OLYMPICS Archives

8-18-16 Newz: Ex-appraiser sentenced , Statistics humor, Flooding

By Ann O'Rourke on August 18, 2016 / AMCs, data, Mortgage applications, mortgage loan volume, OLYMPICS, unusual home, weird homes, weird properties / Leave a comment

Tags: AMC, appraisal management company, flooding, forecast, humor, mortgage lending, olympics, strange house, unusal homes, unusual buildings

Statistics humor

Three statisticians go hunting. They see a deer and the first one

shoots, hitting three feet left of the deer. The second one shoots, hitting three feet right of the deer. The third one leaps up in joy, yelling, “we got him!”

Thanks to Scott Jura for this great joke! Posted on a yahoo appraiser discussion group.

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Ex-appraiser sentenced to 6 years for mortgage fraud

Excerpt: A Pittsburgh federal jury convicted Jason Moreno, 33, on five counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy in September 2013.

A former appraiser, Moreno overstated housing values and glossed over problems such as a den of black snakes in one house’s basement so that others in the scheme could obtain loans for more than the properties were worth.

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer resentenced Moreno on Monday to six years in prison and three years of probation.

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/10811871-74/moreno-court-sentenced

Court documents from 1/16. Lots of very interesting details:

http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/141568p.pdf

8-11-16 Newz//How to fix the appraiser shortage now, Photo blurring, Gold medal for town planning in 1936 Olympics

By Ann O'Rourke on August 11, 2016 / AMCs, appraisal management company, Appraisal Qualifications Board, appraiser shortage, forecast, lender appraisals, Mortgage applications, mortgage loan volume, new appraisers, OLYMPICS / Leave a comment

Tags: AMC, appraisal business, appraisal fees, Appraisal Qualifications Board, appraiser shortage, forecast, future, mortgage lending, mortgage loans, photos, scope creep, state appraiser regulators

America’s First Medal at the Nazi Olympics Was For…Town Planning

Excerpt: Yes, from 1928 until 1948, town planning was an actual Olympic sport.

Town planning fell under an “architectural design” category at the Olympic art competition. The field that year was dominated by German entries. Yet the first U.S. medal of the Olympics went to Lay, a New York architect, for his ambitious blueprint to modernize Marine Park in Brooklyn.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/americas-first-medal-at-the-nazi-olympics-was-fortown-planning

My comment: I love these Obscure Olympic Facts ;>

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Photo blurring gone waay overboard!!

Excerpt: At issue was the ubiquitous “client requirement” involving digital masking of people from images. While lenders and AMCs wave the Fair Housing penalty flag in order to assure compliance; there is NO such law. Never has been.

Lenders need to re-examine the reason for all of these pointless and invasive interior shots. They add nothing meaningful to the file. Nobody is laying out mortgages for Beanie Baby collections and bad drapes. So why are appraisers wasting megapixels on decorating images?

AMCs are on notice to cease demanding and insisting that appraisers do digital staging. That is clearly in violation of Illinois law.

Click here to read the full article plus the comments, of course…

http://appraisersblogs.com/digital-staging-amc-fair-housing-myth

My comment: Blurring interior pictures on walls, personal objects, etc. seems very excessive. Don’t know about rooms with strange devices and chains hanging from walls and ceilings, etc ;> Maybe appraisers will only be able to appraise vacant homes with nothing in them without getting requests for blurring. This applies only to AMCs doing business in Illinois, but maybe the AMCs will quit doing it in other states.