Tagged: valuation

August 10, 2020

Another ‘Pile on Appraisers’ Diatribe?

The National Association of Realtors held their “Virtual Appraisal Summit” on Aug. 5, 2020, focusing on ‘fair housing and the appraisal industry.’ We were fortunate to have Craig Morley, President of the National Association of Appraisers, represent us appraisers, but his presentation was only scheduled for 15 minutes. I’m hoping when he sees this message, he will provide more info about his presentation and the outcome of the “Summit.” Craig’s presentation had the title: Abilities and Limitations of Appraising Real Estate Under Today’s Rules Craig Morley, Managing Partner, Accurity Valuation/Morley & McConkie, LLC I’m just hoping that this Summit was...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / NAA / NAR

Zestimate vs Appraiser... Will Zestimates Put Appraisers Out of Business?

July 13, 2020

Will Big Data Put Appraisers Out of Business?

Part of the boom in the availability of data has led to companies such as Trulia and Zillow who claim they can “Zestimate” a home’s value instantaneously. But can your potential customers trust such value? In the old days, if a homeowner really wanted to find out how much their property was worth in the current market, they called an appraiser. Our customers understood that a licenced and qualified appraiser is trained, experienced, knowledgeable, and unbiased in his or her own marketplace. In the past few years, the Information Age has flooded us with data; lots of data. Big data...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Online Estimates

July 1, 2020

AVM vs My Opinion

AVM versus my opinion… My recent article “Why is Residential Appraisal in Trouble” lays out how the profession and the individual (you?) can prepare for the future. I do not take an emotional position for or against AVMs. AVM is a competing industry for valuations. AVMs have succeeded in taking a large market share for valuations and risk analysis in the past 20 years. Every large lender and our GSEs use them every day. And yes, a machine can only deliver an analytic result, not an opinion! My only mission (Stats, Graphs, and Data Science classes) is to help arm...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Valuation Technology

Are Technology Companies Selling Modern Version of a Pet Rock?

April 17, 2020

Technology Companies Selling You a Pet Rock

Are technology companies simply selling a modern day version of a Pet Rock? Technology companies flaunting their real estate valuation products show us lots of pretty color charts and graphs and sell us on their products. But what would happen if someone were to ask a simple question of these technology companies… How did you determine that value? Just imagine for a moment you are testifying in court and counsel asks you how you determined your opinion of value. The appraiser could answer that question without hesitation. Simply, you know what you did. Even follow up questions could be answered...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM

April 9, 2020

COVID-19 Legal & Risk Issues for Appraisers

Free video webinar: “Legal and Risk Issues 2.0 for Real Estate Appraisers Stemming from the COVID-19 Crisis.” Scheduled for April 10, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. Pacific. For those who cannot watch live, a video recording and the presentation materials will be made available here shortly after the webinar. In this second Valuation Legal webinar for appraisers relating to COVID-19, I will be joined by attorney Claudia Gaglione of Gaglione, Dolan & Kaplan LLP. She is the national claims counsel for the appraiser professional liability insurance program managed by LIA Administrators & Insurance Services. We have worked together on appraiser liability...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Video

March 28, 2020

Property Sellers Who Are Dishonest

Property appraising can be a treacherous minefield of disinformation if you happen across the wrong type of seller. In most instances, the role we play should be straightforward. We’re a link in the chain, a functional part of the house buying process which is essential and relatively straightforward. We enter a property, value that property and facilitate lending based on our valuation. However, an issue can arise when the property seller wants to mask certain problems or prevent a lower, but accurate, valuation of their house. They can look to deceive and cover-up issues that may arise, meaning we must...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

March 13, 2020

Appraisal vs AVMs

…the ‘flipper’ realized that the list and contract price was way too high… I just saw an article titled “Realor.com now providing third-party home valuations” about Realtor.com now using a ‘new’ service to provide a home value. Just for grins, I thought I’d do this essay using one of my recent assignments for the case study, which was in Bellingham, WA. The home was undergoing renovations by a ‘flipper’, and it had a signed contract for a high $$ amount. The report was written ‘subject to’ completion of the repairs/renovations. During the initial inspection, the ‘flipper’ was present and doing...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM

Biden's Claim of Racial Bias in Appraisals Faces Criticism from Appraisers

March 6, 2020

Biden Claims on Racial Bias in Appraisals

Over the past week or so, Presidential Candidate Joe Biden publicly called for more regulation and oversight over appraisers to combat racial bias. He specifically cited the Brookings Institute Study ”The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods, The Case of Residential Property”. If you are unfamiliar with this study, in a nutshell, the findings accuse appraisers of undervaluing properties in black neighborhoods. The study is an easy read and can be found here. We will warn you, much of the data used in the study carries very little weight as Census Bureau (self-reported data) and information from Zillow were used....

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

February 13, 2020

FIRREA Under Attack!

…the federal agencies charged with implementing Title XI of FIRREA have taken steps to limit the number of transactions for which an appraisal is required… Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Congressman William Lacy Clay request a formal study/investigation into Title XI (FIRREA) and the recent dilution of its intent by the Federal Agencies. The letter to Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General, Government Accountability Office, addresses threshold increases, regulatory exemptions, appraisal waivers, the North Dakota appraiser certification waiver and evaluations in lieu of an appraisal. It is clear the Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee and Subcommittee Chairman on Housing, Community Development and Insurance...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee

February 12, 2020

Fundamental Risks in Doing Hybrids

…the intent is to caution all appraisers about the fundamental risks in doing these… Hybrids – As if another reason for not doing them was required! Regular AppraisersBlogs readers are well aware of the controversy associated with doing bifurcated hybrids. Extensive information as well as disinformation has been spread by the hucksters that promote them, and those few management or owner-appraisers of such firms that benefit from them. This article is not to debate whether they should be done, or even if they could theoretically be done in anything resembling a USPAP compliant manner. Instead, the intent is to caution...

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