Appraiser's Inside Report: Mortgage Broker's File Suit to Stop HVCC

Editor's Note: To many, mortgage brokers and appraisers are like oil and water- they just don't mix. In this story appraiser Linda Morgenroth takes us inside the recent suit filed by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) to stop the HVCC and explains why joining that organization has been key to the current success of her appraisal practice.

Appraiser's Inside Report: Mortgage Brokers File Suit to Stop HVCC

By Cary Barker, Assistant Editor WRE

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) filed a complaint against the Federal Housing Finance Agency in February 2009 regarding the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), claiming the HVCC will force mortgage brokers to rely on lenders and their affiliates to obtain appraisals for customers, drastically reducing the ability of brokers to provide consumers with an efficient cost-effective means of obtaining a mortgage.

The suit claims this will disrupt the established business practice of mortgage brokers, decreasing the efficiency of the marketplace and increasing costs to consumers.

Linda Morgenroth, a California Certified Independent residential appraiser and NAMB Affiliate, attended meetings in Washington D.C. last month with numerous Congressmen regarding the HVCC. "No one I met with on Capitol Hill liked the idea of Andrew Cuomo dictating policy for the entire U.S. mortgage market from New York state," Morgenroth said. "The aide of one of our Congressional representatives offered to help us draft a proposed congressional resolution denouncing the HVCC."