Man moves to San Francisco, pays $400 a month to sleep in wooden box in friends’ living room
Excerpts: With the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment at $3,670 a month, the city’s housing crisis has pushed frugal renters to the edge of their comfort limits.
From tents to trucks, the next logical step in San Francisco has taken shape – in the form of a literal box.
Very interesting!! Check out the comments, video, photos, and the rest of the article at:
My comment: I live 10 miles from San Francisco. Rents in my city are well below San Francisco’s, but have increased 50% over the past 3 years. I don’t know anyone living in a box, but I do have friends who left the state to find affordable housing. Many others are worried that their rents will go way up any day. I am very glad I am an owner, not a renter. San Francisco has strict rent controls, but I don’t know if it applies to boxes… I gotta increase the rents on my apartments!! Greedy (or Evil) landlord ;>
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College degree requirement misguided
By David Brauner
Excerpt: The college degree requirement seems more like a forced attempt at elevating the status of the profession by closing the club, and that strikes me as elitist. Not everyone has the opportunity, resources or aptitude to attend and/or flourish in college…
The requirement is even more dubious when you consider that a degree in any subject passes muster for becoming a Certified Appraiser, no matter how unrelated (think French Literature for instance), while someone with the skills to flourish in this business would be shut out for all intents and purposes without a degree.
Read the full article and the comments.
http://www.workingre.com/college-degree-requirement-misguided/
My comment: I was at an AQB meeting in San Francisco many years ago, when the college degree was first proposed. I seemed to be the only one there who said it was a problem with residential appraisers, who come and go, depending on the wide swings in lender demand. It seemed reasonable for commercial appraisers.
When I started appraising, most appraisers were lender staff appraisers. Over half had college degrees, as it was a lender preference. When licensing started, there was no degree requirement, so many more people could become appraisers without college degrees.
Now, it is perceived as a barrier to entry for residential, not commercial, appraisers. I have no idea why commenters lump the two together as “appraisers”.
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Appraisal Today new web site…. finally!!
It went live Monday at 10 a.m., West Coast time.
I set up my first web site in 1998 using Front Page, the only Microsoft product I have ever liked. Unfortunately, my ISP does not want to continue supporting it, so I had to do a new web site.
The new site is very different than the old site. I set up my blog in WordPress 3.5 years ago and wanted to integrate it with my web site, so I hired a wordpress developer to do it for me. Over 100 pages on the web site plus hundreds of posts and comments from my blog. It took him awhile to reconfigure my web site pages for wordpress. Finally it is done!! I am still working on a few bad links, etc. Plus, learning how to use wordpress for a web site – much, much harder than for a blog.
The old web site is at 128.121.65.91. I will leave it up for a month or so . The new web site is still www.appraisaltoday.com Very different looking web sites!! I only have a few pages for my appraisal business. The rest is for the newsletter.
I get over half my non-lender business from my web site, using the tag line “Looking for a local commercial or residential appraiser for Estate and Trust appraisals in Alameda, California? Go to About Us!” I spent years building up my referral network. Lots, lots, lots harder than a web site. No web sites in 1986, when I started my appraisal business.
Of course, I was inspired to write an article, with lots of practical tips, for the April paid newsletter – “Your Web Site – the easiest and fastest way to get non-AMC work!”
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Most popular links from last week’s email newsletter
Why did the appraiser say it was only two bedrooms? It should be three. – 40% of clickthroughs!! http://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2016/03/07/why-did-the-appraiser-say-it-was-only-two-bedrooms-it-should-be-three/
Shushtar (Iran) Historical Hydraulic System – 15% of clickthroughs. I thought it would be less popular. I never know what appraisers want to read about. Appraiser going to jail is the most popular ;>
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shushtar-historical-hydraulic-system
New in the April issue of the paid Appraisal Today, available April 1
What is a bedroom? By Doug Smith, SRA, AI-RRS
Your Web Site – the easiest and fastest way to get non-AMC work!
Issues with the 1004mc by George Dell, MAI, SRA, ASA
What’s up in technology by Wayne Pugh, MAI, CRE, CCIM, FRICS
Subscribe to the paid Appraisal Today newsletter to read these articles and many more!!
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NOTE ON SHOPPING CART ON NEW WEB SITE: When you enter all your information, if you get an error message, don’t worry. We have your data and will call you on the phone to get payment info. Always some sort of problem with this darn Internet stuff!! It will be fixed very soon.
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If you are a paid subscriber and did not get the March 2016 issue, emailed March 1, 2016, please send an email to info@appraisaltoday.com requesting it and we will send it to you!! Or, hit the reply button. Be sure to put in a comment requesting it ;>
What cities are growing the fastest? Census Bureau reveals 2015 results
Excerpts: According to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas’ two largest metro areas gained more residents from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2015 than any other metro area in the country… Other areas that grew substantially in 2015 were Atlanta, which checks in third, having added just over 95,000 people in 2015.
Phoenix and New York round out the top five, both adding more than 87,000 residents in 2015.
Rounding out the top 10 in most residents gained were Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Orlando.
For more info, click here.
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Housing Markets Where Home Prices Have Recovered Most, and Least
Excerpt: According to the report, the Denver housing market has recovered the most in terms of home prices, now at a current value of $403,230, up 45.29 percent from both its peak value of $277,530 and bottom value of $257,130.
The San Francisco, California; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma markets wrapped up the top five most-recovered markets in terms of home prices.
On the downside, HSH.com noted that the Fort Lauderdale, Florida housing market has recovered the least from its peak in terms of home prices, down 28.03 percent from its peak of $352,700 and currently at $275,490.
Cape Coral, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; and Riverside, California markets wrapped up the top five metros that have recovered the least.
My comment: I have seen this in cities close to mine. The recovery was fastest in the cities with the highest prices and lowest in cities with lower prices. Almost all have recovered, but many were delayed. My city recovered faster. This makes a big difference for appraisers as it means that more home owners can refi.
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Poll: Do you think the 1004mc (Market Conditions Addendum) adds any credibility to a typical residential appraisal report?
Appraisalport poll www.appraisalport.com
My comments: On the plus side, for decades appraisers were told that lenders “do not want” time adjustments. In the past, in declining markets, some appraisers lost almost all their clients because they made negative time adjustments. This is gone with the 1004mc form. I always did time adjustments. My lender clients never complained. I was lucky. There are many, many problems with the form. Fannie does not plan on making any changes.
In the April and March issues of the paid Appraisal Today, George Dell, MAI, SRA, “the” expert on the problems, contributed articles on the problems from a statistical point of view.
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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 1.0 percent from one week early
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 30, 2016) – Mortgage applications decreased 1.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 25, 2016
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 3 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent compared with the previous week and was 21 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 52.4 percent of total applications from 53.9 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 decreased to 11.5 percent from 11.8 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.9 percent from 12.6 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged from 0.9 percent the week prior.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 3.94 percent from 3.93 percent, with points increasing to 0.36 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) decreased to 3.82 percent from 3.85 percent, with points increasing to 0.28 from 0.27 (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 increased to 3.76 percent from 3.74 percent, with points decreasing to 0.30 from 0.32 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.19 percent from 3.18 percent, with points decreasing to 0.30 from 0.34 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate remained unchanged from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.07 percent from 3.13 percent, with points increasing to 0.38 from 0.36 (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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