volume 25

Professional Marketplace

Category :

WRE Issues

Professional Marketplace Insurance, Education, Information Workers comp, auto, general liability/property and umbrella coverages are now available to you from CNA Insurance and OREP in addition to errors and omissions insurance. Competitive rates and quick, efficient online quoting are available nationwide for appraisers, agents/brokers and certain other professions. Please call or email OREP.org for a free… Read More

Industry News

Category :

WRE Issues

Industry News Financial Reform Financial Reform legislation (Dodd Frank) signed into law in July is the most important to the profession since FIRREA (Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989), the landmark legislation passed in the wake of the Savings and Loan Crisis which created licensing for appraisers. Find the appraisal related text… Read More

Inspectors-Appraisers: Line Blurring?

Editor’s Note: This story is reprinted for Working RE Online, Home Inspector’s Edition. To opt-in please email subscription@workingre.com with “Home Inspector’s Online Edition” in the subject. Inspectors-Appraisers: Line Blurring? by David Brauner, Editor In a recent Working RE story, Appraiser: I’m No Home Inspector (WorkingRE.com, Library, Issue 24), appraiser Tony Bamert says he is asked… Read More

Chinese Drywall: Understanding and Uncovering the Issue

Historically, the relocation industry has been challenged by such environmental issues as UFFI (urea formaldehyde foam insulation), asbestos, radon gas, synthetic stucco, and black mold. Currently, the industry is challenged economically by an oversupply of homes, decreasing home prices, a credit crisis, an unstable stock market, record foreclosures, and a global recession. What is next?… Read More

Reconsidering Foreclosures

When sales activity has diminished, as is the case in today’s market, appraisers have a much smaller pool of comparable transactions available to them. Such times require that appraisers give greater scrutiny to transactions that have traditionally been discarded. Here’s why and how appraisers are reconsidering foreclosures, short sales and listings in an upside down market. Foreclosures A… Read More

What’s in Your Workfile?

Your workfile is just as important as your appraisal report. Just ask any lender, appraisal management company, client, or worse, your state’s investigator. The workfile is the backbone of your report. It supports everything in your appraisal report. Your workfile for an appraisal of a single family residence or a condominium unit should contain a minimum… Read More

Appraiser Game Changer: Financial Reform Bill Passes (Bye-Bye HVCC)

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act includes a section referred to as the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act in Title XIV. The appraisal activities provisions are located within Subtitle F, which includes the following highlights: Sub prime mortgages will require written appraisal reports by state-licensed appraisers, including an… Read More