We hear you loud and clear. Most of the emails and feedback we receive at the Appraisal Buzz are about customary and reasonable fees. We completely understand.
That is why we have created a FREE T-Shirt for everyone who registers for Valuation Expo before May 1st. This T-Shirt takes a humorous look at this very important industry issue. While we don't recommend you wear it on appointments, we do think it will be a conversation starter amongst your peers.
Conventional wisdom states the three most important things in real estate are: location, location, location. This wisdom is especially true today since market fundamentals and local conditions vary greatly across the US. Thus, not surprisingly, the answer depends on location.
Customary & Reasonable fees were all the buzz back in 2010. Then the conversations subsided. Appraisers had a whirlwind of refinance activity to distract them for a while. When interest rates ticked up, volume plummeted. Now every dollar counts more than ever. The sting is especially painful when volume has dropped precipitously and fees were cut simultaneously. That spells double trouble.
With the signing of the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill on July 21, 2010, also known as Dodd Frank, there were significant changes that affected the appraisal community.
The Appraisal Buzz recently caught up with Peter Gillispie and Craig Julian to discuss their upcoming continuing education class, "FHA Appraisals and Reporting Requirements". This one day class will be held Monday, May 12th in Annapolis, MD. We knew our readers would like to know a little more about the instructors and the class itself so we thought we would share their answers.
Buzz: Thank you for joining us Pete and Craig, could you tell us a little about your history in the appraisal industry.
Technology is constantly growing and improving to help the appraisal industry keep up with the world around it. a la mode recently released a new mobile app to help appraisers eliminate common delays. We were lucky enough to catch up with Jennifer Miller of a la mode to find out more about this new mobile app.
Buzz: Jennifer, can you tell our readers a little bit about your career history leading up to your current position?
If you haven't checked out the new HousingRisk.org yet you really should. We thought we would highlight one of the recent posts by Ed Pinto of AEI. To read the article in its entirety you can find it HERE.
AEI experts report on risk ratings for federal agency mortgages securitized in January 2014, review trends for the NMRI series, and for the first time, release state-level Mortgage Risk Indices.
The Appraisal Buzz recently had a chance to speak with Robert T. Murphy of Fannie Mae and ask him a few questions. He is the Director of Property Valuation & Eligibility at Fannie Mae and an influential leader in the appraisal industry. We wanted to speak to him about their recently released Lender Letter and find out how it affects appraisers. Below are some of his responses.
This year's Valuation Expo will be the 15th anniversary of the conference. We thought a fun way to give back would be to offer Buzz subscribers a chance to win a free pass. We know how creative our readers are so we have come up with a series of contests that we would love your participation in. We have three separate contests for you to enter and you could win a free pass to this year's conference. Please review all contest rules before sending in your submission.
I have delayed my usual beginning of the year prognostication for a number of reasons. I spend a lot of time speaking to individual appraisers as well as clients of appraisers -- both lenders and AMCs. There are indeed some common threads and of course there are the looming regulatory hairballs that affect us all. I also wanted to review the responses to the Appraisal Buzz National Appraiser Survey to which, by the way, it isn't too late to respond.
On February 26th, Allterra Group is hosting a special webinar on alternative valuation and its usefulness in the appraisal industry. The Webinar will be moderated by John McIntyre and presented by Tony Pistilli of Axios Valuation Solutions and Greg Stephens of Metro-West Appraisal Co., LLC. This will be a great opportunity for appraisers to learn more about how alternative valuation affects their appraisal business. We were lucky enough to be able to ask the presenters a few questions about the upcoming webinar here's what they had to say.
