Newz: Q4 Fannie Appraiser Update, 2025 Mortgage Rates Forecasts Are Now Wrong

December 27, 2025

What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)

  • LIA ad: Disclosing Identity of Complaining Party
  • Q4 2024 Fannie Mae Appraiser Update
  • Dramatic Concrete-and-Glass Santa Monica CA Masterpiece Designed by Famed Architect Ray Kappe Lists for $4 Million
  • Is Ethics a Spiritual Principle By George Dell, SRA, MAI, ASA, CRE
  • All those 2025 mortgage rates forecasts are now wrong
  • The New Con: Hybrids, Waivers & AMCs Threaten Public Trust
  • MBA: No data released until January 2, 2025

CHANGE THE YEAR ON YOUR TEMPLATES NOW TO 2025!
DON’T WAIT UNTIL AFTER 1/1/25!

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Mortgage forecast – loans predicted to drop 30% in 2014

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Q4 2024 Fannie Mae Appraiser Update

Excerpts:

Topics:

  • Selling Guide Policy Updates Summary
  • Definitions of Market Area and Neighborhood
  • Questions about November 2024 Policy Announcement
  • Code Words and the Appraisal Report
  • Property Data Collection
  • How to Report Potential AIR Violations

This edition summarizes several recent changes to Fannie Mae Selling Guide policies that appraisers must follow when the scope of work is to comply with Fannie Mae guidelines. These changes relate to prohibited language, new definitions of “neighborhood” and “market area”, market trend derivation, and more.

Another article touches on three new Collateral Underwriter® (CU®) messages that help lenders fulfill their obligation to monitor appraisals for prohibited language.

To read more, Click Here

My comments: Read This Fannie Update if you do GSE appraisals!! FYI, if you saw Fannie’s unusual time adjustment graph in a previous weekly newsletter about the time adjustments, or somewhere else, Fannie says now you don’t have to do a graph like they use in the Update. Of course, I remember working at an assessor’s office in Northern California during the late 1970s and used a time adjustment of 2% per month. Somehow lender appraisers got the idea that they could not make them or they would lose the client. I have always made the adjustments or explained why I did not make them. That’s how I was trained.

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Dramatic Concrete-and-Glass Santa Monica CA Masterpiece Designed by Famed Architect Ray Kappe Lists for $4 Million

Excerpts: 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,574 sq.ft., 0.39 Acres lot built in 1980

Completed in 1980, the imposing property was designed by renowned architect Ray Kappe and has not been available to buy since 1993, when it last changed hands for $1.2 million.

Now, 30 years (and some $2.7 million) later, it is being offered to one lucky homebuyer for $3,995,000.

Featuring a futuristic blend of sweeping concrete lines, domed glass, and steel accents, the three-bedroom, four-bath home looks like something straight out of a movie.

This home has over 3,500 square feet of living space spanning three levels. The aesthetic is consistent throughout, with gray concrete and glass walls, a mixture of hardwood and cement floors and more steel details than you could ever imagine.

But while its design is all industrial, the extensive use of glass throughout the home allows nature to creep in, with every room in the property offering beautiful views of its lush Californian surroundings.

“Constructed from concrete, steel, and glass, this hard-edge masterpiece features expansive walls of windows that seamlessly blend the indoors with the beauty of mature trees and open sky, creating a harmonious connection with nature in every room,” the listing notes.

Indeed, though the home has a rather imposing initial appearance, it was in fact created with tranquility at the forefront of its design—particularly when it comes to the primary suite, which boasts a glass-domed ceiling to ensure that nature can flood the room from all angles.

Home chefs will appreciate the updated kitchen, while parents will be fans of the family and bonus rooms—which would make a great children’s playroom. A sizable living room with a fireplace is also perfect for hosting parties or relaxing in.

And if you work from home or need an area to set up a workshop or an art studio, this luxe-looking lair also includes a convenient live-work area in its blueprint.

To read more, Click Here

To read the Zillow listing info, Click Here

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Is Ethics a Spiritual Principle?

By George Dell, SRA, MAI, ASA, CRE

Excerpts: Ethics is a discipline about what is morally good or right.

In this time of much religious celebration, we note that most religions are based on specific spiritual principles. These are behaviors that most recognize as being healthy for the individual and for society.

Ethics easily touches other areas of study, including anthropology, biology, economics, history, politics. Sociology, and theology.

Professional ethics (according to the quasi-governmental Appraisal Foundation) specify four parts: nondiscrimination, conduct, management, and confidentiality.

Spiritual principles can be counted in different ways. Twelve principles, as expressed in successful recovery plans, comprise the following: honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness, humility, love, discipline, persistence, awareness, and finally – service. Wow! Quite an assignment.

In overview, the four ethics in the “appraisal standards” — seem quite specific and authoritarian, rather than philosophic or behavioral.

To read more, Click Here

My comments: Short and worth reading. A new concept for appraisers. Unfortunately, there are very few new ideas in appraising.

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How to stay positive with slow business

In the April, 2024 issue of Appraisal Today

Excerpts: Positive vs. negative attitudes towards your business

For all business owners, seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty

is critical for success.

I regularly receive phone calls and emails from appraisers bitterly

complaining about the issues. This attitude is not good for anyone who wants to continue appraising, but is particularly bad when business is slow and you are not trying to be an optimist.

