Appraisal News and Business Tips

Posts Tagged AMC

3-28-19 Newz: Adjustments Yes, No, Maybe – 2 Ads – Fannie Update

By on March 28, 2019   /   adjustments, AMCs, hybrid appraisals, marketing, Mortgage applications, Strange homes, weird homes   /   Leave a comment
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Woops! Last Wednesday I sent 2 ads at the same time…

My apologies! I have been sending out these ads for about 10 years and never sent out two at the same time.

Two weeks ago I came down with a flu that lasts about 3 weeks. It makes me very tired with a “fuzzy brain”. I did not notice that I had two ads scheduled for the same time.

Now, I check the ad scheduling several times the day before they go out, plus my office assistant also checks them.

I rarely get sick. When I do it is usually for a only a few days, so I was not prepared. Why do I seldom get sick? After over 40 years of appraising homes, I try to never shake hands or touch doorknobs. If I do, I wash my hands as soon as possible. I shook hands with a friend while shopping at a grocery store and did not wash my hands!!

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Fannie Mae Appraiser Update March 2019

Excerpt: What appraisers need to know about property data collection
Topics:
  • Appraisal Modernization
  • Property Data Collection (PDC)
  • Desktop Appraisal
  • Scope of Work and USPAP

Also: Learn how to appraise MH Advantage homes

Read the short update:
Link to Fannie’s Appraiser Page – lots of good info

https://www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/appraisers

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3-14-19 Newz: Terrible RE Agent Fotos – Appraiser Article in Rolling Stone – Appraisers and Ipads/Tablets

By on March 15, 2019   /   AMCs, appraisal how to, AVMS, commercial appraisal, data, listings, Mortgage applications, mortgage loan volume, real estate market, Strange homes, unusual homes, weird homes, zillow   /   Leave a comment
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The Property Valuation Reckoning is Imminent

How Technology is Highlighting Underwriting’s Shortcoming

Excerpt: some high-level aspects that can be used to get conversations started.

1. Increasing the availability of detailed, property-specific information, including both operational (ongoing) activities and transactions (sale, refinance, etc.).
2. The collection and analysis of macroeconomic, microeconomic, and capital markets influences that affect the real estate industry.
3. Using concepts such as systems thinking, systems engineering, and advanced technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning to design semi-automated models that capture and make sense of both property-specific and larger capital markets factors.

Very interesting ideas and analysis. Long, but worth reading. FYI PropTech is a newish acronym. See the next link.

What is PropTech?

My comment: The article gives commercial examples, but is relevant for residential. I have been watching commercial applications, such as AVMs, attempted since the 1990s. The biggest problem is the lack of data. Costar is the major source of data in many areas and has not allowed its data to be commercially used by AVM developers, as far as I know. For leased commercial properties you must have income and expenses, which is not always available. For some types of non-leased properties, such as owner occupied warehouses, AVMs could work well.

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2-14-19 Newz: Coester Shuts Down; Beautiful Erosion; Facing Your State Board

By on February 14, 2019   /   Appraisal Standards Board, mortgage loan volume, state appraiser regulators, Uncategorized, USPAP, weird properties   /   Leave a comment
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17 of the World’s Most Beautifully Broken Places

Wind, rain, and retreating glaciers left this gorgeous destruction behind.

Here are two:
– Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area New Mexico
The land is full of geologic eye candy like otherworldly spires, mushroom-shaped hoodoos, and prehistoric fossils.

Fjaðrárgljúfur Iceland
Strange rock formations tower above the river that snakes through this enchanting Icelandic canyon.

See the incredible locations and read about them at:

My comment: Click The Link And Take A Break from Your Appraisals!!
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2-7-19 Newz: Appraisal Dying?- Dangerous Roads- Wrong Algorithms

By on February 7, 2019   /   AMCs, AVMS, future, george dell, mortgage loan volume, statistics, USPAP, weird properties, zillow   /   Leave a comment
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What If the Algorithms Are Wrong?

Excerpt: Algorithms are everywhere…
Mathematician and data scientist Cathy O’Neil coined a term for algorithms that are secret, important and harmful: “weapons of math destruction.” Learn more about the hidden agendas behind the formulas.”

