Shushtar (Iran) Historical Hydraulic System
This beautiful system of tunnels built into natural rock serves as a centuries old plumbing system.
Excerpt: The water streaming from the caves and tunnels of Iran’s Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System looks like it is flowing through ancient tunnels created by massive worms, but really, the elaborate system of waterworks was built by different civilizations over centuries of development.
Beautiful fotos. Very interesting!!
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shushtar-historical-hydraulic-system
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Most popular links from the past two weekly email newsletters:
3/17/16:
Philadelphia’s original tiny houses
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/philadelphias-trinity-houses-are-the-original-tiny-houses
Repurchase Demands and Unacceptable Appraisal Practices by Rachel Massey
http://www.workingre.com/repurchasedemands/
3/10/16:
These two were very popular
Smoke & Mirrors? Could it be as easy as updating your fee schedule?
http://appraisersblogs.com/fee-schedule-raising-fees-amc-vacap
Appraisal and Property Related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
February 12, 2016
https://www.fanniemae.com/content/faq/appraisal-property-report-faqs.pdf
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Why did the appraiser say it was only two bedrooms? It should be three.
By Ryan Lundquist, www.sacramentoappraisalblog.com
Excerpt: The real estate agent marketed the property as three bedrooms, Tax Records said it was three, but then the appraiser said it was only two. What the heck? Let me share with you a situation I encountered recently where an appraiser (me) ended up removing one of the “bedrooms” from the room count because of a functional issue. Let’s look more closely below. I’d love to hear your take in the comments.
Public Records isn’t the definitive authority: Just because Tax Records says it does not mean it’s accurate. In this case the home was functionally two bedrooms despite Tax Records saying it was three. As much as we want to trust Tax Records, sometimes we have to look at what is actually there and then try to understand why there is a difference between public records and reality. For reference, here are 10 reasons why public records and the appraiser’s square footage are often not the same.
Click here to read more plus read the comments
My comments: I regularly get bedroom questions from local real estate agents. We have lots of Victorians in my city with no closets and odd rooms. Also, too way too many people trust property tax records. Our tax records in CA have not been updated since 1979, when Proposition 13 passed. We no longer have regular tax reassessments.
Doug Smith has an article, “What is a bedroom?” in the April issue of the paid Appraisal Today, discussing what Fannie and the International Building Code say – available April 1, April Fools Day!
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What is a bedroom? By Doug Smith, SRA, AI-RSS
Published in the paid Appraisal Today April issue,
available April 1, 2016
Excerpt: What Fannie Mae says:
Interestingly, Fannie Mae does not offer a specific definition of a bedroom. The following guidance is offered in the most recent Selling Guide: Layout and Floor Plans
“Dwellings with unusual layouts and floor plans generally have limited market appeal. A review of the room list and floor plan for the dwelling unit may indicate an unusual layout, such as bedrooms on a level with no bath, or a kitchen on a different level from the dining room. If the appraiser indicates that such inadequacies will result in market resistance to the subject property, he or she must make appropriate adjustments to reflect this in the overall analysis. However, if market acceptance can be demonstrated through the use of comparable sales with the same inadequacies, no adjustments are required.”
FYI, closets are NOT required!!
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The Appraisal Report: Last Bastion For ‘Unstructured Data’ In Mortgage
Excerpts:
The interesting thing is that the mortgage factories of today are increasingly using just the data that is contained in the mortgage documents – as opposed to the documents themselves. Because mortgage is moving to an all-digital process, the documents are becoming less important than the actual data – and the data has become like the fuel that makes the mortgage factory run.
…
There remains, however, a major element in the mortgage process where unstructured data continues to play a huge role: the home appraisal. Although today’s appraisal reports include considerable hard data that can be neatly plugged into the process, the main part of any appraisal report continues to be the “narrative,” which is written by the appraiser in the field. Though it is possible to use optical character recognition to extract certain data from these narratives, there is a question as to how this push for more structured data will impact appraisal reports in the future.
Read the full article and post your comments here:
http://mortgageorb.com/the-appraisal-report-last-bastion-for-unstructured-data-in-mortgage
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USPAP Q&As March 17, 2016 – Public Trust and Appraising two lots as one
Questions:
Q. The expression “public trust” is used in USPAP. What is public trust and who or what is the public in the USPAP context?
Q. Appraising two lots as one (revised from 2015)
Click here to read the answers:
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HOW TO USE THE NUMBERS BELOW. Appraisals are ordered after the loan application. These numbers tell you the future for the next few weeks. For more information on how they are compiled, go to www.mbaa.org
Note: I publish a graph of this data every month in my printed newsletter, Appraisal Today. For more information or get a FREE sample issue go to https://www.appraisaltoday.com/products.htm or send an email to info@appraisaltoday.com . Or call 800-839-0227, MTW 8AM to noon, Pacific time.
Mortgage applications decreased 3.3 percent from one week earlier
, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 18, 2016.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 3.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 25 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 53.9 percent of total applications from 55.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 4.9 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications increased to 11.8 percent from 11.7 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.6 percent from 12.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 0.9 percent from 0.8 percent the week prior.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 3.93 percent from 3.94 percent, with points decreasing to 0.35 from 0.42 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) decreased to 3.85 percent from 3.86 percent, with points decreasing to 0.27 from 0.28 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.74 percent from 3.77 percent, with points decreasing to 0.32 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.18 percent from 3.22 percent, with points decreasing to 0.34 from 0.39 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.13 percent from 3.23 percent, with points increasing to 0.36 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.
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