Fortunately, I have always been a “glass is half full” person. I learn a lot from

my mistakes and try to do better the next time. If you tend to be a “glass is half empty” person, you can change, but it takes work.

Also, having a negative attitude is very stressful, affecting your health and

relationships with your family and friends. With a positive attitude, you will spend less energy worrying and fretting over things you cannot change. Then, you can focus on today and planning for the future.

Remember what it was like during the crash after 2008, when there were

very few loans and appraisal volume severely declined? If you are reading this, you are a survivor. Mortgage lending is very, very cyclical. Those who adapt survive. You can survive the current downturn.

Purchase the newsletter by December 31, 2024 and get a Tax Writeoff for 2024! Go to www.appraisaltoday.com/order

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If you are a paid subscriber and did not receive the December 2024 issue emailed on Monday, December 2, 2024, please email info@appraisaltoday.com, and we will send it to you. You can also hit the reply button. Be sure to include a comment requesting it.

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All those 2025 mortgage rates forecasts are now wrong

Housing Wire

December 19, 2024

Its late December so all the 2025 mortgage rate forecasts have been published. Unfortunately, all of them are already wrong. Most housing market analysts expect mortgage rates to spend the year with a 6 handle. The most optimistic predictions assume 2025 will see mostly low 6s for the 30-year fixed rate mortgage. And yet with pesky inflation data not falling as quickly or as far as expected, Fed chair Jerome Powell suddenly changed his language in the Fed meeting on Dec. 19.

Most housing market analysts expect mortgage rates to spend the year with a 6 handle. The most optimistic predictions assume 2025 will see mostly low 6s for the 30-year fixed rate mortgage. And yet with pesky inflation data not falling as quickly or as far as expected, Fed chair Jerome Powell suddenly changed his language in the Fed meeting on Dec. 19. The bond market got spooked and mortgage rates jumped back over 7%.

Rates could still ease down of course, and probably will at points during the year. But it’s notable that 2025 is about to start with mortgage rates in the 7s and almost none of the folks who forecast mortgage rates included a “7” in their forecast. They’re already wrong before the year even starts.

This scenario isn’t new, most forecasters got the mortgage trends for 2024 wrong too. In late 2023, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage neared 8%, the highest level in decades. At the time, most mortgage market observers expected that rates had reached their peak and would generally decline in 2024, stabilizing at perhaps 6% or lower by now. Unfortunately for homebuyers in 2024, mortgage rates have stayed higher for longer than anyone expected. Mortgage rates, as tracked by Freddie Mac, averaged 6.72% across the calendar year 2024.

My comments: Now I don’t have to write about all the other mortgage rate forecasts. Yay! I follow Housing Wire. Very good analyses.

Above are excerpts from the original Housing Wire article. Housing Wire is behind a paywall, but you may be able to access this article. Very worthwhile reading.

To read the article (maybe) Click Here

If the link above does not work: I read it in my local newspaper, so try to Google the name of the article. It was distributed to various news publications.

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The New Con: Hybrids, Waivers & AMCs Threaten Public Trust

by VaCAP Board

December 16, 2024

Excerpts: This begs the question, is the system corrupt? We all know the answer, so there is no need to expand the discussion.

In 2020 a documentary directed by Patrick Lovell was released called The Con. The 5-part series was a story about the housing market and the fraud that occurred. The appraisers who attended Appraiser Fest (in 2017, 7 years ago) know first hand why this documentary was part of the renewed energy among appraisers. Many of those that attended were interviewed and shared their stories of what was going on. Many shared how appraisers warned for years of what was going to happen and no one listened. Profit above public trust.

You are probably asking why is this being brought up again, this is old news. Well let me tell you, this is not old news it is current news. Hybrid Appraisals, Appraisal Waivers and Appraisal Management Companies are the new Con.

Public protection is being dismissed for profit; consumers are being misled; warnings on what will occur are being ignored. Homeowners who purchased their home with an appraisal waiver or hybrid appraisal are finding out they over paid and are now upside down on their home. This is the absolute worst position; short sales and foreclosures have already started in some areas, unless something changes, this will only continue and lead to another financial crash.

Now this is not being pointed out to spread doom and gloom, but for all of us to pull out the energy we had in 2018. Let’s get vocal!

To read more plus the 47+ appraiser comments, Click Here

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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, Click Here.

Note: I publish a graph of this data every month in my paid monthly newsletter, Appraisal Today. For more information or get a FREE sample go to www.appraisaltoday.com/order Or call 510-865-8041, MTW, 7 AM to noon, Pacific time.

My comments: Rates are going up and down. We are all waiting for rates to drop in 2025.Please Note:

MBA Offices will be closed beginning on Wednesday, December 25, 2024, and will reopen on Thursday, January 2, 2025. Due to the office closing and holidays, the results for weeks ending December 20, 2024, and December 27, 2024, will both be released on Thursday, January 2, 2025.

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Ann O’Rourke, MAI, SRA, MBA

Appraiser and Publisher Appraisal Today

1826 Clement Ave. Suite 203 Alameda, CA 94501

Phone: 510-865-8041

Email:  ann@appraisaltoday.com

Online: www.appraisaltoday.com

By on December 27, 2024   /   AMCs, appraisal, appraisal waivers, Fannie, george dell, Mortgage interest rates, waivers   /   Leave a comment
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