Category: Trending

Do We Really Need Rocket Closing? Home Buying Process is Not a Race 23

Do We Really Need a Rocket Mortgage?

Do we really need a “Rocket Mortgage“? “Rocket Approvals” are nice but certainly not “Rocket Closings”. The home buying process is not a race. It’s not Road Runner and Wile E Coyote racing to the closing table. It takes time! The Need for Speed How quickly do your buyers and sellers want to close on the home they just bought? Two weeks? Four, six, eight weeks? When you wrote the contract, and filled in the “drop dead dates” how much time did you allow for the Title deadlines, the Owners’ Association deadlines, the Seller’s Property Disclosure deadlines, the Loan and Credit deadlines,...

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

The Costly, Less Accurate & Less Timely GSE Pilot Programs Are Dead! 18

GSE Pilot Programs Dead

The Only Good Pilot Is A Dead Pilot? Like my father always told me about having a business partner (see title above). But I digress. I have yet another independent confirmation that all GSE pilot programs are now dead under the new FHFA director. Fortunately for appraisers, his biggest concern is risk management and this action seems to confirm this. The GSE pilot programs designed to “improve” efficiencies, such as bifurcation (a spurious solution that is more costly, less timely and less accurate), are dead. Not everyone in the chain of command may be aware yet. Real Estate Appraising Is...

Snippets / Trending

Appraisal Fee Transparency Act of 2019: Pivotal Point for Appraisers 21

Fee Transparency, Pivotal Point for Appraisers

…appraisers may finally have a chance at making the goal of fee transparency a reality… Keep your eyes open, events are happening fast. Ever since the passage of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) in 2010 and the monumental rise of Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), one of the main issues appraisers have pressed for is transparency for consumers in terms of the fee split between appraisers and AMCs. Specifically, how much of the actual “Appraisal Fee” being paid by the consumer goes to the licensed real estate professional and how much is withheld by the AMC “manager.” Now, over...

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

Appraisal Fee Transparency Is in the Public Interest 24

Appraisal Fee Transparency

Bill H.R.3619 has left the House and is now ready for consideration in the Senate. There are a number of key issues presented in this bill. Three of them jumped out at me: SEC. 3. TRAINEE APPRAISERS. (12) TRAINEE APPRAISER. — The term ‘trainee appraiser’ means an individual who meets the minimum criteria established by the Appraiser Qualification Board for a trainee appraiser license and is credentialed by a State appraiser certifying and licensing agency.” This definition is critical to help undo the logjam that appraisers face bringing more people into the appraisal profession. SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT TO DISCLOSE APPRAISAL FEES....

Snippets / Trending

GSEs to Halt Hybrid Pilot Program? Rumors or Fact? 27

GSEs to Halt Hybrid Pilot Program?

My colleagues in the appraisal industry and I have been confused/alarmed by the actions of the former GSEs Fannie & Freddie over the past several years in their efforts to raise mortgage volume. Banks continue to remain in the fetal position on risk post-financial crisis and low mortgage rates and inverted yield curves aren’t helping. As a result, the GSEs, who remain in receivership, are doing all they can to remove pain points for banks to lend more and as a result, exposing the mortgage process (and, of course, the taxpayer) to unnecessary risk. As an appraiser, I’m clearly biased...

Snippets / Trending

Game Over ServiceLink - AMCs Appraisal Schedule Fees Made Public! 61

Game Over ServiceLink

Now that ServiceLink fee schedule, indicating fees paid to appraisers and fees charged to the lenders, has been released to the public, there is absolutely no reason for in camera review… We are sure you have heard the old saying what goes around comes around, right. Well, here we are again; The FTC vs Louisiana Real Estate Appraisal Board case has been brought back into the spot-light. As you may recall, the LREAB filed a civil case against the FTC in attempt to stop the case against them. That case was denied due to lack of jurisdiction. Then the LREAB...

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

Appraisal Waivers and Hybrid Appraisals False Narrative - Quality Matters 23

Appraisal Waivers and Hybrid Appraisals

The fallacy of those who endorse Hybrid appraisals is their assumption that the appraiser’s field work is less valuable, less important, than their analytical work behind a computer. They feel the task of inspecting the property and driving comps is best farmed out to someone else with less training. The real truth is that the field work is critical! There is no way an appraiser can credibly analyze a property through the eyes of another… The Need for Speed: In a previous post entitled The Need for Speed, I explained that lenders and Appraisal Management Companies are on a mission to shorten the...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

Time Saving Shortcuts Undermines Our Profession. Skip the Comp Photos 53

Skipping Comp Photos, Suicidal Shortcuts

I refuse to undermine my own profession by pretending that time saving shortcuts are always acceptable just because they are ‘more modern and progressive’. I know how long it takes to produce USPAP compliant, credible appraisal results. I charge accordingly for my time. I make no effort to compete on fees with half assed hybrids, evaluations, or single approach partially performed field work. Respectfully, neither should anyone else. Please stop undermining our own profession…. Recently The Appraiser Coach posted an article and links to a podcast suggesting its no longer necessary to photograph our comparable sales. I wrote a counter...

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

Failure to Inspect & Photograph Comps Backfires on Appraisers 52

Appraisers, did you Shoot yourself in the Foot?

When I explain the rules many of the appraisers start complaining: “An MLS photograph depicts the house at the time it sold so it’s more accurate than my photograph would be”… There’s a lot of yelling and screaming about bifurcated appraisals. Unfortunately, appraisers may have shot themselves in the foot when it comes to this issue. Allow me to provide an analogy to help explain the issue. I’m not sure if this happens in other areas of the country but in Seattle there is a strange “left leaning” way they do things: State and Federal governments perform numerous traffic studies, to...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Collateral Underwriter / CU / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

Can We Stop Taking Comp Photos 65

Can We Stop Taking Comp Photos?

I personally do not think that appraisers should be required to take comp photos… First, before the hate mail starts rolling in, let me assure you that I understand the requirements surrounding comparable photos, and I do take them as an appraiser. I am not here to debate what the policies are, but I am here to question if those policies should be in place. I personally do not think that appraisers should be required to take comp photos. Modern technology has provided appraisers with a way to know as much about a property from the comfort of their own...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

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