What type of heater is needed for a loan?March 22, 2018 By Ryan Lundquist
Excerpt: A guy wants to sell, but his central system is broken, so he has space heaters in each room. Does that work? Is it going to fly for a loan? What’s an appraiser going to be looking for when it comes to a heat source? Let’s consider some thoughts from Fannie Mae, HUD, local code, and different lenders.
Very well written, comprehensive and worth reading at:
My comment: I appraise a lot of Victorians, built when they were heated by fireplaces. Many added a floor heater on the first floor with no other heating source, including no heating on the second floor. The easiest way is to put baseboard electric heaters in the bedrooms, assuming electrical has been upgraded. I regularly get asked by local real estate agents about lender requirements. Now I know what to tell them!
Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!! To read more of this long blog post with many topics, click Read More Below!! NOTE: Please scroll down to read the other topics in this long blog post on , weird decor, hidden factors that affect value, mortgage origination stats, Covid tips for appraisers, etc. Read more!! → |
Can the Appraisal Profession be Saved?By George Dell, MAI, SRA
Excerpt: What does it mean “Can the profession be saved?” Does anyone else care except us?
The second question first. Who might care? Clients who have developed a trust for you and who are comfortable with the traditional ways of doing things. There is a group of us and of them who like doing things as always. It’s comfortable, requires little change, and is a ‘safe’ way of doing things.
But who might not care? We can break these down into two subgroups: 1) those that dislike our getting in the way of their deal; and, 2) those who genuinely want something different, more modern. For now, let’s dismiss the first group, and consider those who do want a better product, a better service.
What do you think? Post your comments!!
Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!! To read more of this long blog post with many topics, click Read More Below!! NOTE: Please scroll down to read the other topics in this long blog post on floating homes, the past, colonial homes, mortgage origination stats, Covid tips for appraisers, etc. ========================================== |
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Things to know about water heaters during real estate transactionsBy Ryan Lundquist
Excerpt: Let’s have a quick conversation about water heaters. During a real estate transaction does the water heater need to be raised or not? What are lenders asking appraisers to look for? Does it matter if it’s gas or electric, or if it’s located in the garage or house? Here’s some things to know. Anything to add?
Worth reading… especially if you have to check them for FHA, etc. Plus, read the comments.
Covid-19 Residential Appraisers Tips on Staying Safe For Covid Updates, go to my Covid Science blog at covidscienceblog.com Click here to subscribe to our FREE weekly appraiser email newsletter and get the latest appraisal news!! To read more of this long blog post with many topics, click Read More Below!! NOTE: Please scroll down to read the other topics in this long blog post on beach towns, $2,358 PSF home, appraisal waivers, mortgage origination stats, Covid tips for appraisers, etc. |
New CU 4.2 makes it easier for lenders to change comp and subject data. MI companies can access CUExcerpts: During the weekend of Dec. 9, we will implement Collateral Underwriter® (CU™) 4.2, (which includes) the ability to edit the subject and appraiser-provided comparable sales property characteristics. CU 4.2 will also provide mortgage insurers (MIs) with access to CU. Lenders will be able to give their MI risk partners access to appraisal-specific data by providing them the Doc File ID generated at the time of appraisal submission.
Comparable Sales Review Edit Feature
The ability to edit subject and appraiser-provided comparable sales property characteristics (currently available via the pencil icon in classic CU) will be added to the Comp Review page. Clicking on the pencil icon in the Edit column of the comparable sales review table will open the Edit Property Characteristic pop-up. If there are data errors or missing data elements, the edit feature can be used to modify the data elements and rerun the model with the revised data.
Click here to read the full release
My comment: Lenders have been able to change subject and comp data and now it will be easier? I didn’t know that they are able to change the data now. MI companies have access to CU? What about appraisers?
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Albion Castle – A 140 year old castle with underground caves hidden in San Francisco.Just For Fun!!Excerpt: When Bill Gilbert was growing up near Candlestick Park, all the kids said that Albion Castle was haunted. Gilbert himself wasn’t sure, but every time his parents took him to eat at the at the old Dago Mary’s restaurant across the street, he would look at the gates that front the 145-year-old stone structure and wonder. Little did he know that as an adult, he would own the keys to the castle (literally).
My comment: It was listed in 2009 for $2,950,000 (a very bad market). The six-story square tower has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and 1,436 sq.ft. It sold for 11/2011 for $890,000 and has been rehabbed. It needed a lot of work!!
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Info on the history and historic photos
My comment: It was listed in 2009 for $2,950,000 (a very bad market). The six-story square tower has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and 1,436 sq.ft. It sold for 11/2011 for $890,000 and has been rehabbed. It needed a lot of work!! |
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How do we value a brand new house in an old neighborhood?By Ryan Lundquist
Excerpt: Tip #5. The wrong one & modern homes: Just because something is brand new does not mean it’s going to fetch top dollar. If it’s the wrong type of house for the neighborhood, buyers might actually pay less for the property. It’s like when someone builds a plain earth-tone stucco tract home in a classic area with Tudors and Bungalows. Despite being new it might actually sell with a price discount if it doesn’t have any hint of era charm for the neighborhood. On the other hand there are modern homes popping up all over Sacramento (CA) and beyond that seem to defy this idea. These homes definitely don’t blend into the neighborhood at all in terms of design, but they’re still fetching high prices. Keep in mind though modern homes tend to carry wide appeal, so they are often able to break the mold of the neighborhood and still command a price premium because of their style. In short, modern homes are not vibeless tract homes, so it’s not really the same thing.
