Climate Change and Home Values

By on February 7, 2025   /   bias, climate change, climate risk, Economic analysis, New URAR   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: Waivers Increasing, The New URAR: Markets vs. Neighborhoods , Climate Change and Home Values

February 7, 2025

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

  • LIA AD: Should I consider this an actual claim?

  • How Climate Change Could Upend the American Dream – Declining Home Values

  • A Sporty Paradise in Your Own Backyard: 5 Homes With Awe-Inspiring Athletic Amenities – From Hockey Rinks to Boxing Rings

  • Trump’s War on DEI: Immediate Effects for Appraisers

  • The Full Measure: January 2025 Housing Market Insights for Appraisers

  • Waivers Increasing and Trends Over Time

  • There Goes the Neighborhood…The New URAR: Markets vs. Neighborhoods

  • Mortgage applications increased 2.2 percent from one week earlier.

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How Climate Change Could Upend the American Dream

Declining Home Values

Excerpts: Americans have long accumulated wealth by owning their homes, but a new study predicts that spiking insurance rates and climate disasters now herald an era of widespread losses.

One little-discussed result is that soaring home prices in the United States may have peaked in the places most at risk, leaving the nation on the precipice of a generational decline. That’s the finding of a new analysis by the First Street, a research firm that studies climate threats to housing and provides some of the best climate adaptation data available, both freely and commercially. The analysis predicts an extraordinary reversal in housing fortunes for Americans — nearly $1.5 trillion in asset losses over the next 30 years.

Climate change is upending the basic assumption that Americans can continue to build wealth and financial security by owning their own home. In a sense, it is upending the American dream.

To read more, Click Here

My comments: I hear about, and see, more listings that are including climate risk levels. I have not seen discussions on the future of home values in risky areas. I live 10 miles from a very risky area – Oakland CA hills. I am too far away to be at risk. My insurance company, State Farm, is requesting a 22% increase in homeowner’s insurance. Insurers have been not renewing individual homes for various reasons. Will I have to pay the same rates as the Oakland hills, which is very high risk and had a major fire in 2001?

I quit doing appraisals in the Oakland hills about 15 years ago due to high personal risk if a fire starts while I am there. Narrow, winding, one lane roads. Very difficult to escape from fire. Most of my city has risks from sea level rise and some parts have flooding risks, but my home is not included fortunately.

How will appraisers make adjustments for risky homes?

Read more!! →

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“Death Stairs” for Appraisers

By on November 22, 2024   /   appraisal, climate change, forecast, GSEs, liability, modernization, Mortgage interest rates, New URAR, retirement, ROVs, zillow   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: New URAR Training, “Death Stairs”, Catastrophe and Climate Risk

November 22, 2024

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

  • LIA Buyer says value too high
  • The Rise of the ‘Death Stairs’! Inside ‘Perilous’ Home Trend Taking the Internet by Storm — and How To Conquer It Safely
  • Infinity Symbol-Shaped Circular House Hits the Market for the Unique Price of $3,399,888
  • ARCC (Appraisal Regulation Compliance Council) Podcast with Guest Mark Calabria – AVMs, GSEs, and more
  • NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun Forecasts 9% Increase in Home Sales for 2025 and 13% for 2026, with Mortgage Rates Stabilizing Near 6%
  • Catastrophe and Climate Risk Is Only Increasing – Lender and Servicer issues
  • New Uniform Residential Appraiser Report Training (for lenders but useful for appraisers)
  • Mortgage applications increased 1.7 percent from one week earlier

 

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The Rise of the ‘Death Stairs’! Inside ‘Perilous’ Home Trend Taking the Internet by Storm—and How To Conquer It Safely

Excerpts: Thrill-seekers who are in desperate need of an adrenaline boost need look no further than their own home for their next dose of action—that is, if they are (un)lucky enough to be in possession of a set of “death stairs.”

While walking down a flight of stairs has not historically been considered the most death-defying of acts, one group of social media users is on a mission to change that misconception by highlighting the most dangerous, baffling, and downright weird step designs across the world, starting in their own homes.

In a now-viral Facebook group, which is named “Death Stairs,” hundreds of users have been sharing images of the most mind-boggling steps they have come across, from those so steep that few would dare to descend them, to edgy designs that appear near-impossible to mount.

To read more, Click Here

My Comments: Appraisers see some strange stairs. I have seen many. Usually DYI. I really hate the very narrow spiral staircases – often the only access to a part of the home. And old exterior wood stairs with very shaky hand rails.

