Do you check to see if permits were pulled on remodeling on subject properties?

By Ann O'Rourke on January 27, 2016 / appraisal, appraisers, lender appraisals / 2 Comments

Tags: appraisal, appraisers, lenders, square footage

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POLL: Do you check to see if permits were pulled on remodeling on subject properties? January, 2016

Source: www.appraisalport.com

My comment: A controversial topic. I’m not surprised at the results. However, if permits are online and free I don’t know why appraisers would not get them. In my city, free online records only go back to about 1970. Most of the homes were built before 1940. It costs $15.25 to get a full permit history and it can take up to a week to get it. The old records are a bit flakey, such as “remodeling” or something else very obscure. Lots and lots of unpermitted work in my city. But, in nearby cities with a lot of tract homes built since 1950, work without permits is not done very often. I was told by a lender’s chief appraiser many years ago not to pull permits so the borrower would “not get into trouble”.For quite awhile, I have been pulling the old permits when needed and run the online permits on all properties. In other cities, if something does not “look right”, such as an addition, I pull the permits.

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Meet Widget O'Rourke – our new Appraisal Today cat team member!!

By Ann O'Rourke on December 30, 2015 / appraisers, cat, pets / 3 Comments

Tags: appraisers, cat, humor, pets

I am not sending our my Regular Thursday email newsletter this week. Just some fun photos of Widget O’Rourke!! More info after the photos.

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Trying to supervise the humans. They can never understand what I am trying to say!!	Exercise time – getting bored!
Waiting for my human chaffeur. I’m ready to go!!	I’m not sure about this neighborhood!!
Is that a mouse??	Checking out the overgrown landscaping for any rodents…
2 stories or 3 stories?	Checking for any foundation mouse holes
Measuring the house. The human makes me take the “dumb end” of the tape. I should be on the smart end!!	Finally back home. Nap time!!

More info:

Age: 5 months

Birthday: July 29, 2015

Weight: 4 pounds

Breed: Burmese

Language: Cattish with Siamese accent

Personality: very friendly, likes to travel and play, talks a lot, not afraid of anything except skateboards

About cats, cars and leashes

Cats are very easy to train. A popular method for all pets is clicker training. Just google it. Leash/harness training is best if started when a kitten. I brought Widget home October 31 (3 months old) and started leash and harness training the next week. She learned it within a day and I started taking her on “walks” in the back yard and on the sidewalk on my street.

She did not like being in the car inside the cat carrier. Cats like to look out. Finally figured out how to get her to ride in the car – purchased a raised seat with an attached leash.

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In my 20’s I took several long trips with my cat in a van I converted (traveled 3-6 months at a time). The cat was not on a leash and harness. Went in and out of the van. When I was backpacking she followed along running in the bushes. I am finally traveling with my cat again!!!

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I am not taking her out on inspections for now… she is very easily distracted ;> She loves traveling to take comp photos.

ID badges for appraisers? A controversial topic

By Ann O'Rourke on December 2, 2015 / appraisal, appraisal business, appraisers, ID badges, lender appraisals / 12 Comments

Tags: appraisal, appraisers, ID badges, lenders

Excerpts:

Appraisers are not required to provide identification (in California), even a driver’s license, when they come to a house, do not always look the part and can cause alarm if not expected. One Orange County company says that is a problem.

Six months ago, Mission Viejo-based Comergence rolled out something the appraisal industry has never had – shiny ID badges.

Since the service started, just 22 of roughly 300 appraisers in San Diego County have signed up and the head of local industry group, the Appraisal Institute, says she thinks she knows why.

“A badge doesn’t identify you any differently than a business card does,” local Appraisal Institute president Susan Merrick said. “It’s pretty much typical operating procedure to give a business card when you go to the door… From a residential standpoint, it’s totally useless as far as I’m concerned.”

The state Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers says there is no law requiring appraisers to carry identification and has no opinion on Comergence.

Bureau head Jim Martin said he is not aware of any recent occurrences, at least in the last two years, of someone posing as an appraiser.

A San Diego commercial appraiser with 30 years experience, Gary Rasmuson, has pushed for a badge for the industry for years and even created his own.

My comments: This is controversial among appraisers. Many years ago, the chief appraiser for a lender told me that appraisers should not give a business card to the borrower. Of course, I didn’t agree. I have always give out business cards as that is a good source of referrals for me for non-lender work. I also want to be seen as a professional.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/nov/06/appraiser-id-system-california/

7 Things an appraiser has to be thankful for

By Ann O'Rourke on November 25, 2015 / appraisal, appraisal business, appraisers / 6 Comments

Tags: appraisal, appraisers

NO WORKING ON THANKSGIVING!! USPAP VIOLATION!!! THE APPRAISAL POLICE ARE WATCHING YOU!!!

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7 Things an appraiser has to be thankful for

Most Excellent comments By Tom Horne on his blog

I didn’t have time to contact Tom for permission to read his entire blog posting. It is worthwhile reading.

