Real Estate Appraiser Tips » Appraisal Management Companies

Coester Appraisal Group’s New Vernon Davis Professional Football Player Video – Fantastic Video Marketing Example!

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:57:14 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ - Coester Appraisal Group’s New Vernon Davis Professional Football Player Video – Fantastic Video Marketing Example!

Professional Football Player Vernon Davis shows the lending community why Coester Appraisal Group a national appraisal company is your best solution for appraisal services. As a national appraisal management company Coester has over 40 years of valuation experience and can ensure your valuations are the best in the business. The way valuations should be!

Dave Towne: Another Nationwide Appraiser Fee Survey

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:45:21 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ – Dave Towne: Another Nationwide Appraiser Fee Survey

Appraisers………..

An appraiser in Pennsylvania sent me this link to another nationwide appraiser fee survey……actually it’s within the typical mortgage closing costs for each state, provided by BankRate.com.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/2010-closing-costs/united-states-closing-costs-map.aspx

This survey will show the ‘average’ appraisal cost for each state. Click the link above, then click your state. Scroll down the list of charges to find the Third Party fees, including appraisals.

This is the second currently available complete independent nationwide survey which appraisers can use to set Customary and Reasonable fees for their own area. Both are based on many thousands of reports already submitted.

The other national survey is the alamode Mercury Network Appraisal Fee Reference, which breaks out ‘median’ fees by every county in the US. Find it at: http://www.mercuryvmp.com/analytics/

When I compared the two surveys for Washington state, they are very similar. So it validates the accuracy of these two independent sources which appraisers can use to determine their own Customary and Reasonable fees.

Dave Towne
Towne Appraisals
dtowne@fidalgo.net
Mount Vernon, WA
360-708-1196
& Appraiser Education Service

Real Estate Appraiser Tips: Appraisal Challenges Straight from the Battlefield

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:02:04 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ - Real Estate Appraiser Tips: Appraisal Challenges Straight from the Battlefield

The Keeping Current Matters Blog has a must read response from Appraiser, Chip Wagner. The article can be found here and here’s a snippet below:

“There are many challenges facing the real estate industry today, and one of the biggest is the abundance of foreclosures and short sales proliferating the marketplace in many areas of our country.

I am a third-generation, professional residential real estate appraiser with over 20 years of experience in the Chicago area, and I have never seen a marketplace like I have over the past 2-3 years.

The first issue is the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), and the second issue is the marketplace itself. The HVCC has given the appraisal profession a major blow, and the most experienced of residential appraisers are leaving the industry. The intent and desire was to insulate appraisers from lender-pressure to direct values (push the numbers higher). The unintended result has allowed the additional layer of insulation (appraisal management companies) to seek appraisal services from appraisers willing to do the work for appraisal fees of 25% to 75% less than our fees before the HVCC was enacted in May 2009. In many cases, the quality appraisers have diversified away from the business, and this in turn is leading to less-experienced appraisers trying to survive in the most complex real estate market anyone has seen since our Great Depression. Geographic competency has become a major issue as out-of-area appraisers are going into areas they have never been to for the work.”

To Read the remainder of the article, visit: http://kcmblog.com/2010/06/09/appraisal-challenges-straight-from-the-battlefield/

About Chip Wagner:

ALVIN “CHIP” WAGNER, SRA, SCRP, RAC Member
A. L. Wagner Appraisal Group, Inc. ~ Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants
Specializing in Relocation, Litigation & Lending Appraisals Naperville ~ Plainfield ~ Chicago ~ Flossmoor
1807 S. Washington Street – Suite 110, Naperville, IL 60565
Telephone 630/416-6556 ~ Fax 630/416-6591

website: www.wagnerappraisal.com

blog: http://chipwags.blogspot.com/

Fraudproblem.com: AMCs In Legal Trouble…Again

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:24:26 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ – Fraudproblem.com: AMCs In Legal Trouble…Again. A Nevada Home Appraiser today regarding this article found on Fraudproblem.com. There are some pretty steep judgments being levied against these AMCs, including $115,000 for one major AMC for their attempt to influence the information contained within appraisal reports ordered through their service. Check the article at: Fraudproblem.com: AMCs In Legal Trouble…Again

FHA, Fannie, Freddie, FHFA Talk Plainly At Valuation 2009 – You’re Mostly Not Going Like What They Had To Say!

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:21:43 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ - Working RE: FHA, Fannie, Freddie, FHFA Talk Plainly At Valuation 2009 – You’re Mostly Not Going Like What They Had To Say!

There’s a new post on the Working RE “Appraiser Talkback Blog” entitled, “FHA, Fannie/Freddie Tell It Like It Is (to them)“. Click on the post title to read the full article by David Brauner!

Here’s a snippet:

“The appraiser Valuation 2009 conference in New Orleans this month offered unprecedented access to key regulators, AMCs and other decision makers regarding the future of the appraisal industry- that’s the good news. The bad news is that you may not like what they are saying.

Honchos from FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHFA, the agency overseeing Fannie and Freddie, laid out their positions on the state of the industry since the collapse, the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) and recent and proposed legislative and policy changes at their agencies. According to these folks, the result of HVCC so far are less pressure and better appraisals.

FHA clarified what it means by its dictate that appraiser fees must be customary and reasonable- and unless you own an AMC, you’re not going to like that either.”

