FHA

FHFA RFI on Hybrids, Waivers, AVMS, Racism... 7

FHFA RFI on Hybrids, Waivers, AVMS, Racism

The FHFA is requesting input on appraisal related policies, practices and processes. We encourage everyone to submit comments. The Request for Input (RFI) is open to comment until February 26, 2021. The input received in response to the RFI will be used by FHFA to determine the necessary modifications needed to ensure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) operate in a safe and sound manner. “Modernizing the appraisal process has the potential to create a more streamlined and accurate collateral valuation process. But if modernization is not properly adopted, it could have negative unintended consequences,” said Director Mark Calabria....

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

Mortgage Financial Services Puts Appraisers on Timeout for Delays 21

Appraisers on Timeout for Delays!

Early in January, Mortgage Financial Services (MFS) sent out a notice to the appraisers on their panel announcing changes in their turn time policy. In this communication, they state if appraisals are more than 48 hours late, the appraiser will be suspended for 10 business days with no new orders assigned. They also state that the appraiser must request for a longer due date prior to accepting the order, or to raise the appraisal fee for rushes. However, they add, “turn times and fees have to be realistic”. Not long ago, a small number of our clients included penalty clauses...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

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