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New URAR For Appraisals

By on November 8, 2024   /   appraisal, appraisal modernization, Economic analysis, GSEs, lender appraisals, liability, New URAR, time adjustments   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: New URAR, GSEs Update Appraisal Market Areas Requirements, Lender Redlining

November 8, 2024

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

  • Claudia Says: Navigating Value Revisions in Appraisals

  • The New URAR: Embracing New Beginnings

  • $19.8 Million Cape Cod Estate Next to Kennedy Family’s Famed Hyannis Port Compound Hits the Market

  • CFPB and Justice Department Take Action Against Fairway for Redlining Black Neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama

  • October 2024 Real Estate Market Update: A Balancing Act of Hope and Hurdles

  • What can we expect for the future of the appraisal and the country?

  • GSEs Update Appraisal Market Area Requirements

  • Mortgage applications decreased 10.8 percent from one week earlier

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The New URAR: Embracing New Beginnings

By Jo Traut

Excerpts:

What’s New with the New URAR?

Think of the new URAR like upgrading from a basic flip phone to a modern smartphone. The old flip phone did its job—making calls and sending texts—but the new smartphone offers so much more. It’s customizable, adaptable to various apps and functions, and streamlines your daily tasks.

Similarly, the new URAR goes beyond a static, one-size-fits-all approach. It’s dynamic and data-driven, tailored to different property types and appraisal assignments, ultimately allowing us as appraisers to provide clearer and more comprehensive reports .

Why the Change?

The existing URAR has been dependable, much like an old-school flip phone. But as technology advances and standards evolve, the mortgage industry requires a more versatile tool. This redesign addresses current inefficiencies, meeting the rising demand for improved reports, as well as enhancing the experience for both appraisers and report readers.

To read more, Click Here

My comments: Read this blog post! Definitely the best practical appraisal advice I have read on new URAR. Includes links to relevant technical details.

No more 30-40 page appraisal SFR reports that is not what GSEs (and most appraisers) wanted. No more outdate “forms” reports that do not change fast enough to accommodate GSE (and USPAP) changes.

Both URAR and UAD acronyms are used in articles and references I have read. I like that the GSEs kept the same name for the reports (formerly “forms”)

URAR – Uniform Residential Appraisal Report

UAD – Uniform Appraisal Dataset

I will be writing more about the new URAR upcoming changes in future issues of this weekly newsletter and my monthly newsletter.

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$19.8 Million Cape Cod Estate Next to Kennedy Family’s Famed Hyannis Port Compound Hits the Market

Excerpts: 7 bedrooms, 7.5 baths, 9,629 sq.ft. 3 Acre lot, Built in 1914

Adjacent to the famed Kennedy Compound in the exclusive Hyannis Port enclave, the eight-bedroom mansion, known as Port View, has just become available “for the first time in a quarter century,” according to the listing.

The seaside, 9,629-square-foot residence sits right next to the home where President John F. Kennedy and wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis famously spent their summers sailing the waters of Nantucket Sound.

Some of the most impressive features found throughout the 26-room estate’s open floor plan include high ceilings, ornate architectural details, an imperial staircase, and six fireplaces.

“The whole interior views to the water,” she said. “It’s like being on a ship with front row ocean views. You are just drawn to it.”

Built in 1914, the Cape Cod mansion has been thoughtfully modernized over the years to retain its historic integrity.

Period details include exposed-beam ceilings and preserved mahogany inlay floors. French doors from the main living and dining areas give way to an enormous patio with waterfront views.

To read more, Click Here

To see the listing, with 28 photos, Click Here

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CFPB and Justice Department Take Action Against Fairway for Redlining Black Neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama

Top mortgage lender to pay a $1.9 million penalty and provide $7 million in loan subsidies

Oct. 15, 2024

Excerpts: Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Justice Department (DOJ) took action to end Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation’s illegal mortgage lending discrimination against majority-Black neighborhoods in the greater Birmingham, Alabama area. The CFPB and DOJ allege that Fairway illegally redlined Black neighborhoods, including through its marketing and sales actions.

Fairway’s actions discouraged people from applying for mortgage loans in the Birmingham metropolitan area’s Black neighborhoods. If entered by the court, the settlement announced today would require Fairway to pay a $1.9 million civil penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund. Fairway would also be required to provide $7 million for a loan subsidy program to offer affordable home purchase, refinance, and home improvement loans in majority-Black neighborhoods.

To read more, Click Here

My comments: How much money did Fairway make vs. what an appraiser makes for an appraisal. More lenders in the news vs. “biased” appraisers!

Read more!! →

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