“Algorithms are opinions embedded in code. It’s really different from what you think most people think of algorithms. They think algorithms are objective and true and scientific. That’s a marketing trick. It’s also a marketing trick to intimidate you with algorithms, to make you trust and fear algorithms because you trust and fear mathematics. A lot can go wrong when we put blind faith in big data…”

Check out the video of the Ted Talk: 15 minutes and well worth watching. “The Era of Blind Faith in Big Data Must End” I love Ted Talks and have subscribed to the Ted Radio Hour Podcast for a long time.

My comments: Remember the Recent Mortgage Crash The Data Did Not Predict? Why? They did not include data from the Great Depression, the last time real estate markets crashed all over the country.

Who was saying something was wrong? Whistleblower Appraisers. Appraiser Petitions fell on deaf ears. Some appraisers spoke the truth and lost their appraisal businesses and/or were blackballed by lenders.

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1-31-18 Newz: Birdlike Buildings – Most Expensive Home $238M – 300 years of land use changes

By on January 31, 2019   /   AMCs, george dell, real estate market, weird homes, weird properties   /   Leave a comment
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AMCs and Respect for Appraisers??

By Rachel Massey, SRA
Excerpt: …an example of an AMC that is not paying attention to the comments from the declination. If an appraiser declines due to coverage area, then it should not be reassigned. But also, if appraisers decline because the fee is inadequate, is upping it a paltry $25 going to cut it? In the time between the initial order and the subsequent, ten days passed. Had the AMC picked up the phone and started calling appraisers, they may have had much better success at finding someone who first of all covers the area, and second of all, would tell them how much it would take for them to take on the assignment.

My comments: Worth reading plus the appraiser comments, of course!!
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1-24-19 Newz: AVMs vs. Appraisers- New Fannie Formz?- Future of Res Appraising

By on January 24, 2019   /   AMCs, appraisal business, appraisal management company, AVMS, Fannie, forecast, hybrid appraisals, lender appraisals, mortgage loan volume, real estate market, UAD, USPAP, zillow   /   Leave a comment
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AVMs vs. appraisers

Excerpt: Different AVMs are designed to deliver different types of valuations. And therein lies confusion.

Consumers don’t realize that there’s an AVM for nearly any purpose, which explains why different algorithms serve up different results, said Ann Regan, an executive product manager with real estate analytic firm CoreLogic. “The scores presented to consumers are not the same version that is being used by lenders to make decisions,” she said. “The consumer-facing AVMs are designed for consumer marketing purposes.”

Written for consumers, but very well written and worth reading.

My comment: How often does someone tell you what Zillow says their home is worth? What do you say? I say Zillow works well on tract homes built in the past 10 years. This article discusses AVMs, regulators, appraisers, etc.
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1-2-19 Newz: Eliminating Appraisers, Hybrid Appraisals, Corelogic

By on January 3, 2019   /   AMCs, appraisal business, E&O, hybrid appraisals, lender appraisals   /   Leave a comment
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Best TED Talks for Appraisers

Here is a sample:
Grit: The power of passion and perseverance by Angela Duckworth.
Her rousing treatise on the power of grit and determination. These valuable qualities can help you become your best self in relation to your appraisal career. Coming up with accurate estimates and choosing the right comps to use can be frustrating – but keeping calm and pushing through will mark you as an appraisal professional that folks will seek out for the hardest (and most lucrative) jobs.
My comments: Angela Duckworth is one of my favorite TED speakers. I listen to a lot of podcasts. The TED Radio Hour is one I listen to a lot. It combines several TED talks on the same topic with references on how to listen to the full TED talks. Fascinating!!
“TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) converged, and today covers almost all topics – from science to business to global issues – in more than 100 languages.”

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12-27-18 Newz:// Change Your Templates!!/Corelogic takeover?/Square footage?

By on December 27, 2018   /   appraisal regulations, AVMS, lender appraisals, real estate market, square footage, weird homes   /   Leave a comment
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CHANGE YOUR TEMPLATES!!

I am really going to try hard NOT to use 2018 on :
  • Appraisals with an effective date or date signed in early 2019
  • Checks I write manually. Will pre-date some of them for 2019.
  • Computer folders for appraisals and fotos (I have them by year).
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What Was the Most Popular Home of 2018?

 Just For Fun!!

