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Adjustments are a sticking point in many appraisal reviews. A big concern according to Bill King, director, Valuation Services at Veros Real Estate Solutions, is that many appraisers get stuck on the 10 percent line item adjustment. The rule is simply: Make the adjustment the amount it is supposed to be, King said. 

“Do the required paired sales analysis. If the sale is one of the most appropriate sales to estimate the market value for the subject and the line item adjustment is 25 percent, make the adjustment,” said Frank Danna, president and chief executive officer of Appraisal Logistics, Inc. “If you are reducing the amount of the adjustment to stay within a threshold, you are doing it wrong. The reconciled value will not be accurate.”

Reviewing appraisals is a crucial element to the overall valuation process, but many times appraisers become frustrated when their appraisals get held up by a reviewer working to qualify the report. The ultimate goal of an appraisal reviewer is to provide a second opinion on an original valuation report in order to justify or qualify it. There are many things, however, that can disrupt this process that could be avoided. Industry experts Frank Danna, president and chief executive officer of Appraisal Logistics, Inc., and Bill King, director, Valuation Services at Veros Real Estate Solutions, tackled the most troublesome areas with appraisal reviews.

While appraisers often operate independently, the appraisal process is anything but independent. Appraisers have the investor representative of the underwriter, the appraiser and the review appraiser. The first step in tackling the problem is to identify the problem. 

“Identifying it from the appraiser and review appraiser point of view is pretty straight forward,” explained Danna. “Problem identification from the underwriter’s perspective is a little more complex. Their problems vary depending on individual appraisal results. They have different loan programs with different parameters. The programs are changing daily depending on regulator rules. Their jobs are pretty tough. And then they have the borrower’s expectations — where does the value meet the borrower’s expectations? When should the underwriter pull the trigger to order an appraisal review? Is it because of the borrower?” 

Much has changed in the way of marketing agreements in the past decade. With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at the helm, new regulations, an interpretive rule and the volatilities of the market, title insurance, mortgage, real estate and settlement services professionals need to be on alert with how they are structuring marketing agreements. Industry members should also be aware of where the market is headed in terms of business partnerships, alliances and other types of arrangements.

Southern California homes sold at the fastest pace for an April in seven years amid the release of pent-up demand for move-up homes and high levels of investor purchases. The median sale price rose to a 58-month high, reflecting both home price appreciation as well as the simultaneous plunge in foreclosure resales and surge in mid- to up-market buying, a real estate information service reported.

The latest FNC Residential Price Index (RPI) shows the U.S. housing market continues to recover, recording its 13th consecutive price increase in March. In recent months, the ongoing housing recovery has maintained its pace with steady and persistent gains in home prices despite signs of continued job market weakness and soft economic growth.

CoreLogic, a residential property information, analytics and services provider, released its May MarketPulse report. In this report, CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming and Deputy Chief Economist Sam Khater examine factors contributing to the increase in residential investment and new home sales so far in 2013. 

The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, advised homeowners to properly maintain their landscaping, which can significantly affect property values.

A lawyer who was retained to close a real estate transaction failed to obtain a written release of a judgment lien, and as a result, a title insurance company was forced to pay the judgment creditor $10,000. The lawyer reimbursed the title insurance company then sued the seller — his client — for unjust enrichment and equitable indemnity. Read on to learn the court’s determination and what one dissenting judge had to say.

A federal court was asked to determine the timeliness of a claim under a closing protection letter. The case was brought by the FDIC, who in 2009 had stepped in as receiver for AmTrust for loans issued in 2008 that eventually went into foreclosure. The FDIC put a claim into the title underwriter, who then filed a motion for summary judgment based on untimeliness of the claim. Read on to learn what factos the court determined triggers the 90-day notice.

Much has changed in the way of marketing agreements in the past decade. With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at the helm, new regulations, an interpretive rule and the volatilities of the market, title insurance, mortgage, real estate and settlement services professionals need to be on alert with how they are structuring marketing agreements. Industry members should also be aware of where the market is headed in terms of business partnerships, alliances and other types of arrangements. Read on for details of an upcoming October Research Webinar that will walk viewers step by step through the rules.

A Florida court ordered two family members accused of breaching loan guarantees for two real estate developments to pay more than $30 million to cover losses the courts allege were caused by their attorney’s theft of money meant to pay down the loans. The attorney’s title company had to step in to secure titles to the condos for their owners. Read on for the details.

U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill announced that the owner of several real estate businesses, including a title company, pleaded guilty to participating in two separate mortgage fraud conspiracies. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison on each of the two counts. Read on for the details.

Metropolitan area median home prices continued to rise in the first quarter, with the national gain showing the best year-over-year performance in over seven years, according to the latest quarterly report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  A companion breakout of income requirements to purchase a median-priced home on a metro basis shows the typical buyer earns roughly double the income needed to buy a home in his or her area.

CoreLogic released its March CoreLogic home price index (HPI) report. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 10.5 percent on a year-over-year basis in March 2013 compared to March 2012. This change represents the biggest year-over-year increase since March 2006 and the 13th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 1.9 percent in March 2013 compared to February 2013*. 

The Appraisal Institute joined some of the world’s leading professional organizations May 2 in forming the International Property Management Standards Coalition. The two-day meeting at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., focused on developing and embedding a single standard for the way property is measured worldwide. 

Metro-West Appraisal Co. announced that Greg Stephens, senior vice president of appraisal operations and compliance, is the winner of the 2013 Valuation Visionary Award.

Veros Real Estate Solutions announced it is making its proprietary home price index, VeroHPI, available for commercial use for the first time. Now lenders, secondary marketers, servicers and analysts will have direct access to information previously available only in Veros products. This information includes sophisticated analytics with a repeat sales index, which immediately improves decision-making regarding residential property price trends in markets across the country. 

InHouse Inc., a provider of appraisal technology for banks, lenders, credit unions and other mortgage originators, is turbocharging its online presence to reflect changes within the industry and make the appraisal process easier for lenders and appraisal professionals alike.

A real estate appraiser was sentenced to to 15 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 

According to his guilty plea, the appraiser appraised a number of properties on behalf of purchasers who were seeking financing through a mortgage brokerage company in Baltimore. The appraiser admitted that from April 2004 to April 2008, he prepared at least 16 fraudulent appraisals for $4 million in loans originated at the mortgage company. He falsified the appraisals by using fake photos and descriptions of the properties, misrepresenting the condition of the properties, and used inappropriate comparable properties.

Clear Capital, provider of data and solutions for real estate asset valuation and collateral risk assessment, released its Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report with data through April 2013. “National yearly gains in April continued to ramp up to 7.2 percent,” said Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital. "But market observers shouldn’t be fooled by the large headline numbers. Last year was a turning point for the market where the year started with prices at virtually their lowest point and saw a very strong correction through the year. Now, however, the market is stabilizing and the large yearly and even quarterly gains of 2012 are starting to subside, which is a good thing as markets return to more normal rates of growth. Much of the gains we see right now in the yearly trends are a reflection of the market lows in 2012, rather than a function of recent short-term momentum."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released small entity compliance guides for three more of its January rulemakings. The guides cover the bureau’s Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) rule, and rules pertaining to lender-furnished appraisals and appraisals for higher-priced mortgages.