It’s easy to get caught up in the negative parts of our jobs, however I would guess that if we all thought about it we would find more positive Things an appraiser has to be thankful for things than negative. It’s always nice to have something like Thanksgiving to help us reassess our situation. Appraisers are no different than anyone else.

Relaxed work schedule- The majority of appraisers work for themselves and enjoy a relaxed work schedule.
You can pick and choose your clients.
You’re in total control of your success.
Good blend of working in and out of the office. I like my job because I don’t have to sit at my desk all day. I am able to work outside of the office during appraisal inspections which helps me to not get bored with what I am doing.
You have control over how much money you make. A good part of owning your own business is that you are in charge of everything you do.
Current trends in grassroots efforts. … some positive changes that have resulted from this is the trend in appraisers starting to take control of the situation and make themselves heard through the use of social media and state coalitions.
Better tools for doing our job.

Read the details at:

http://birminghamappraisalblog.com/appraisal/7-things-an-appraiser-has-to-be-thankful-for/

Appraiser income and expenses

By Ann O'Rourke on November 11, 2015 / appraisal, appraisal business, Appraisal fees, appraisers / 6 Comments

Tags: appraisal business, appraisal fees, AppraisalPort, appraisers

APPRAISER INCOME AND EXPENSE POLLS

Appraisalport poll, 11-15, www.appraisalport.com

Considering all aspects of completing an appraisal (research, driving, inspection, writeup, etc.) what response do you think best represents your hourly wage?

My comment: Of course, this is gross, before any expenses, auto, insurance, MLS, software, etc. etc. I wonder about those making less than $25 per hour.

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In the past year, have your operating expenses:

My comment: Expenses going up, nothing new. See above poll for hourly income. What is happening with your expenses?

Very funny appraiser commercial!!

By Ann O'Rourke on November 6, 2015 / appraisal business, appraisers, humor / 3 Comments

Tags: appraisal, appraisal business, appraisers, humor

The podcast, The Wits End Broadcast, is very “off the wall”, including “fake” commercials. I suggested including an appraiser commercial. It is hilarious!!

Episode 4, the most recent, has the appraiser commercial – appraiser Candy Cotton, short – only 7 minutes long for the entire episode. Hits a lot of appraiser “hot buttons” ;>

You gotta listen to it!! Plus, check out her other 3 posted podcasts. Please post a comment on iTunes or Stitcher.

Stitcher:

http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/75222/details Can link to social media, post a comment, get an app to subscribe on your iphone or android phone, etc.

iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wits-end-broadcast/id1048415737?mt=2 The best if you use iTunes. iTunes has labeled the podcasts as “explicit”. Sorry, not much in them except for a brief very humorous reference to group sex in an early episode ;> My iphone has Gigabytes of podcast from subscriptions, including this one. I gotta take off a week to listen to them!!

Libsyn:

http://thewitsendbroadcast.libsyn.com/ – very easy to use but not many features such as comments, social media links and subscriptions.

About the podcast author: The podcast author and speaker is Lucinda Ryan, who edited my paid Appraisal Today newsletter for a few years when I first started it in 1992, and knows about appraisal issues. She is a former newspaper reporter and editor. Lucinda loves comedy writing and always wanted to do more, including writing for a few Famous Comedians and making lots of money ;> Maybe her podcasts will take off and I can say that I knew her “back in the old days”.

Why are appraiser phone numbers and email addresses so hard to find online?

By Ann O'Rourke on September 30, 2015 / appraisal business, appraisers / 2 Comments

Tags: appraisal, appraisal business, appraisers

I set up my web site at www.appraisaltoday.com in 1998. Every page has my name, postal address, phone number, and email address. If anyone wants to contact me to give me an appraisal assignment, or for any other reason, they can find me. I get a lot of work from my web site.

When working on an article for my newsletters, I often need to contact appraisers. Also, I give out a lot of referrals, as I am very busy and turn down a lot of appraisals. For more information on my appraisal newsletters, click the banner ad below.

My assistant spends a lot of time trying to contact appraisers for my newsletters. When she googles a name, such as Janet Johnson appraiser new mexico, sometimes nothing comes up. If they are on an old directory web site, the postal address is available. Asc.gov only has postal addresses. Some state regulators have phone numbers. Some appraisal association member data comes up, such as the Appraisal Institute.

Email addresses are hopeless. They are very seldom available anywhere.

Often the appraiser has no web site, even a simple one page with name, address, resume, and contact info. If there is a contact link, you must fill out a form to contact the person.

I guess they just want to work for AMCs that contact them. Not interested in any other clients, I guess.

Communicating with other appraisers – why is it a problem?

By Ann O'Rourke on September 30, 2015 / appraisal business, appraisers / 1 Comment

Tags: appraisal, appraisal business, appraisers

Communicating with other appraisers – O’Rourke Pontificates on Dustin Harris, the Appraiser Coach’s Podcast

Dustin and I discussed the big issue that many appraisers don’t know other appraisers personally (face to face or over the phone). Dustin talked about the times he has tried to establish relationships with other local appraisers. One was very successful and the other did not work very well. But, both resulted in one personal relationship each. I have written about this topic before and discussed my personal experience plus the “big picture”.