Excerpts:
10. Cerro Gordo, Lone Pine, CA
Status: Sold for $1.4 million in July
Why it’s here: Seeking a little solitude? Look no further than Cerro Gordo, a bona fide ghost town perched 8,000 feet up in the Inyo Mountains in Southern California.

8. Beckham Creek Cave Rd, Parthenon, AR
Status: Currently off market
Why it’s here: This rustic estate carved into the side of the Ozark Mountains captured attention for its storied history of renovations. What started as a doomsday shelter was transformed into an A-list nightclub

Click here for fotos, more info, and 8 more popular homes!!
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12-13-18 Newz:// Futuristic Homes / Declining Prices? / Coester?

By on December 13, 2018   /   adjustments, Fannie, lender appraisals, Mortgage applications, mortgage loan volume, real estate market, Strange homes, threshold, unusual homes, weird homes   /   Leave a comment
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Futuristic Houses With Some Weird Architectural Designs

Just For Fun!!

Excerpts: You may have watched Transformers, robots that transforms to a vehicle. Well, that’s exactly how these house designs are made. Futuristic? Sure it is. Considering that we need space to build our homes, now we can just take our homes to wherever it is we like. It transforms from a box to a home. How cool is that?

Some of these sleek, weird houses look like they’ve been ripped out of the twenty-second century and some look like they’re from the next millennium. Get ready to move into the freaky saucer homes of tomorrow.

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Fannie Appraiser Update: Special Edition for Rural Appraisal

December 2018

Excerpt: Get tips for appraising rural properties, learn more about our manufactured housing appraisal policy, read about recent appraisal policy updates, and more in the latest Fannie Mae Appraiser Update.

We love hearing from you! Please continue to use the Contact Us form for appraisers to share what’s on your mind and to submit feedback and questions on appraisal topics.

Topics include:
Adjustments, Comps, Cost Approach, etc. tips relevant for most appraisers.
Click here to download the Update PDF
My comment: Even if you don’t appraise rural homes, there are some good tips in this document for all of us! Who never gets a weird house to appraise?
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Education

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11-29-18 Newz// Proposed $400k threshold for appraisals -The American Garage – a very strange room

By on November 29, 2018   /   AMCs, evaluations, FHA, marketing, mortgage loan volume, real estate market, Strange homes, unusual home, weird homes   /   1 Comment
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$400,000 Proposed bank threshold for appraisals to be replaced by evaluations

Below are links to the proposed rule, what others are saying, and where to send your comments on the proposed rule.
OCC Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Exempt Residential Real Estate Transactions of $400,000 or Less from Appraisal Requirements
Excerpts: Rather than requiring an appraisal, the proposal would require that residential real estate transactions exempted by the threshold obtain an evaluation consistent with safe and sound banking practices.

Read what the OCC says in their announcement – one page www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2018/nr-occ-2018-123.html

Comments will be accepted for 60 days from publication in the Federal Register.

Instructions in the full Full 69-page proposed rulemaking. Download the above link and search for comments

The word “evaluation” is included many times in the document. Google evaluation to see what it says.

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FDIC, OCC, Fed propose raising appraisal threshold for first time since 1994. Good analysis of how many loans would be affected:

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Push to cut back on home appraisals sparks controversy
By Ken Harney, long time nationally syndicated real estate writer who regularly writes about appraisal issues

Excerpt: The Trump administration wants to eliminate professional appraisals on a large number of home-sale transactions – a move that critics say could push the country back toward the see-no-evil days of mortgage lending that preceded the housing crash.

Includes comments from appraisers Ryan Lundquist and Pat Turner plus Appraisal Institute.
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Link to Appraisal Institute letter
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Get rid of appraisers while nobody’s looking
By Ryan Lundquist

 

Excerpt: I’m guessing these “evaluators” will be real estate agents who do BPOs, employees at banks and data firms, and probably some appraisers who need the work at $75-$100 a pop.

Read it here, plus the appraiser comments, of course.
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My comments:
– FIRREA increased the deminimus from $200,000 (1989) to $250,000 in 1994, but appraisals were still done. Why? Fannie and Freddie’s investors wanted them. FHA, VA, etc did not adopt the deminimus.
– What is an ‘evaluation’ and who does them? Hopefully, someone will tell me what is an evaluation?
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