Editor’s Note: At a recent conference, Fannie Mae’s Mark Simpson, Director Property Standards, Single-Family Credit, shared how insurance industry changes offer appraisers a new opportunity to provide lenders with an additional service: replacement cost data. The data is used to determine an appropriate level of hazard insurance for Fannie loans. Fannie requires hazard insurance that…
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Editor’s Note: This is the most recent in a series of stories examining the trainee dilemma and how to repair a system in which mentors can’t afford to take on trainees and trainees can’t find a mentor willing to hire. Steve Massenberg, appraising 17 years, offers a short list of “dos and don’ts” based on…
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Best of Show – Taking Appraisal Industry Pulse by David Brauner, Editor WRE Here is the best of show from the Valuation conference in Las Vegas and the latest on the issues that affect your business most– new forms from Fannie Mae, AVMs, 2006 USPAP, Scope of Work, identity theft, fraud, the future, negativity and…
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Editor’s Note: The following is reaction to our story: Fannie offers Cert #23 “Fix” & More. Appraisers Respond: Cert #23 Big Bad Fannie If you play Family Feud and one of your partners gives a stupid answer to a question, most everyone on your panel knows its stupid but they applaud, scream, and cheer anyway. If…
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Fannie offers Cert #23 “Fix” By David Brauner, Editor WRE Just days after the new forms took effect and in the midst of widespread confusion and fear among appraisers nationwide regarding their increasing liability and responsibility under the new forms, and especially Cert. #23 (Intended User), Fannie Mae’s Mark Simpson, speaking to appraisers at Valuation...…
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Appraiser Wins Copyright Suit By Tim Vining, MAI I have been in the appraisal business over 25 years and have held the MAI designation for 21 of those years. Over this time my work has been pirated again and again. It took me until 1996 to learn about protection that has existed since 1978. I…
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Editor’s Note: Kevin Barnes severed five years on mortgage fraud charges and now speaks to the industry on risk management and fraud issues. Inside Mortgage Fraud (Way Inside) By Kevin Barnes I want to start by sharing a little background about what I’ve done and the consequences. I started off in the mortgage industry as...…
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Appraiser Wins “AMC-Agent” Judgment Against One-West Bank by Isaac Peck, Associate Editor The appraiser community is still reeling from the decision of a Florida bankruptcy judge to absolve JPMorgan Chase of all liability in the case of Evaluation Solutions/ES Appraisal Services (ESA) bankruptcy case. Over 10,000 real estate appraisers and agent/brokers were left unpaid by…
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Editor’s Note: Here is some food for thought from regular contributor and Mobile Appraising Training Package author, Dustin Harris. His suggestion makes sense from a valuation perspective and also might release some of the pressure on appraisers to “hit the number.” The OREP/WRE Appraiser Independence Survey has over 1,000 respondents and hundreds of comments. We…
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Editor’s Note: Marketing guru Roy Meyer shows us that while we can’t increase the amount of hours in a day, we can completely change how we use those hours to achieve success. Roy is presenting a free webinar on this topic Oct. 2 (details below). How to Find Success in Today’s Tough Market by Roy…
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