Category: Trending

Employees at Quicken Loans... They Delivered Your Pizza! 19

I Must Apologize; I Got it Wrong…

Your employees did not come from Taco Bell, they delivered your pizza! In a recent New York Times article by Julie Creswell on 01/21/2017, former executives of Quicken Loans confirm “many employees come in with little or no background in financial services. One employee joined after delivering pizzas to the Quicken Loans Offices”. No need to say anymore, that statement speaks volumes. The article titled “Quicken Loans, the New Mortgage Machine” is a tell all article, right down to the founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert’s physical altercation on a former colleague at a religious function, to his public tirade against LeBron James,...

E&O Binder Page in Appraisal Reports: Just Say No 21

Quit Doing This. Just Say NO!

E&O coverage has nothing at all to do with underwriting mortgage loans… Do not include your E&O binder page in any appraisal report. Period. End of story. Especially if you are being ‘managed’ by an AMC who has that in their engagement agreement, claiming it’s a lender requirement. A while ago, I received a “correction notice” via a prominent AMC for a report I submitted: “Per lender requirements, evidence of E&O coverage must be included in the report.” My response to the AMC directly via email, not in the report, was this: “To: AMC rep Is there any way you...

Desktop Appraisal... Should I or Shouldn't I?  28

Desktop Appraisal… Should I or Shouldn’t I? 

New wave of AMCs desktop “appraisal” products… VaCAP has received several emails from members concerning a new wave of desktop appraisals available from some AMCs. These products have an inspection of the property performed by another individual and the photographs and property specific data is provided to the appraiser. The AMC’s are claiming that the entire product is on-line and no written report is needed. They also claim the report is USPAP compliant. They are looking at compensating the appraiser $65 and the report should take approximately 45 minutes to complete. VaCAP does not have any specific knowledge of these...

Clear Capital Push For Hybrid VA Appraisals 54

Clear Capital’s Push For Hybrid VA Appraisals

Clear Capital suggests that the VA consider the use of a desktop appraisal On April 4, 2017, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs held a hearing on “Assessing VA Approved Appraisers And How To Improve The Program For The 21st Century.” The hearing was designed to “assess VA’s current appraisal process, as well as specific difficulties for timely appraisals in highly rural areas”, as well as to investigate possible technological solutions to mitigate timeliness issues. Much of the hearing focused on two areas: The requirements for becoming a member of the VA appraiser panel, and the baseline requirements for comparable...

CoreLogic vs Appraisers: My Day as an Appraiser 117

My Day as an Appraiser

Big Corporations like CoreLogic are like sharks… This morning, as I do every morning, I made some coffee and began work on one of the two appraisal reports that were soon to be due. The first was for an AMC known as Speedy Title and Appraisal Review Services. This appraisal management company is owned by CoreLogic. From their website “CoreLogic is an Irvine, CA based corporation providing financial, property and consumer information, analytics and business intelligence. The company analyzes information assets and data to provide clients with analytics and customized data services. The company also develops proprietary research, and tracks...

Legislation to Regulate AMC's & Protect Consumers Opposed by REVAA 38

AMCs Are Not Part of The Appraisal Profession

Foreign entities do not get a voice in what legislation is introduced… Let’s think about this with an open mind… More states are introducing bills concerning AMC legislation, more specifically how AMCs will conduct business. Even states with existing AMC legislation are introducing stricter, more precise legislation. Why is this happening in all 55 jurisdictions? States do not want to interfere in how a company or industry conducts business, but when practices are so abusive that it harms small businesses and consumers, they have little choice. States have the obligation to protect their citizens and businesses that contribute to the...

Slow Pay AMCs and Ponzi Scheme Payment Process 143

Slow Pay AMCs

Slow pay reputation AMCs and Ponzi scheme payment process… Folks, Through several of the ‘media sources’ I read recently, I’ve learned that “a particular AMC” based on the west coast has a slow pay reputation. As so often happens with low echelon AMCs with few clients, when business slows down, their payment process becomes a Ponzi scheme. Ultimately they go out of business. I currently have an outstanding report with that AMC, but the payment due date to me is March 7. So I’m respectfully withholding their name publicly from others, until and unless they don’t pay me on time....

Baby or Bath Water? And Is it Time to Take Back USPAP? 31

Baby or Bath Water? And Is it Time to Take Back USPAP?

About half of AICPA members don’t believe in USPAP… When I first heard that “they” were trying to do away with the Appraisal Practices Board (APB) of the Appraisal Foundation (TAF), I tried to keep an open mind. I also wondered who “they” are. Did the Appraisal Institute (AI) finally get a sympathetic ear in Congress? Was it preemptive action by the Board of Trustees in anticipation of budget cuts by the new administration? By the way, what does the APB do? I certainly had it wrong. I thought they helped develop the Advisory Opinions (AOs)! To be candid the...

Eliminate the Appraisal Subcommittee too! Appraisal Institute Effort to Eliminate the ASC 38

AI’s Effort to Eliminate the ASC!

Refocused effort to eliminate the ASC… Why? It’s now much more than rumor. There is a concerted effort to eliminate not just the Appraisal Practices Board (APB) which was the Appraisal Institute’s original target, but now a refocused effort to eliminate the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) itself! Think about that folks. What started as a partisan effort to lay ground work for the eventual elimination of Dodd-Frank has quickly morphed into a behind the scenes opportunistic all out push to eliminate the ASC too! It’s no secret among regular Appraisal Institute (AI) members or non AI appraisers that have listened to...

rainee Appraisers Unsupervised Inspections Allowed: Death Grip on Trainees Loosening 29

Death Grip on Trainees Loosening

Allowing associated trainee appraisers to complete unsupervised inspections… Appraisers, and others, A ‘significantly large’ nationwide AMC has notified it’s vendor appraisers that certain lenders contracted with this AMC will now accept appraisal reports signed by properly trained (and presumed properly approved by the State) Trainees as the ‘Appraiser.’ This follows the Jan. 31, 2017 FNMA announcement that they will accept reports signed by Trainees. So far, I have not seen any similar announcement from FrMAC, FHA, VA, or USDA, or any other specific lender. The AMC’s message to their appraiser panel is below. NOTE: This memo says the Trainee is...

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