Online communication is fine, but not very good for local issues. Plus, it is hard to establish relationships.

To listen to it, go to http://theappraisercoach.libsyn.com/ . All the podcasts are there. This one is #051, Communication; a key to running a successful appraisal business. Check out the other podcasts. I subscribe to the podcast on itunes and listen to it in my car.

I was inspired to do a 7-page article on the topic for the October issue of Appraisal Today, sent out Oct.1. I sent out a request for info on small, unaffiliated groups in last week’s newsletter. To subscribe to the paid Appraisal Today, click on the banner ad below.

Many thanks to the 13 appraisals groups I profiled! They replied to a questionnaire I sent and I contacted some over the phone. Lots of good tips for appraisers thinking about starting a group and those who currently have an active group. Very interesting!!

Fannie’s new Collateral Underwriter (CU) FAQs updated

By Ann O'Rourke on February 25, 2015 / appraisers, Collateral Underwriter, Fannie, lender appraisals / 2 Comments

Tags: appraisal, collateral underwriter, Fannie

Fannie’s new Collateral Underwriter (CU) FAQs updated – not dated but available on Feb. 25

Why does Fannie keep saying appraisals there will be minimal, or no effect, on appraisal turn times? The real estate agents are worried about delaying closings.

For now, since few appraisers are receiving warnings, the underwriters appear to be slowing down the processing as they are responsible for decided which, if any, warnings to send to appraisers, after reading the 30+ page appraisal reports.

These FAQs mostly clarify what they have said before, but there is some interesting new information.

The first two pages has the new FAQs updates,

Here is some of the new info:

– Fannie Mae does not instruct or suggest to lenders that they ask the appraiser to address all or any of the 20 comparables that are provided by CU for most appraisals.

– (Underwriters) Carefully review the appraisal report before seeking additional clarification from the appraiser based on CU findings.

– Fannie Mae expects lenders to use human due diligence in combination with the CU findings, and will actively follow up with lenders who are reported to be asking appraisers to change their reports based on CU findings without any further due diligence by the lender.

– Fannie Mae encourages lenders to carefully review the appraisal report – including all commentary – before seeking clarification from the appraiser. Don’t assume the appraiser is wrong just because you see a CU message. Taking messages or alternative sales at face value and simply asking your appraiser to address them is neither effective nor efficient. CU is intended to supplement a lender’s human due diligence. After completing a thorough review, lenders should be able to have constructive dialogue with appraisers to resolve specific appraisal questions or concerns. Lenders should not, however, make demands or provide

instructions to the appraiser based solely on automated feedback.

https://www.fanniemae.com/content/faq/collateral-underwriter-faqs.pdf

It is also available on the main CU link at www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/collateral-underwriter

CU warning messages – grrrr

By Ann O'Rourke on January 27, 2015 / adjustments, AMCs, appraisal, Appraisal fees, appraisal management company, appraisers, Collateral Underwriter, Fannie, future / 4 Comments

Tags: adjustments, AMC, appraisal, appraisal fees, appraisal management company, appraisers, collateral underwriter, Fannie, Fannie forms, future, square footage

A few appraisers are reporting getting CU appraisal warning messages from AMCs. Some AMCs get the messages and and some don’t, depending on the agreement with their lender client.

I sorta believed all the “experts” who said CU would not affect appraisers much, except the many us who do not have market based adjustment support in our work files (which we should have always had). “They” said appraisers’ time for responding to AMC questions will not change. Fannie’s reviewers have been using CU for about two years. Some lenders beta tested it. They all liked it. But, I wonder if it was tested with “boots on the ground” appraisers who actually had to respond to the warnings??

In January I wrote up a long CU article for my paid Appraisal Today newsletter. In the February issue I will have another long article, focusing on the differences between the old and new CU warning messages. They are very different. AMCs with access to lender’s warning messages are sending them to appraisers, such as:

Old message (pre-CU): Condition adjustment for comparable property #<comparable number> appears excessive.
New message(CU): The condition adjustment [for comp #X] is smaller than peer and model adjustments
New (CU): The condition adjustment [for comp #X] is larger than peer and model adjustments.

There are other messages about condition ratings different that peers and model.

I don’t know how our “peers” and The Model made their adjustments or ratings and what they are. I don’t know how to respond as to why mine differ.

Now that appraisers are getting the warnings, they are asking how to respond to them. Who are these peers? What is the model? I have no idea how to respond, except to say “I don’t know who the peers are and how they determined condition or what method they used for their adjustment. I am unable to respond.” How do you know what the condition is really like for comps? There are lots of ways to estimate an adjustment for condition. You can explain what you did. But, who is right? You, peers, or model?

MLS is soo reliable (Not) for estimating comp condition. I don’t think they will like “matched paired sales” on all of your responses for the method you used for adjustments.

Looks like maybe there will have to be some webinars for appraisers, not just underwriters, explaining how to respond.