Re-Appraising The Home Appraisers

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:46:35 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ – Re-Appraising The Home Appraisers. The Wall Street Journal’s James R. Hagerty reports on Reappraising Home Appraisers

A snippet from the article reads,

“Ms. Salazar, an appraiser for the past 12 years, says she researched the Cathedral City market carefully and did a good job. But many real estate agents and mortgage brokers charge that some wandering appraisers are coming up with dubious estimates. Too many appraisers are getting assignments in places where they “just don’t know the nuances,” says Rick Turley, who oversees the San Francisco Bay area for the Coldwell Banker real-estate-brokerage chain.” The link to the article.

As a home appraiser, I would agree that AMCs are squeezing appraisers way too hard in the “peanuts” of the fees they want to pay for their no-compromise 24 to 48 hour turn-around times they expect. HVCC is having a very sad impact upon the appraisal profession as a whole. Instead of the “Appraiser Independence” that HVCC was supposed to create, HVCC is creating an “AMC Dependence” for appraisal orders and there’s very few appraisers in the U.S. that wanted this shoved down our throats this way. Post HVCC (5/1/2009), many appraisers have taken a 36% paycut thanks to Cuomo and this ill-conceived HVCC. That is not sitting well with appraisers across this country.

Home Appraisal Software: SFREP Announces Release of Appraise-It Version 8.3

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:25:17 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ – Home Appraisal Software: SFREP Announces Release of Appraise-It Version 8.3

From SFREP:

“SFREP is proud to announce the release of Appraise-It v.8.3, a new version of Appraise-It rewritten from the ground up in a new, more modern 32-bit architecture specifically designed for Windows XP, Windows Vista and the forthcoming Windows 7. Appraise-It v.8.3 is up to four times faster than previous versions while maintaining backwards compatibility and operating in almost the exact same way. Please keep in mind, though, that older products like Sketch-It and the Photograph-It (non-Plus) will NOT work with this or any future versions of Appraise-It.

Appraise-It v.8.3 includes the following new features:

Online Automatic Registration
Newly redesigned File Index
Newly redesigned Lender Database
New 32-bit Version of Wincomp Comparables
Text Addenda with Signatures added to all reports
Ability to select Standalone or Network Install
New HVCC Appraiser Independence Certification Addendum
Up to 4 times faster

This new version of Appraise-It includes, for the first time, an online automatic updater. Although we have included your new approval codes at the end of this email, most of you will not need them. Simply install Appraise-It and when you run the program for the first time, it will automatically connect to our servers over the Internet and register itself in seconds.”

FHA Top Ten 10 Ways To Reduce FHA Appraisal Corrections Request

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:16:36 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ – A Major AMC just released the “FHA Top Ten” Top 10 Ways To Reduce FHA Corrections Request

Here They Are:

“1.) Do not proceed with inspection until you have received the FHA Case Number. Once received, please include case number in the upper right hand corner of each page of the report.

2.) If the subject property is a manufactured home, do not proceed. Manufactured Homes are not eligible per Chase’s guidelines.

3.) Lender requires that appraisers include a statement that the subject meets or does not meet minimum FHA property requirements. If subject does not meet minimum requirements please complete report subject to and include itemized and estimated costs to cure.

4.) In the Cost Approach Section, include a site value for all properties (except condos).

5.) Include the Estimated Remaining Economic Life of the subject.

6.) Include all four sides of the structure in subject photos.

7.) Include photos of all required repairs, deferred maintenance or any other issues that affect marketability.

8.) If the subject has a private well or septic system, indicate whether public water and sewer is available. If so, please include the approximate cost to connect. Appraisers must also state the distance between the well and septic and confirm if it meets FHA and/or local code.

9.) The appraiser completing FHA Appraisal needs to be FHA approved.

10.)Effective May 1st all orders assigned to an appraiser must be completed by that appraiser.”

National Association of Realtors Approves Policy to Regulate Appraisal Management Companies at Midyear Legislative Meetings

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:24:11 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ - National Association of Realtors Approves Policy to Regulate Appraisal Management Companies at Midyear Legislative Meetings

On Saturday, May 16, 2009, the NAR Board of Directors adopted policy that supports the regulation of appraisal management companies, primarily through FIRREA and the existing appraisal regulatory infrastructure. Read more…
http://narblog1.realtors.org/mvtype/appraisalinsight/2009/05/nar_adopts_policy_to_regulate.html?&WT.mc_id=LS052009&CAT=App

Source: NAR Membership Email.

New York Times Article On Discussing The Quality Of Home Appraisals Ordered Through AMCs (Appraisal Management Companies)

http://realestateappraisertips.info/ — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:55:25 +0000

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ – New York Times Article On Discussing The Quality Of Home Appraisals Ordered Through AMCs (Appraisal Management Companies)

Here’s the Link to “Appraising The Appraiser“

Here’s the Graph:

Here’s A Short Snippet:

“Appraisers who work on behalf of these companies typically receive less pay than those who do not. Some appraisers say the lower fees mean consumers are less likely to get a high-quality appraisal, which could jeopardize their loans.

It is a claim with which banks strenuously disagree. “Obviously, it’s in a lender’s best interest to have the most accurate appraisal possible,” said Terry Francisco, a spokesman for Bank of America, “and it’s in the homeowner’s best interest, too.””