Click here to read the other 4 great tips plus some interesting comments!!
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Google Street Views – First Big Update with Lots More Big Data!!Excerpt: The car-top rig includes two cameras that capture still HD images looking out to either side of the vehicle. They’re there to feed clearer, closer shots of buildings and street signs into Google’s image recognition algorithms.
Those algorithms can pore over millions of signs and storefronts without getting tired. By hoovering up vast amounts of information visible on the world’s streets-signs, business names, perhaps even opening hours posted in the window of your corner deli-Google hopes to improve its already formidable digital mapping database
My comment: Fascinating article. Check it out. I use Street Views a lot, but sometimes the images are fuzzy and are hard to figure out. Looking forward to improvements, but on the minus side, more data available that field appraisers provides now.
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36 Appraisal Organizations Send Letter to Party Leaders of House Committee on Financial Services and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on “No Appraisal” WaiversExcerpt: 36 industry groups are attempting to prevent the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSE’s) from issuing appraisal waivers by sending a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and the House Financial Services Committee addressing its concerns. AI recommends the halt of the waivers until the GSEs can demonstrate that the proposed program does not harm the consumer, is properly monitored, and integrates proper safeguards to prevent fraud.
We are writing this letter to raise concern over the new appraisal waiver programs recently implemented by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the ” Government Sponsored Enterprises.”) We believe these programs will create unnecessary and unacceptable risks for taxpayers and homeowners, and they come at a time when markets are at all-time highs – when risk mitigation should be tantamount. We ask you to call on the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to prevent the Enterprises from implementing the appraisal waiver programs until they can demonstrate the appraisal waiver program:
My comment: Worth reading. Read the names of all the organizations that sent the letter. I can’t remember when so many appraisal organizations agreed on anything!! |
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The Traveling Apprentices of Germany And you thought appraiser trainees have it rough!!
Just For Fun ;>
Excerpts: They hitchhike across Europe, instantly recognizable in the wide-bottomed, corduroy trousers, white shirts and colored jackets that identify them as bricklayers, bakers, carpenters, stonemasons and roofers.
While on the road, journeymen are not supposed to pay for food or accommodations, and instead live by exchanging work for room and board. In warm weather, they sleep in parks and other public spaces. They generally carry only their tools, several changes of underwear, socks and a few shirts wrapped into small bundles that can be tied to their walking sticks – and that can also double as pillows.
In an adaptation of the old rules to modern times, journeymen do not carry devices like cellphones that allow them to be found. They carry digital cameras, if they like, and write emails from public computers.
My comment: Fascinating with great photos!! Yes, there are women travelers now…
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Passwords: What if Everything You Know Is Wrong?By Shelly Palmer
Excerpt: According to the Wall Street Journal, Bill Burr (the man who wrote the NIST memo back in 2003 that recommended the cryptic craziness and frequent replacement guidelines) has had an epiphany. “Much of what I did I now regret,” said Mr. Burr, 72 years old, who is now retired. If the reporting is accurate, he had very little evidence upon which to base the NIST’s recommendations. (Sort of makes me think about the USDA Food Chart I grew up with. But that’s for another article.) Why were Mr. Burr’s assumptions wrong?…
Do what the experts are now telling you to do. Start using the longest passwords possible. I would not use correcthorsebatterystaple, but “passwordswedontneednostinkinpasswords” will absolutely do the job.
My comment: Very interesting article!! Plus the Fun Cartoons ;> Passwords are a Pain.. I think one of the most popular passwords is “password”. Looks like finally there is another way. |
8 of the Most Unusual Hotels in the Netherlands
Proof the Dutch can convert nearly anything into a place to stay the night.
Excerpt: n industrial crane or wooden wine barrel would be unremarkable objects anywhere else. But in Holland, these unexpected structures have been transformed into one-of a-kind hotels, made habitable and even luxurious with some loving restoration and redesign. Prefer to spend the night in a tilted cube house or the rumored birthplace of a secret shadow government? The Dutch have got you covered there, too. Here are eight hotels in the Netherlands that offer visitors a unique place to stay.
My comment: Very Interesting. Good for a quick break from writing up appraisals. I love appraising but hate writing up the those darn reports ;>
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The Highest Home Price Increases Around the World
Excerpt: When it comes to the world’s fastest-rising prices for luxury residential real estate, don’t look to the United States.
3 incredible private islands
Just for Fun – very short video
A few tidbits
– Locations: Key Largo (FL), Washington state and Long Island NY
– Space for 110 ft. yacht
– Lowest price: $11 million
– Tennis court that doubles as a helicopter pad
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Analyzing the subject’s sales history
By Josh Wailitt
Short video. Worth watching. Check out some of the other videos in his USPAP errors series at www.appraiserelearning.com
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