Archive for October, 2009

Ok so you might find the next few links interesting. These are from around the web, just random snippets that I've picked up in my reading, but I found some very cool information in them. You might too. Here goes...

Reverse mortgages proving a boon for the elderly

The amount of the loan is a percentage of the home's value — determined by an FHA appraiser but capped at $625000 — that depends Read the rest of this entry

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Back with more news for you today. It's amazing how much good information there is on this stuff out there if you know where to look. Three in particular that I found really valuable were...

'10 Commandments for Responsible Banking' Proposed for Accountability

Allow borrowers to select an appraiser to perform such valuation from a list of certified appraisers provided by the bank, and require Read the rest of this entry

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Dealing With Time-Consuming Fires

Time-consuming fires are the hot issues that result from the emotional turmoil involved in many real estate transactions. Sometimes they require calm and caution; other times you need to put on a fireman's hat and start dousing the flames of a delayed closing, emotionally frustrated buyer or seller, problem co-op agent, or slow moving inspector, appraiser, or loan officer. Let the following rules Read the rest of this entry

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I hope you've been enjoying my posts lately. I thought I might do something different today and rustle up a few bits of info from around the WWW. These are some of the news items and blog posts that have been popular over the last few weeks. Leave me your thoughts.

Property tax appeals rise during economic decline

The Palm Beach County property appraiser decreased his home value by about $100000, but Read the rest of this entry

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If you ask anyone who has ever tried to sell a home now themselves they will tell you that from the moment the For Sale by Owner sign goes up, the phone begins to ring. Unfortunately, many of those calls will not be from prospective buyers, but rather from real estate agents looking to obtain your listing.

Obviously the idea of not having to pay a commission to a real estate agent is attractive Read the rest of this entry

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How to overcome a lowball bank appraisals to refinance my home.?

We want to refinance our home with the lowest interest rate now. But the appraisal report totally disappointed us.

The appraiser only took no more than five minutes looking around our house and two days later gave us the report with 6 comps. Three of them are foreclosure houses with the lowest sale price(OF course they are foreclosure). And I can say basically my house value came out base on the two lowest value of the foreclosure homes(As his report said so too). And one of the foreclosure homes is even not comparable. It was on the much smaller lot and 7 years older than my house. Here, I don't want to mention about how much improvement we put in our house(more than 100K) . The main point here is the other two foreclosure homes equal our house square footage and same floor plan except not much improvement like our house and both houses were abandoned for a while(bank owned). One was sold for 265,000, and the other one sold for 275,000. And he put our house value equal to the one sold for 265,000, but not the one sold for 275,000. All we ask just he could match our house value same as the one sold for 275,000 foreclosure home and just 1 1/2 block away from our house. But he refused with excuse following the guideline etc.....

Now I really want to know what is the guideline for appraisal? Is it just matching your house value with the lowest value of the six comparable houses? Why he didn't match our house value in the mid range of the six comparable houses? Is this the rule for the house appraisal right now under this distressed market? I am really confused and frustrated.

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The Home Valuation Code Of Conduct is a belief system put into place that says real estate appraisers should to be intimidated, coerced, bribed, etc, into coming up with a valuation on a property. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have joined in with the Attorney General of New York to propose a bill that will not go to the Senate or House Committees, in that the future of the appraisal business will be regulated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if they will be the ones that will sponsor the financing of the mortgage. There are many factors put into place that make this bill very unpopular with mortgage brokers, real estate agents, appraisers, and most of all, the end consumer.

Personally I do not believe in this bill at all, and will discuss why throughout each explanation of each factor. First and foremost, why this bill is terrible, is because the future of the independent real estate appraiser come January 1st, 2009, will become obsolete, if this bill will pass. It will require all appraisers to join Appraisal Management Companies, where they are forced to pay 40% or more of their income, ending the existence of their lender relationships they have spend years fostering and preserving.

As mortgage brokers, we will be disabled from choosing the appraiser we want, and will not be allowed any contact with he appraiser, with only the lender allowed to do that. If I wanted to use my appraiser because of his accuracy, research tools, professionalism,and speed, I would not be able to provide that value added service to my client. So if your lender chooses an appraiser with that is slow or backed up, you are stuck. You can seeing where the shifting of power is coming into place, with the small business being stepped on. Reminds me of Wal-Mart.

Since the appraisal will not be in the mortgage brokers name, you cannot have it reassigned. If your client needs to change a lender, or if the client does not fit into the guidelines at any time during the process, you will need to get a completely new appraisal, thus increasing your clients costs, delaying the loan closing, and making all parties involved extremely frustrated.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have lost billions of dollars in the last few years, so it is no wonder they are enjoining this bill, since it will only help them manipulate the market, and have more control. If it is a logistics issue, have more continuing education for brokers, licensing requirements and testing into place, making us more professional as trusted advisors. Don't yank us out of the business with a secret bill that will slowly make its way on a national basis, if it is passed in New York.

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I hope you've been enjoying my posts lately. I thought I might do something different today and rustle up a few bits of info from around the WWW. These are some of the news items and blog posts that have been popular over the last few weeks. Leave me your thoughts.

Appraisers Gone Wild » Blog Archive » The State of Residential ...

Appraisers Gone Wild. Frustrated appraisers, AMC's, Federal appraisal regulations. The State of Residential Appraising. Real estate appraising for residential lenders is very cyclical. I've known for years that I needed to diversify. ...

New Rules Hamper Housing Market | pcbdaily.com

Many of the appraisers I suspect that will leave the profession will be experienced appraisers, not the new and inexperienced appraisers. Anyway, just my two cents as a frustrated appraiser. Keep up the good articles, pcbdaily is the ...

Loan Processor Blog :: FHA Case and Appraisal Transfers- What HUD ...

And to be honest, I am really frustrated about this one because it has taken up many people's time, nearly cost a borrower close to $1000 in appraisal fees and put an appraiser in an awkward position to serve as “trainer” on appraisal ...

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

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